Now magazine recently profiled recent Master of Visual Studies graduate John G. Hampton for its monthly education and career training feature "Class Action." Hampton is the programming director at Trinity Square Video, a not-for-profit centre that provides video production and post-production support for artists and community organizations at accessible rates, as well as community workshops, exhibitions and screenings.

Hampton received his undergraduate degree in visual art at the University of Regina and a diploma in 3D animation and game design from the New Media Campus in Regina. At the time of the interview with Now, his was in his last few weeks of visual and curatorial studies at the Daniels Faculty.

Says Hampton:

The program divides the curriculum between curatorial studies and studio art. I entered it primarily because I was trying to decide which career to pursue and thought it would give me an education that worked with both.

Curator is a strange profession. This program is as close to a professional degree as you can get for curatorial practice. It’s somewhat similar to doing an MFA for an artist. There are opportunities for students to curate exhibitions as they’re going along. Last year I curated a screening of undergrad video work for an annual exchange with an institute in Stuttgart, Germany.

…

The program helps with the intellectual aspects of being a curator. A big part of the job is framing contemporary artwork through writing and how you speak about it. The university is well suited to train you for that. Access to the various departments at the University of Toronto – the program is interdisciplinary – means you can seek out the types of advisers you need. I’m taking classes in the philosophy department and in museum studies to gain administrative-type skills.

For the full article, visit Now’s website.