Wabanaki Visual Arts

NBCCD Pauses 2025 Intake for WVA to Review and Rebuild for Future Demands 

April 11, 2025

New Brunswick College of Craft and Design (NBCCD) is pausing its Fall 2025 student intake for the Wabanaki Visual Arts (WVA) diploma program. This decision reflects the College’s commitment to ensuring the WVA program is fully aligned with the evolving needs of learners, communities, and the broader arts landscape. 

The pause provides an important opportunity for the College to engage in a thorough and collaborative review of the program. Low enrolment in this niche program has underscored the need for a strategic rethinking of how to better serve future generations of Indigenous students. The College recognizes that this review is necessary to ensure programs continue to meet the highest standards of academic and cultural relevance. 

“The WVA program holds such a special place on our campus and in our community,” said College Director Jared Peters. “From its early days under the remarkable Gwen Bear to present, this program offers traditional, cultural, and spiritual teachings through craft and knowledge of the Wabanaki peoples.”

WVA is a two-year diploma program offering biennial intakes. It will undergo careful evaluation. In the coming months, NBCCD will hire a dedicated project lead to consult with Indigenous artists, knowledge keepers, educators, and community stakeholders. This consultation process will inform key aspects of the curriculum renewal, the formation of a program advisory group, and the development of a comprehensive plan that will guide the program toward its defined goals. 

“By pausing the next intake (September 2025), we are committed to supporting Indigenous arts education by ensuring Indigenous voices, leadership, and culture continue to play a central role on our campus and in the next chapter of the program,” said Peters. 

Current students enrolled in the WVA program are not impacted by this decision and are scheduled to graduate this June. 

Please use the form below to submit feedback and ideas to the program advisory group. Queries about the program renewal can be directed to Academic Dean Anna Mathis at anna.mathis@gnb.ca.