## Breadcrumb 1. [Home](/index%2Ephp/) 2. [News and Stories](/index%2Ephp/news) 3. [OCAD U and Mexico City’s Centro Explore Creativity](/index%2Ephp/markdownify/node/3858) October 27, 2025 # OCAD U and Mexico City’s Centro Explore Creativity ![Image (left to right): Dr. David Griffin, Jennie Suddick, Meichen Waxer, Danielle Nadine Pierre and Deanne Fisher standing behind a table with a black tablecloth. The logo on the tablecloth says, "OCAD U International Programs & Collaborations Office."](/sites/default/files/styles/1_5_1_large/public/2025-10/IMG_3453%20%281%29.jpeg.webp?itok=OuAVSs0h) Image (left to right): Dr. David Griffin, Jennie Suddick, Meichen Waxer, Danielle Nadine Pierre and Deanne Fisher. rgb(255,255,255) What drives creativity? For many, it’s shaped by culture, community, and lived experience. To explore these questions, OCAD U partnered with [Centro](https://centro.edu.mx/?lang=en) in Mexico City on [*Economía Creativa: Creativity in Context*](https://ciecpress.centro.edu.mx/ojs/index.php/CentroTI/article/view/766) to examine how creative expression emerges and transforms across cultural, social, and political landscapes. The peer-reviewed journal features fresh perspectives on creative economies, social innovation, and design futures, to explore what drives creativity. “This partnership celebrates Canada and Mexico’s longstanding and vibrant relationship, built on shared values such as inclusion and a commitment to innovation and cultural exchange,” says Jennie Suddick, Manager of International Programs and Collaboration at OCAD University and co-editor of this issue. “It also highlights how international collaborations can enrich creative practice, spark new ideas, and deepen understanding between our two countries.” By contributing their creative expressions, several OCAD U community members—including faculty, staff, students, and alums—helped sustain this tradition of cross-border dialogue, showing how creativity thrives when diverse perspectives come together in these papers: **Title:** [***The Art of Forgetting: Reading the 1974 Venice Biennale***](https://ciecpress.centro.edu.mx/ojs/index.php/CentroTI/article/view/744) By Madeline Collins (OCAD U alum) Collins revisits the 1974 *Venice Biennale*, a rare moment of transnational solidarity in the art world, urging us to reconsider the narratives we preserve and the power of creative activism to shape collective memory. Research by Danielle Nadine Pierre into Canadian social cohesion shows how creativity operates within socio-political contexts, often in overlooked ways, and advocates for integrative, non-partisan approaches to foster more cohesive futures. **Title:** [***Creativity in the Context of Risk: the Impact of Digital Transnational Repression on Artistic Expression***](https://ciecpress.centro.edu.mx/ojs/index.php/CentroTI/article/view/738) By Vice-Provost, International and Students, Deanne Fisher Fisher examines how artists face sophisticated threats while amplifying protest, such as Iran’s “Women, Life, Freedom” movement, highlighting the urgent need for support systems to protect artistic freedom. **Title:** [***Ut Pictura Poiesis***](https://ciecpress.centro.edu.mx/ojs/index.php/CentroTI/article/view/741) By Assistant Professor Dr. David Griffin Dr. Griffin offers a meditation on drawing as a conceptual and spatial intervention, bridging art, science, and philosophy to reflect on the poetic power of creative acts. **Title:** [***Architectural Icons Becoming Obsolete Looking at Film as Pedagogy: Intersectionality Engaged with Architects as Celebrity, Film Pedagogy and the Built Environment***](https://ciecpress.centro.edu.mx/ojs/index.php/CentroTI/article/view/732) By Myah Hofer, OCAD U alum Hofer interrogates the intersection of film, pedagogy, and architecture, calling for a re-examination of narratives and teaching practices that shape creative disciplines and the built environment. **Title:** [**The “Good Enough Transformation” Project: a Case Study of Art, Culture, and Community-Based Initiatives in the Global Green Transition**](https://ciecpress.centro.edu.mx/ojs/index.php/CentroTI/article/view/737) By Research Assistant Sara Maclure and Jennie Suddick, Manager of International Programs and Collaboration The case study reveals how grassroots organizations across nine countries drive environmental change. It shows that collective locally rooted efforts can achieve meaningful transformation, mainly when Indigenous voices are centered. **Title:** [***On the Horizon: a Creative Exploration of Contemporary Trends in Canadian Social Cohesion***](https://ciecpress.centro.edu.mx/ojs/index.php/CentroTI/article/view/736) By Danielle Nadine Pierre, Graduate Research Assistant and student in the SFI graduate program Pierre examines how creativity manifests in strategic foresight and futures studies, particularly within socio-political contexts, highlighting often-overlooked creative practices that influence social cohesion and signal emerging creative economies and roles for creative professionals **Title:** [***Fresh Air: Curating for Fluid Access***](https://ciecpress.centro.edu.mx/ojs/index.php/CentroTI/article/view/739) By Program Development Specialist, Admissions and Recruitment, Meichen Waxer Waxer’s residency foregrounds accessibility and inclusivity in curatorial practice, challenging traditional models and opening new possibilities for participation. ## Other Recent News [### 2027 Critical Distance Centre for Curators Projections Program Call for Artists OCAD University’s RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers (CEAD) and Critical Distance Centre for Curators (CDCC) have partnered to co-create CDCC Projections Program Career Launcher. Four (4) to five (5) selected emerging artists will receive $690 to exhibit work in a single channel, projection-based screening program that will be displayed at the CDCC in March 2027. October 30, 2026 ](/news/2027-critical-distance-centre-curators-projections-program-call-artists) [### Call for Vendors: BAM! Holiday Art Market 2026 OCAD University's RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers (CEAD) is excited to partner again with Wychwood Barns to offer a curated group of OCAD U students and recent alumni the opportunity to share a vendor table at the BAM! Holiday Art Market. October 26, 2026 ](/news/call-vendors-bam-holiday-art-market-2026) [### OCAD U’s Global Centre for Climate Action and EU bring large-scale art to Toronto’s Canada Malting Silos "The Light" and "Melting Temporalities" transformed the waterfront into a canvas for climate reflection. October 6, 2026 ](/news/ocad-us-global-centre-climate-action-and-eu-bring-large-scale-art-torontos-canada-malting) Related Stories ## Related Stories [### Erased from the playbill: how AI is helping to map Nazi censorship of German music theatre A four-year project led by OCAD U Associate Professor Dr. Helmut Reichenbächer examines how music-theatre programming in Germany was reshaped from the Weimar Republic to the Nazi era. September 16, 2026 ](/news/erased-playbill-how-ai-helping-map-nazi-censorship-german-music-theatre) [### Research investigates how sustained material practices can help people process memory, grief and loss Dr. Nithikul Nimkulrat’s research project is developing a theoretical account of how memory, grief, and loss are experienced not only cognitively or verbally, but through the body, materials, objects, relationships and time. September 4, 2026 ](/index%2Ephp/news/research-investigates-how-sustained-material-practices-can-help-people-process-memory-grief) [### SSHRC funds studies of cultural censorship, and grief and nostalgia through craft One project maps patterns of cultural censorship during the Nazi era while a second is developing a theory of grief and nostalgia through embodied material practices. July 21, 2026 ](/news/sshrc-funds-studies-cultural-censorship-and-grief-and-nostalgia-through-craft)