Are you in need of a fun, creative class to balance out your schedule? Have you ever found yourself wishing you could spend your Monday evenings in a lecture hall? Look no further than FA101: Creative Being.
This class is a near fever-dream exploration through various styles and genres of art. Different guest speakers are brought in each week to discuss their creative processes and personal journeys in their industry. The guests of the 2023 Fall Term have ranged from local writers and filmmakers to The Wonderheads, a theatre company that specializes in masked performances. Each guest brings in some piece of their craft to share with the students, whether it be a copy of their latest book or a pre-recorded experimental theatre video. It is a great opportunity to learn about local artists and ask direct questions to people with first hand experience working in creative fields. Every week, the class ends with an open Q&A wherein students are able to ask any questions they can think of to the guest speaker. Aside from the students who ask a silly question just for laughs, this is a great opportunity for anyone seeking to go into a creative field to get real, solid advice.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this course is the professor himself, Mark Leiren-Young, who was once allegedly called a “weird little guy” by Star Trek’s own William Shatner. Mark is a UVic alum and current professor in the writing department—famous for the ever popular Marvel/Pixar class, WRIT109. He teaches this class with a wealth of knowledge and years of experience working in journalism, film, theatre, and creative writing fields. Once a term, Mark appears as the guest lecturer for what feels like a whirlwind of two hours. The sheer amount of outlandish stories this professor has shocked most everyone in the lecture hall this year. Thanks to his years spent in journalism, Mark has interviewed some ridiculously famous folks such as Michael Cera, Molly Ringwald, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr., among many others. Between the wild stories and his passion for environmentalism and the arts, his lecture was quite fascinating to listen to.
The other little fact he shared with us, that was perhaps the most shocking, was that he performed so poorly in his high school science class, he was quite literally kicked out and asked to stick to the arts. What makes this so ironic is that Mark went on to write a book that received the Science Writers and Communicators of Canada award.
While nearly everything about this class is a wonderful and odd journey through art, be warned, it does culminate in a group project. Certainly not for the faint of heart, in this project you are asked to answer the vague question of “what is creativity?” with a group of your peers. It’s terribly open-ended, but also gives you the opportunity to do something truly outlandish in front of an entire lecture if that interests you.
All in all this class is definitely worth it if you feel like you need a little more creativity in your life or are simply seeking a fun elective that won’t take up too much of your spare time. If you’re a fan of the arts and/or surreal lectures, FA101 is definitely the class for you.