150 years of OCAD U
Canadian artists and creatives are invited to apply to participate in free virtual workshops that will help them navigate uncertainty and build resilient, thriving careers using strategic foresight tools.
The workshops are part of a new initiative called Pathwaves Future Maker, launched and led by Envision Management & Production, in partnership with OCAD U's Super Ordinary Lab.
Artists and creatives are often the first to feel the impact of technological, social, and economic change — yet they rarely have access to the strategic tools other sectors rely on to navigate uncertainty. Future Maker aims to change that. It will give artists a hands-on, collaborative way to imagine the futures they want to build, and to start building them today.
“These workshops will introduce artists to futures thinking and strategic foresight, providing them with the tools for anticipating change, imagining alternative futures and planning for the long term,” explains Professor Suzanne Stein, and co-founder of the Super Ordinary Lab. “The workshops are designed to leverage artists' insights, creativity and imagination to help build individual and community resilience, while creating conditions for change and advocacy for Canada’s arts sector.”
The initiative is bringing together 120 artists from across Canada to participate in six virtual, three-hour workshops guided by professional futurists and grounded in foresight methodology. The deadline to apply is November 30, 2026, with a second call to be issued in January 2027.
Working in groups of 20, participants will use a structured world-building approach to imagine multiple versions of the future, uncover the drivers of change most likely to shape their creative practice and develop concrete strategies for thriving over the next decade. All participants will be compensated for their time and invaluable contributions to the project.
Future Maker has been inspired by the Pathwaves digital literacy incubator delivered in 2022 with Super Ordinary Lab facilitators and design researchers: Rebecca Black, Ziyan Hossain, and Fran Quintero Rawlings, who are graduates of OCAD U’s graduate program, Strategic Foresight and Innovation.
The project is generously supported by Canada Council for the Arts: Sector Support, Innovation and Development through the collaborating partner: Envision Management & Production.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS
The national call for applications is open to artists and arts sector workers of all disciplines, career stages, and regions, including urban and remote, English and French-speaking, and emerging to established practitioners.
Applications for the first two workshops closes November 30, 2026, with a second call opening in January 2027 for the remaining sessions.
ABOUT PATHWAVES
Pathwaves is an initiative that empowers artists and creatives to make lifelong careers more possible and equitable through digital literacy and futures thinking. Conceived by Envision Management and developed with partners at OCAD University’s Super Ordinary Lab, it was created in response to the observation that musicians and artists were not benefitting equitably from the digital transformations in their milieux.
In 2022, Pathwaves launched the Digital Literacy Incubator for musicians. Since then, it has delivered an ambassador program, and futures workshops for Canadian and international artists and creatives.
ABOUT ENVISION MANAGEMENT & PRODUCTION
Founded by Ryhna Thompson, Envision brings 25 years of experience across diverse musical and artistic practices, supported by deep national and international networks that enable broad outreach and cross-disciplinary participation.
ABOUT OCAD UNIVERSITY / SUPER ORDINARY LABORATORY
A founding partner, OCAD University is a national leader in strategic foresight and among the first in Canada to launch a dedicated program—the Strategic Foresight and Innovation MDes (2009); in tandem with the Digital Futures undergraduate and Graduate programs launched to play, hack and extend new or existing technologies and creative media. Professor Suzanne Stein joined OCAD U as co-Founder of these programs and to establish the design research lab, Super Ordinary Laboratory. Professor Stein is a recognized leader in foresight with extensive experience at the intersection of futures, arts, and humanities, and remains the Pathwaves lead facilitator.