Community Partners

Two students flash Western W in the stands at an event

SASAH offers its students the broadest context for academic, cultural, and professional development through our growing network of Community Partners on and off campus. These relationships reflect our mission to make higher education in the Arts and Humanities an enriched cross-cultural experience. They offer valuable mentorship and learning opportunities through collaborations in programming, events, experiential learning and internships, among other campus-to-community efforts.

As SASAH continues to grow, we welcome the opportunity to work with future partners both close to home and farther afield. For further information on how to get involved with our program, contact the SASAH Director at sasah@uwo.ca.


Student Experience: Leadership & Learning

Western's Careers & Experience helps students deepen their academic learning and actively plan for personal and professional growth through career education, experiential learning, and industry exploration. Careers & Experience is the go-to resource for SASAH students for community engaged learning, leadership education programming, internship opportunities, career counselling, and global opportunities.

SASAH has its own dedicated Experiential Learning Specialist, Dr. Barbara Bruce. SASAH students complete Experiential Learning credit through internships or community-engaged learning in the private, public, for-profit, and non-profit sectors. Learn more about SASAH Experiential Learning opportunities.


Western Libraries

Western libraries, in both form and function, are a continuously evolving platform for learning, discovery, research, and community engagement. Western Libraries’ spaces are a dynamic, intellectual and cultural milieu for the campus. In SASAH, we welcome the opportunity for our students to participate in and benefit from this ever-evolving library learning environment. SASAH students get first-hand experience with archival research at Western Archives. They get to share their course and creative work with thousands of daily library visitors in special library exhibition projects. The newly redesigned Community Room at the Weldon Library is a major campus venue for events and performances, including recent Capstone Collaborative projects with our fourth year students.


Western International

ParisSASAH encourages its students to participate in international learning experiences of all kinds, including study abroad and language acquisition, as well as internships.

Individual cross-listed courses offer students enriched international study: recent examples include French 3140 (Rwanda: Culture, Society, Reconstruction), English 4630G (Reading the City: Representations of New York City in American Literature), CS3010F/G (Study Tour to Greece), and The Vindolanda Field School in Classical Studies.

Western International is the main portal through which students can discover and plan these opportunities. Western International also orchestrates Western’s role as one of the key partners in the Global Undergraduate Awards, the capstone event for which is the UA Global Summit held in Dublin. Read more about International Opportunities for SASAH students.

Photo courtesy of SASAH student Grace Dilawri.


McIntosh Gallery

mcintoshThe McIntosh Gallery is Western's university-based public gallery in the center of campus. Since 1942, the McIntosh has collaborateed with artists, curators and academics to develop innovative strategies to interpret and disseminate visual culture. Exhibitions, educational programs and special events provide a platform for engagement with visual art and culture.

SASAH classes visit the McIntosh's exhibitions for on-site tours, seminars, and conversations. Students have the opportunity to write exhibition reviews and responses, and hear from McIntosh staff and visiting artists first-hand. The Gallery's R&Art events are a great way to connect with other students with hands-on creative activities. The McIntosh also sponsors SASAH interns and volunteers.

This valued organization is a key collaborator in SASAH programming as well as generous host for SASAH public events and lectures.

 


The Don Wright Faculty of Music

Along with Western Libraries and SASAH, the Don Wright Faculty of Music is one of three co-organizers of the annual Western Performs! concert series. The aim of this collaborative event is to highlight the incredible talent of Western’s Music students in collaboration with the organizational and cultural talent of SASAH’s students to make beautiful music both on campus and across the broader London community.

Western Performs! was on a brief hiatus for 2024-2025, and we look forward to the series returning for 2025-2026. In the meantime, see the Faculty of Music's concert listings here.


Western Alumni

Western’s Alumni Association, established in 1949, is a non-profit organization led by an all-alumni Board of Directors. Members of the Alumni Association give freely of their time and talent to deliver the best alumni experience through active participation in alumni and student engagement programs, support of University governance, and through advocacy and ambassador opportunities for Western

Western alumni are behind exciting student-facing opportunities, such as the Duncanson Lecture Series. Apart from funding provided through the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and Western University, SASAH could not exist were it not for the generous support of Western Alumni and its donors.

Museum London

Museum London is situated at the forks of Deshkan Ziibi / the Thames River, offering year-round exhibitions and  program that includes art, history and contemporary culture. The museum also offers engaging programs for learners of all ages with tours, hands-on experiences, and more.

SASAH partners with Museum London on site visits, student internships, and guest lectures. In the recent past, we jointly hosted the annual Public Matters lectures series (now called the SASAH Speakers' Series). Past speakers include Jeff Melanson, Cameron Bailey, Jillian Keiley, Zita Cobb, and Museum London's own Director Julie Bevan.


SATELLiTE Project Space

SATELLiTE Project Space, located in downtown London for more than ten years, was a dynamic partnership between four London Ontario, arts institutions: bealarts, Fanshawe College, Museum London, and Western University's SASAH, Department of Visual Arts, and Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS). SATELLiTE provided a flexible space for new and temporary projects, collaborations, and experiments in arts and culture.

Now mobile, SATELLiTE partners Western and Fanshawe continue to collaborate in the planning of yearly programming and student involvement, and in the production of exhibitions. SATELLiTE thus provides invaluable learning opportunities and mentorship for arts students in London: in education, curatorial work, exhibition and event programming, and arts administration, and invites the larger community to experience and participate in these programs. 


Forest City Film Festival

The Forest City Film Festival (FCFF) shines a spotlight on the art of cinema through a regional lens, connecting Southwestern Ontario to national and global stories. Every year, SASAH students intern with the festival and have wonderful experiences. FCFF Public Relations and Communications Interns get acquainted with a selection of films, have a chance to liaise with the filmmakers, and promote their work to the public. FCFF Interns learn about running a film festival and gain invaluable skills and experience in communications and public relations.


Forest City Gallery

Forest City Gallery (FCG) is an artist-run centre founded on artistic autonomy with a commitment to excellence in programming exhibitions and events that reflect and address recent developments in cultural production. FCG was founded in 1973 by a nationally recognized group of London artists and musicians. As one of Canada’s first artist-run centres, FCG became a catalyst for the development of artist-run culture, contributing to the conception of ARCCO (Artist-Run Centres and Collectives of Ontario) and CARFAC (Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens). 

SASAH partners with FCG on student volunteer and internship placements as well as on public events like the SASAH Speakers' Series, which invites exciting arts professionals to speak on salient topics in the cultural sector. 


The Walrus

Each year, SASAH partners with The Walrus to offer a Summer Digital Internship. This placement with their Digital Department is the only internship currently offered by The Walrus, making it a very special experiential learning opportunity for our students. 


See a full listing of SASAH's Experiential Learning Partners!