George Brown College St. James Campus

Social Service Worker is an innovative program that provides students with an opportunity to learn theoretical models, approaches to practice, group facilitation, mental health supports, social innovation and anti-oppressive practice. This two-year program combines in-class learning with field placement.

This is an approved education program by the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW).

Program Learning Outcomes
The Ministry of Trainining, Colleges and Universities program standards apply to all Social Service Worker Diploma Programs delivered by OCAAT institutions.

• The graduate has reliably demonstrated the ability to:
  • Develop respectful and collaborative professional and interpersonal relationships that adhere to professional, legal, and ethical standards aligned to social service works.
  • Record information accurately and communicate effectively in written, digital, verbal and non-verbal ways, in adherence to privacy and freedom of information legislation, in accordance with professional and workplace standards.
  • Integrate a practice framework within a service delivery continuum, addressing the needs of individuals, families and communities at micro, mezzo, macro and global levels, and work with them in achieving their goals.
  • Plan and implement accessible and responsive programs and services, recognizing the diverse needs and experiences of individuals, groups, families and communities and meeting these needs.
  • Examine current social policy, relevant legislation, and political, social, historical, and/or economic systems and their impacts for individuals and communities when delivering services to the user/client.
  • Develop strategies and approaches that support individual clients, groups, families and communities in building the capacity for self-advocacy, while affirming their dignity and self-worth.
  • Work from an anti-oppressive, strengths-based practice, recognizing the capacity for resilience and growth of individuals and communities when responding to the diverse needs of marginalized or vulnerable populations to act as allies and advocates.
  • Develop strategies and approaches to implement and maintain holistic self-care as a member of a human service profession.
  • Work with individuals, groups, families and their communities to ensure that service provider strategies promote social and economic justice, and challenge patterns of oppression, discrimination and harassment, and sexual violence with clients, coworkers and communities.
  • Develop the capacity to work with the Indigenous individual, families, groups and communities while respecting their inherent rights to self-determine, and to identify and address systemic barriers that produce ill-effects, developing appropriate responses using approaches such as trauma informed care practice.
  • Note: The learning outcomes have been numbered as a point of reference; numbering does not imply prioritization, sequencing, nor weighting of significance.

The Media Foundation program offers students the chance to explore a variety of media career options while developing the skills necessary to succeed in diploma and advanced diploma media programs. It includes courses in game design and development, photography and image manipulation, storytelling, audio production, interactive media and visual storytelling techniques.

The Portfolio class offered in semester two will help students create a portfolio, which can be used to submit for further studies in Graphic Design, Interaction Design, Game - Art and Video Design & Production and other college and university programs requiring a portfolio for admission.

Program Learning Outcomes
The graduate has reliably demonstrated the ability to:

• Develop creative concepts and ideas through a variety of techniques and in a range of formats.
• Choose appropriate tools, techniques and applications to create media assets and presentations.
• Incorporate researched opinions expressed in mainstream and social media technologies into presentations and reports.
• Utilize current and relevant search strategies and techniques for information fact-finding.
• Apply industry practices to written proposals and print documents, visual storyboards, and interactive presentations.
• Choose visual strategies, historical concepts and precedents in the analysis of past and present trends.
• Create original photographs and videos through a variety of techniques and processes.
• Choose appropriate narrative structures and vocabularies to analyze media and evaluate meaning, coherence, connections and effectiveness.
• Utilize a variety of industry standard audio/video software applications and techniques in the creation of media for a wide range of platforms.
• Use a variety of current industry-standard media tools and techniques to develop self-promotional materials.

The Theatre Arts – Performance program at George Brown's School of Media and Performing Arts offers you vigorously concentrated, career-oriented training in the fundamental skills, practicalities, traditions and professionalism needed to work as a professional actor in theatre, television and film.

The conservatory, hands-on training is an integrated curriculum in which almost all subjects are related directly to the acting profession. Five skill courses form the core of our classical approach to training the actor: voice, speech, movement, music and dance. The acting curriculum features improvisation, contact improvisation, storytelling, poetry, text analysis, contemporary and classical scene studies, neutral mask, character mask, clowning, commedia dell’arte, television and film technique, and audition preparation. Further classes include: stage combat, dialectology, theatre history, the business of acting, and the Alexander Technique.

Besides great partnerships with Soulpepper Theatre Company, Tarragon Theatre and Theatre by the Bay, George Brown has run a successful mentorship program for a number of years. In the final year, students will be paired with a successful theatre practitioner. This partnership starts in the students’ final semester and continues for roughly a yearlong period. Mentors will meet with the student at a minimum three times as the student graduates and begins to transition out into the field. This program has been not only a success for the students but mentors have also expressed how great the experience has been and how rewarding it is to be there for the students as they graduate.

Program Learning Outcome

• The graduate has reliably demonstrated the ability to:
  • Perform in a variety of theatrical contexts by applying acting, movement, and voice techniques as required.
  • Develop and present strategies for personal, career and professional development within the performing arts industry.
  • Apply and analyze theatre traditions and current trends from a variety of historical and cultural contexts to enhance personal creativity and theatrical performance.
  • Investigate and articulate personal reasons for pursuing creative work in the theatre.
  • Complete all work in compliance with industry standards and policies and professional ethics.
  • Use entrepreneurial and project planning skills to develop production and administrative aspects of professional theatre.
  • Perform vocal material – solo and choral – and execute staging and choreography as required by a theatrical performance.
  • Create and devise original works of theatre individually and collectively to perform in front of an audience.

Theatre Arts – Preparation is a dynamic one-year program, specifically designed for students to obtain the basic skills required to compete for a place in professional theatre schools.

This exciting program develops knowledge and skills in the performance, business and production aspects of the performing arts, helping you to clarify future education and career objectives. Blending theory and practical skills, this program will help you develop the confidence, creativity and fundamental acting skills for this growing industry.

Courses will be taught by artists and teachers from the performing arts professions. You will have ample opportunity to meet Canadian artists, directors, designers, writers and technicians.

Program Learning Outcomes

• The graduate has reliably demonstrated the ability to:
  • Employ improvisational skills for problem-solving and character development.
  • Analyze different styles and genres of performance.
  • Develop a career and professional development plan to enhance work performance and maintain currency with industry.
  • Identify career opportunities in the performing arts industry, including opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurial arts work therein.
  • Work collaboratively to prepare and present an interdisciplinary performance.
  • Interact in a professional manner appropriate to the performing arts industry.

The Acting for Media program goes beyond just acting for film and television and comprises training needed to succeed as a screen actor: acting technique, movement, voice and script analysis. Students will learn to articulate themselves through screen characterization, on-camera experience, and audition etiquette and standards. Graduating students will have a solid knowledge base of the industry including its history, structure and hierarchy and professional standards. Workshop simulations, on-camera exercises, voice-over demonstrations, green screen training and training in motion capture suits provide students with the skills needed to be a successful actor in the field.
Program Learning Outcomes
The graduate has reliably demonstrated the ability to:

• Present oneself for employment as a professional actor and provide services that meet professional industry standards and ethics.
• Create a character as intended by the writer through the study of screenplays, storyboards and commercial copy.
• Develop a believable character appropriate for the role and to the technological requirements of each recorded media discipline.
• Convey and sustain truth of character using relevant technical skills with appropriate emotional depth and clarity throughout the shooting of production.
• Work collaboratively with agents, casting directors, producers, directors and film crews.
• Develop and apply strategies for personal, career and professional development to enhance work performance and maintain currency within the industry.
• Employ improvisational skills for problem-solving and character development.
• Prepare materials that showcase his/her skills as both an actor and an entrepreneur.
• Perform the activity required for the character according to the recorded media.