The Great Northern Way Campus' recently opened Centre for Digital Media has been chosen as this year's showcase venue for the second annual transmission music conference. Building on its inaugural success in 2006, this three-day event in December offers a line-up of twenty Canadian and international artists at two venues under one roof. Conference participants and music fans will be given intimate boutique performances by up-and-coming talent with the benefit of state-of-the-art concert production technology. By alternating set times on two stages, audience members will be able to take in every show - and artists will have an equal opportunity to perform for a full house.

A performance venue like no other in Vancouver, the Centre is a perfect fit for the event this year, according to co-producer Tyl van Toorn. "Like transmission, the GNWC is a place where arts and culture, digital media and sustainability converge," says van Toorn. "The Centre is future-focused, defining new opportunities and preparing people for a world that doesn't yet exist, just like transmission."

"By holding the showcase at the Centre for Digital Media, we can provide artists with an experience above-and-beyond their expectations," explained van Toorn. "We're putting acts into a state-of-the-art venue with incredible production value and limitless possibilities for live performance, audio streaming and digital reproduction." transmission co-producer Brad Josling confirms that there is no other showcase like it: "transmission alone offers an artist the opportunity to showcase in front of 250 leading industry professionals."

The challenges of global climate change and the growing demand for more "sustainable" urban centres have created an urgent need for workable solutions. Undoubtedly, the body of sustainability-related research and expertise is vast, yet it remains a major hurdle for industry and government to translate this expertise into tangible real world solutions. With both private and public sectors looking for experts to manage and lead this sustainability revolution, a new kind of business leader is required.

Enter the proposed Master of Climate Action and Sustainability Leadership Degree (MCASL) - a "work-in-progress" professional graduate program at GNWC that will train leaders in sustainability and climate action. MCASL provides mid-career professionals with a unique framework for understanding complex environmental and social systems, and teaches a range of practical management tools. Incorporating students' undergraduate training and their accumulated expertise, MCASL will develop personal leadership capacities to guide and manage change in industry and government.

GNWC's four partner institutions (UBC, SFU, BCIT and ECIAD) will jointly credential this degree, which will be administered and housed at GNWC in the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS). CIRS is a facility central to GNWC's vision for sustainability. As a building, it will be a living laboratory for sustainable building technologies and a venue for research and teaching on a variety of sustainability-related subjects. MCASL program is anticipated to make sustainability education in Vancouver stand out on a global scale and make the Campus an important resource for providing top leadership talent and applied research.

Plans are underway to launch the MCASL program as early as September 2009.

In early 2008 GNWC will be embarking on a public planning process to define the physical development of the campus. Over the next 3-4 months GNWC will be revisiting its 2004 Strategic Academic Plan to ensure alignment with current realities and new opportunities. Once the Academic Plan has been updated, the physical planning process will begin. It is scheduled to end May 2008.

For more information, visit the GNWC campus development webpage.