Kitchener to fund new Conestoga College creative industries program
School will focus on the huge demand for digital design, illustration, game arts
Conestoga College will open a school of creative industries somewhere in downtown Kitchener during the next three years with up to $15 million from the city.
“We are thrilled,” said Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic after making the announcement Friday.
“We are very excited about the opportunities that the creative industries school is going to bring to the downtown, and the whole region,” said Vrbanovic.
The city and college started talking about it three years ago, just after Conestoga opened a satellite campus in the former Market Square mall.
The city will tap into its economic development investment fund to help the college establish a new campus in the downtown.
“There are a number of pieces of land the City of Kitchener owns throughout the downtown, and that will be part of the discussions and work that needs to be done in the months ahead,” said Vrbanovic.
College president John Tibbits said Friday’s announcement is only the beginning.
“I don’t know when this is going to happen, but it’s obviously going to be within the next couple of years,” said Tibbits in an interview.
“This is going to attract students from around the world,” said Tibbits. “There could easily be 5,000 students 10 years from now in that school.”
“A school of creative industries in a downtown that already has Communitech, the Registry Theatre, Centre In The Square, the library’s
We are very excited about the opportunities that the creative industries school is going to bring to the downtown, and the whole region.
BERRY VRBANOVIC KITCHENER MAYOR
main branch, the Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts, TheMuseum and scores of startups is the right place for the school,” he said.
“This is a very dynamic place,” said Tibbits.
Developers, city councillors, at least three MPs, and city staff crowded into the Heffner Studios in the main branch of the Kitchener Public Library Friday morning to hear the announcement.
The announcement builds on a strategy the city began in 2005 — helping the downtown by supporting the establishment of post-secondary campuses there. The University of Waterloo school of pharmacy at King Street West and Victoria Street, the Wilfrid Laurier University graduate school of social work on Duke Street, and the college’s business programs at Market Square mall have all thrived in the city centre.
“We also heard loud and clear in a recent Environics survey that Kitchener residents want to see larger investments in arts and culture and a strengthening of our economy to ensure the jobs of the future are created here,” said Vrbanovic. “The creative economy is booming and is one of the fastestgrowing sectors of the world economy,” he said.
“Consumption of content is everywhere and it has accelerated during the past two and half years of the pandemic,” said Vrbanovic.
“The world is evolving and if we don’t evolve with it, we will be left behind,” he added.
In 2010, the city invested $500,000 in Communitech’s move into the Tannery on Charles Street. That innovation hub is known around the world now and turned downtown Kitchener into a centre for incubating and growing startups. “Today marks another critical point in that shared journey,” said Vrbanovic.
The School of Creative Industries currently offers 17 programs such as design, game animation, media
and video production and spatial design. But the course offerings will be doubled with the new campus downtown.
“Our goal is to expand our learning spaces to focus on the demand from creative industries for digital product design, illustration, game arts, AI and design, special effects, VR merchandizing, motion graphics, e-sports, to name a few,” said Pejman Salehi, executive dean of the school of applied computer science and creative industries.
The expanded school will offer certificates, diplomas, bachelor degrees and graduate certificates.
“The school of creative industries has embarked on an ambitious journey to become a global leader in polytechnic education, digital innovation, design and creative technology,” said Salehi.
Kitchener aims to become a global leader in the creative industries, in the city’s updated economic development plan. And a new school in the downtown is a big step toward that goal.
“This will have a profound and lasting impact on our downtown,” said Coun. Sarah Marsh, who represents a big part of the city centre.
“It is time for us to open our minds and dream.”