Industry Connections

At Emily Carr University, learning goes beyond the classroom. Students build meaningful relationships with professionals, organizations and communities that launch their creative careers.

Whether you’re exploring career paths, growing your practice or looking for real-world experience, ECU helps you get involved, get inspired and get hired.

A professional mentor reviews a student’s work on a tablet during Creative Industry Day at Emily Carr University.

Networking Opportunities

Strong creative careers are built on relationships. ECU’s Career Development + Work Integrated Learning (CD+WIL) office helps you meet the people who can shape your future.

Crit Night: Exclusive to ECU, Crit Night is where curators and gallerists from Vancouver’s leading cultural institutions gather to critique graduating students’ final projects. Expect direct feedback from places like the Vancouver Art Gallery, Richmond Art Gallery and Polygon Gallery.
Creative Industry Day: Design + Dynamic Media students meet one-on-one with employers like Arc’teryx, Herschel Supply, Microsoft, DNEG, Mainframe Studios and Sony Pictures Imageworks.
Alumni Mentors: Connect with ECU grads who’ve been where you are. Get insights on growing your practice, working creative fields and navigating life after graduation.

Explore Career + Work

Work Experience Program

ECU’s Work Experience Program (WEP) lets undergrads earn degree credit while gaining paid, real-world experience.

You’ll sharpen skills, build confidence, explore options and grow your professional network — all before graduation. Whether designing installations, coding prototypes or collaborating on exhibitions, you’ll leave ECU with more than a degree.

Up to 9 credits + paid experience
Students who participate in WEP are 91% more likely to find jobs in their field vs. 71% who don’t.*
Employers include Microsoft, EA, OAK + FORT and the City of Vancouver

**Source: 2023 Data Report, Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Canada*

Explore the Work Experience Program

Alumni Perspectives

“Career planning can be daunting for students, but having an outstanding team that consistently offers support and encouragement to reach your goals makes the journey manageable. The assistance and advice I received was instrumental in helping me to secure a career in the gaming industry.”

Maoz Nagauker (BDes), Experience Designer at Electronic Arts

Recent Research Partnerships

Through the Research + Industry Office, ECU connects students and faculty with partners driving change.

St. Paul’s Hospital: The Health Design Lab worked with frontline staff to design human-centred care spaces for the new hospital.
Gitanyow Nation: Visual artist Ella White (BFA 2025) joined a project highlighting the Gitanyow Nation’s perspective on a 1928 visit by Emily Carr. Working with Mitacs and the Nation, she drew from archives to co-create a narrative for the museum’s reopening.
Buffalo Buffalo + EA: Interactive Design students in a Shumka Centre initiative created socially engaged games alongside EA designers.

Become a Research Partner

Indigenous Fashion Week
Microsoft
Native Shoes
OAK + FORT
Sony Pictures Imageworks
Telus
Vancouver Coastal Health
Vancouver Fashion Week

Learn About ECU Research

A student wearing a VR headset and controllers demonstrates an interactive project while peers present in the background at Emily Carr University.

(From L): ECU students Sarah Huet, Leela Rao, Avid Alamzadeh and Chloe Jun present their team’s work during the INTD 310 curricular hackathon. Led in partnership with Shumka Centre for Creative Entrepreneurship and the Business + Higher Education Roundtable, the hackathon challenged students to devise and create a game in a compressed timeframe under guidance from ECU faculty member Siddhant Singh and with expert feedback from industry professionals from gaming companies EA and Buffalo Buffalo.

Four people stand in a gallery space observing artwork. A woman in a patterned top demonstrates or adjusts part of a hinged panel artwork that reveals colorful abstract designs. One person in a brown sweater and cap looks closely, while two others, one in a white shirt and cap and another in a white blouse and skirt, watch attentively. A bright, bold painting with abstract figures is visible on the wall behind them.

A student holds up a thin, charred piece of material during a classroom activity, while another student in the background smiles.

(From L): Bachelor of Fine Arts student Shelly Kositsky and Master of Design student Sreya Naga Iakshi in Material Matters research hub at Emily Carr University of Art + Design as part of the Charred Wood research initiative led by ECU faculty members and Material Matters cofounders Hélène Day Fraser and Keith Doyle in partnership with Orlando Rojas of the UBC BioProducts Institute, Tony Bi of the Clean Energy Research Centre and the Boothroyd Band, Nlaka’pamux First Nations.

A student in a classroom runs while holding a project prototype as classmates watch and smile during a lively design workshop at Emily Carr University.

Alumni Perspectives

“ECU provided invaluable opportunities to connect with professionals and explore the field. They hosted industry talks, workshops and portfolio reviews. These experiences, along with a summer internship with Microsoft via the Work Experience Program, greatly enhanced my confidence and preparedness to launch my career as a design professional after graduation.”

Tony Shi (BDes 2021), Designer II at Microsoft