OCAD University’s President Ana Serrano is shaping the Canadian arts and culture sector

Credit to Author: Lisa Evans| Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2023 13:21:23 +0000

Ana Serrano was destined to have a career in the arts. Born and raised in the Philippines, Serrano’s parents, who were graduate students at Harvard and MIT, had planned to move the family to the United States. But when her stepfather received a job offer at York University teaching at the business school, the family decided to move to Toronto.

Serrano and her family immigrated to Canada in 1979 when she was 10 years old. Reading was always an important value in her family. “My grandmother spent a lot of money buying books from the U.S. for my sister and I,” says Serrano. “We had every imaginable type of encyclopedia and reference book about science, geography and history; and my parents were fiction and poetry lovers.”

She says her taste in literature was wide-ranging in her early years, from books about Victorian times to different planetary systems. “I think my passion for film and media was just a natural extension of my being a bookworm, devouring all the various lives I could inhabit.”

Serrano’s first foray into the world of the arts was in publishing. As a university student majoring in English Literature at McGill University, Serrano was the editor of the school’s literary magazine. Having been raised in a world of literature, Serrano also ran a successful reading series. “During my tenure running these various literary projects, I fell into desktop publishing. It made running a magazine more flexible and affordable and I fell in love with computers,” she says.

While Serrano’s interest in art and publishing was informed by her childhood, her passion for multimedia was also encouraged and largely informed by her family. During the 1980s, the “desktop revolution” was led by several entrepreneurial writers who self-published zines using this new digital technology. Serrano’s father bought her a copy of Wired Magazine, a publication that focused on how emerging technologies affected culture, politics and the economy. “This is the future where you belong,” he told her. The magazine predicted that the publishing world would change once moving images and animation were added.

This sparked her curiosity and led to an exploration of new media as a way of telling stories. Serrano’s mother encouraged her to take a Commodore Amiga course with her, so they could discover the multimedia world together. Serrano’s grandmother gave her the funds to take post-secondary schooling at the University of Toronto in information technology and design.

That investment certainly paid off. Today, Serrano is one of Canada’s most well-known individuals in the realm of new media and has received numerous awards from the digital, media, film and theatre industries across North America including the 2021 Crystal Award for Digital Trailblazer from the Women in Film & Television in Toronto, the 2015 Digital Media Trailblazer Award from the Academy of Canadian Film & Television and the 2012 Best Canadian Feature Film Award from the International Reel Asian Film Festival.

While she holds numerous awards for her artistic accomplishments, Serrano’s entry into this new emerging field was unchartered waters. As a woman and an immigrant, Serrano knew she was going to stand out. “I entered the new media industry before 1994, before Netscape took the World Wide Web and brought it to mainstream attention,” she says.

In those early days, Serrano was often the only woman in the room and more often than not the only racialized person in the room. She was also often the youngest. While some might have been intimidated, Serrano felt fueled by her difference. “I observed. I listened. And I cultivated allies,” she says. “I always approached my work in terms of how I could give value to others, how I could help provide solutions, and/or how I could enrich the experience of others.”

Throughout her career, Serrano has used these experiences to amplify her voice as well as that of others. “I think that’s what I have always aspired to do in my career; design with intention experiences that celebrate our shared humanity, creativity and inventiveness,” she says.

From founding the Canadian Film Centre’s Media Lab and Canada’s annual democracy summit, DemocracyXChange, to being part of arts and culture boards across Canada and now as the first racialized President and Vice-Chancellor in OCAD University’s 147-year-history, Serrano has been a champion of progressive change and a creator and innovator in digital media.

Serrano is also co-producer of Prison Dancer: The Musical, which recently opened at the National Arts Centre (NAC) in Ottawa. This award-winning stage musical and transmedia experience spanning multiple platforms is Canada’s first-ever musical produced, created and performed by Filipinos.

Serrano has produced some of Canada’s most critically acclaimed works in digital media, including award-winning productions Body/Mind/Change starring David Cronenberg, and the virtual reality experience Small Wonders in partnership with the Art Gallery of Ontario; co-produced Late Fragment with the NFB, which was the Board’s first interactive dramatic feature film within North America that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Serrano’s active creative practice reflects her commitment to shaping the arts and culture sector in Canada and advancing OCAD U as an emerging vibrant hub.

“OCAD U is more than a university; we are a vibrant community of bold, curious and compassionate artists, designers and scholars. Our efforts reflect the cultural diversity of our community and society, and gives our students opportunities to experience different perspectives,” she says.

An advocate of hands-on learning, Serrano has also launched OCAD U LiVE, a digital streaming channel with content produced by students for students, enabling them to gain experience while contributing to Canada’s booming content creator economy, while getting paid.

“The role we play in the city and the country at large is to be that incubation space where we cultivate Canada’s next generation of leaders who as makers, thinkers and problem solvers will build the equitable, just and sustainable world we all dream of,” says Serrano.

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