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Victoria College
Academic Programs / Upper-Year Programs / Creativity and Society

Creativity and Society

Creativity has been an essential human trait since someone gathered two stones and some leaves and considered the possibility that together they might make fire. From science to the arts, politics to commerce, creativity drives innovation, expands what we are capable of, and re-interprets our world for those around us. Employers across a range of fields increasingly emphasize creativity as a crucial skill for success, and creativity continues to be an essential factor in solving the most intractable problems. Moreover, the creative arts have always been at the forefront of social change, articulating our ambitions and challenging assumptions, opening doors and smashing ceilings.         

The Minor in Creativity and Society combines courses in the practice of creativity with courses that study the context of creativity in the arts and other fields. The “practice” courses include workshops in creative writing, visual arts, and music and sound art composition. The “context” courses explore how creativity interacts with other fields of study: how creativity manifests itself in the sciences, how popular music reflects our sense of self, how cultural communities help determine what we think of as “great” art, and how creativity drives societal innovation. Along the way, there are numerous opportunities for experiential learning and contact with active professionals who can introduce students to the cultural organizations and businesses that drive cultural production. And as boundaries between genres and disciplines continue to blur, students will find opportunities for inter-medial projects and study. 
  
Students in this Minor might be aspiring artists and cultural creators who would like to gain a deeper sense of their medium’s place in the broader world. Or they may be interested in being involved in the businesses and organizations that surround and support cultural production. The program features face-to-face workshops and small-seminar classes taught by leading research faculty and creative professionals. 

Program Contacts

Professor Adam Sol
Program Coordinator
a.sol@utoronto.ca

Wanda Thorne 
Upper-Year Programs Liaison Officer
vic.academics@utoronto.ca

Program Requirements

Enrolment: This is an open enrolment program. A student who has completed a minimum of 4.0 credits may enrol in the program.

To acquire a Minor in Creativity and Society students will complete a total of 4.0 credits.

Please note:

  • A maximum of 1.0 credit at the 100 level will be counted towards the minor.
  • A minimum of 1.0 credit must be at the 300+ level.
  • Up to 1.0 credit may be chosen from approved courses offered by other departments (see list of Cognate Courses below) 
Mandatory Course

You must complete CRE201H1 - Introduction to Creativity and Society

Forms of Creativity

You must complete at least 1.0 credit from the following courses:

VIC191Y1 - Artistic Creation and Public Issues
VIC359H1 - Special Topics Seminar: Photographic Darkroom Techniques
CRE210H1 - Holography for 3D Visualization
CRE269H1 - Creative Practice: Speculative Fiction
CRE272H1 - Song, Lyrics, and Songwriting
CRE273H1 - The Body: An Exercise
CRE275H1 - Creative Writing: Short Fiction
CRE276H1 - Writing for the Stage and Screen
CRE279H1 - Creative Non-Fiction
CRE280H1 - Creative Writing: Poetry
CRE282H1 - Emerging Genres in Creative Writing
CRE350Y1 - Creative Writing
CRE370H1 - Music and the Imagination
CRE470H1 - Soundscapes
CRE479H1,CRE479Y1 - Fiction: A Master Class
CRE480H1 - Poetry: A Master Class

Social Contexts and Interpretation

You must complete at least 1.0 credit from the following courses:

VIC164H1 - Ideas and Their Consequences: Literary and Artistic Realms of the Imagination
VIC165H1 - Ideas and Their Consequences: Isolation and Communion in Modern Culture
VIC190Y1 - The Arts and Society
CRE209H1 - How Stories Work
CRE235H1 - Innovation in Society
CRE247H1 - Creativity in the Sciences
CRE270H1 - Listening: A Critical History
CRE271H1 - Reading the Wild
CRE281H1 - Popular Music, Technology, and the Human
CRE335H1 - Creativity and Collaboration in Social Enterprise
CRE345H1 - Evidence Based Approaches to Creativity 
CRE349H1 - Special Topics in Creativity
CRE353H1 - Creativity and Altered Consciousness
CRE367H1 - AI and Creativity 
CRE371H1 - Documenting Reality
CRE372H1 - Reviewing, Reception, and Reading Communities
CRE373H1 - Archives and the Art of Memory
CRE374H1 - Cultural Encounters: Identity and Transformation in the Arts
CRE375H1 - Histories of Creativity
CRE449H1 - Special Topics in Creativity
MCS223H1 - Signs, Meanings, and Culture
MCS320H1 - Semiotics of Visual Art
MCS322H1 - Topics in Semiotics
MCS373H1 - Materialities of Music
REN346H1 - The Idea of the Renaissance 

Cognate Courses

You may use (up to a maximum of) 1.0 credit from the following courses towards the 4.0 credits needed for your Creativity and Society Minor:

BMS319H1 - Media Ethics
BMS420H1 - Bookbinding Then and Now
BMS421H1 - Histories of Letterpress Printing
CAR321H1 - Caribbean Visual Arts, Social Media and Performance
CIN201Y1 - Film Cultures 1: Art and Industry
CSE349H1 - Disability Arts and Culture
DRM428H1 - Advanced Playwriting
EAS349H1 - Soundscapes and Modern China
ENG287H1 - The Digital Text
ENG289H1 - Introduction to Creative Writing
ENG387H1 - Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction
ENG388H1 - Creative Writing
ENG389H1 - Creative Writing
FAH352H1 - 19th Century Photography
FAH382H1 - Art Writing
INS300Y1 - Worldviews, Indigenous Knowledges, and Oral Tradition
MUS211H1 - The World of Popular Music
RLG231H1 - Music and Religion: From Bach to Kanye West
RLG232H1 - Religion and Film
RLG393H1 - Graphic Religion: Myth and the Spiritual in Graphic Novels
SMC219Y1 - Mass Media in Culture and Society
SMC229H1 - Readers and Readerships
SMC317H1 - Books, Media and Music
WRR211H1 - Introduction to Creative Writing
WRR311Y1 - Seminar in Creative Writing
WRR312H1 - Writing Literary Journalism
WRR414H1 - Writing for Social Change

Please note:
In the event of discrepancies in program requirements between this website and the Faculty of Arts and Science Calendar, the Calendar shall take precedence.

EDI Resources

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion Resources for Creativity and Society

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