Our friend Neil Ever Osborne, a Canadian conservation photographer and a member of the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP), has created a new graduate certificate program in “Environmental Visual Communication.” It’s a 6-month-long program, which includes a full-time summer “Applied Project,” for which students are placed with environmental organizations or other clients to create a visual outreach product. Osborne has previously taught visual communication and multimedia courses at Stanford University and elsewhere, but this is the first time, to my knowledge, that anyone has created an immersive, fully integrated program in environmental visual communication.
The list of courses is impressive: everything from “methods” courses, to help students learn the technical skills to make the most of their cameras and editing software, to more theoretical courses on visual and verbal communication strategies, to courses on business practices and professional skills for budding environmental media professionals. Take a look for yourself! I can’t wait to see who the instructors are — Osborne is well connected in the field (through iLCP and other channels), so I know he’ll pull together an all-star team to teach these courses.
Finally, one of the coolest aspects of the whole program is that it’s based at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, one of the top science and cultural museums in Canada. The resources of the museum, their expertise in bringing science to the public, and the connections with scientists who work at the museum really set this program apart. If you’re interested in communicating visually about science and the environment (and if you’re reading our blog, it’s a good bet that you are), take a serious look at this program! They are accepting applications now.
Thank you for writing about this exciting new program and sharing it on your blog. I am also enjoying checking out your videos and photos. Stunning!