A student walks on the Humber Polytechnic campus in Toronto in a 2025 file photo.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
In the latest blow to postsecondary performing arts education in Ontario, Humber Polytechnic announced that it will cancel a number of programs in its faculty of media, creative arts and design.
The cuts follow a wave of theatre and performing arts program cancellations across the province at the college and university levels. In recent years, theatre programs at Sheridan College, St. Lawrence College and the University of Windsor have either been removed entirely or slated for restructuring. Other theatre departments have struggled to maintain course offerings, owing to deflated budgets, reduced enrolment and faculty burnout.
In an e-mailed statement to The Globe and Mail, Humber spokesperson Andrew Leopold said the faculty’s cuts – eight programs cancelled, plus one suspended – follow “a year marked by federal caps on international students and rising operational costs driven by inflation.” Affected programs include Humber’s acting for stage and screen diploma course, as well as offerings in advertising, television production, film, technical theatre and comedy writing.
Leopold added that program cancellations, revisions and suspensions are part of the polytechnic’s “regular academic planning processes.” Students in affected programs will be able to finish their studies, he said, adding that the school’s Cultural Hub, a performing arts centre on Humber’s Lakeshore campus, will continue to be “a place to nurture the next generation of arts and culture talent in new and various ways.”
He added: “We will continue to work through this challenging time in the post-secondary sector with care while planning for the future of our institution.”
Faculty members interviewed by The Globe and Mail, most of whom found out about the cuts by e-mail on April 20, described the changes as disappointing but not altogether surprising. They said a 2024 rebrand, in which the institution was renamed from Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, foreshadowed a pivot to STEM-first offerings from the school.
In his response to The Globe and Mail’s question about a pivot to STEM-forward courses, Leopold called Humber a “comprehensive polytechnic institution,” with a commitment to “meeting labour market needs through growing programs in areas of provincial focus such as technology, healthcare, engineering and skilled trades.”
David Rayfield, a contract employee with 21 years of service in Humber’s theatre production program, said the writing was on the wall for big changes. “There was a growing distance between the administration and the faculty.”
The cuts to the production programs, in particular, will be devastating for the live events industry, according to Rayfield.
“These are skills that will no longer be taught. We offer hands-on, skills-based training, with transferable knowledge to other fields: If you know how to draft a pattern, you can cut plywood. You can’t digitize everything. I’m very concerned that we’re not going to have young workers who can fill these roles on live events and in film. You need a highly technical skill set, and this is a very specific way of working,” he said.
“Cuts like this are an assault on handiwork and hands-on learning,” he continued. “Students still want a rigorous, analogue approach to learning this craft.”
Like Rayfield, Anne Fenn, a comedy professor, said it felt as if the program cancellations were a long time coming. The suspension of her program will fundamentally change how comedy writing and performance is taught and learned in Canada, she added.
“There is no other diploma or certificate program in North America, in English, that offers this,” she said of the program, which integrated students into Toronto’s comedy scene through partnerships with Yuk Yuk’s and the Second City.
“Our graduates have near universally raved about this program. It’s a beautiful playground for ideas and talent.”
Student Shayla Brown, meanwhile, just finished an “underwhelming” first year in the relatively new – and now cancelled – acting for stage and screen program.
On the whole, the experience didn’t live up to her expectations. Students have felt a lack of investment from the school into the program, she said, meaning otherwise effective professors have had to “do their best” on a shoestring budget.
“I’ve worked professionally – I know how theatre works,” said Brown, whose theatre and film credits include Orphans for the Czar at Crow’s Theatre and Sarah Polley’s film adaptation of Women Talking. “But our end-of-year play felt very high school to me. Students were expected to take on financial responsibilities. We were scrounging for costume pieces and asked to contribute money beyond our tuition fees.”
Brown chose the program for its blended approach to acting; on paper, it was a rare opportunity to hone skills in both film and theatre, she said. In practice, the course has skewed toward theatre.
“Those promises didn’t pan out completely. This is a new program. They could have done something really special with it. Now, it’s just sad that it won’t get to grow into its potential.”