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Emily Carr University’s 2025 Grad Show Is Its Most Ambitious Yet

Join us and celebrate the future of art and design. Show opens May 7.

Emily Carr University 17 Apr 2025The Tyee

Art and design don’t just reflect the world — they shape it. At Emily Carr University of Art + Design, this belief comes to life through The Show, the annual public graduation exhibition and one of Vancouver’s most anticipated cultural events.

Featuring more than 420 works by emerging artists and designers, The Show is a bold, thought-provoking glimpse into the future of creative practice. From climate justice to identity, innovation to tradition, these projects explore the urgent questions of our time and reveal how the next generation emerging from Canada’s top-ranked art and design university is using creativity to drive change.

Each spring, The Show transforms Emily Carr University’s Great Northern Way campus into a sprawling gallery of creative possibilities. And in 2025, the exhibition marks its most ambitious edition yet, featuring more than 420 works that reflect the diversity of disciplines and the depth of talent within this year’s graduating class. 

A person with dark hair, a T-shirt and a backpack is stepping towards a large-format art installation that features a geometric pattern of colourful lights against mixed-media artwork, including newspapers and print ephemera, mounted to the wall in a dark gallery space.
The 2025 graduation exhibition from Emily Carr University of Art + Design is the most ambitious edition yet. This is a photo from its 2024 graduation show. The Forsaken by 2024 BFA (photography) grad Riyanna Blando at the opening reception for The Show in 2024.

Join in the festivities and celebrate opening night on May 7 from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. The exhibition is ongoing from May 8 to 21, 2025. You can attend in person and online, making it accessible to everyone, regardless of location.

Whether you’re an art enthusiast, a design professional or simply curious about emerging talent, The Show has something for everyone.

Expect to find works spanning several disciplines, including illustration, photography, visual arts, ceramics, print media, painting, performance, drawing and sculpture. You'll also see projects in cultural practice, communication design, interaction design, industrial design, animation, film, sound arts and more.

Large groups of people are walking, mingling and observing art in a crowded concourse in an indoor space with wood beams on the ceiling and white walls. Artwork is displayed on tables to the right of the frame as well as alongside the left walls.
One can attend The Show in person and online. Photo courtesy of Emily Carr University of Art + Design.

For many students, The Show serves as a launch pad. They join the ranks of ECU alumni who have made lasting contributions to the cultural landscape — including Stan Douglas, Brian Jungen, Sonny Assu, Neko Case, Douglas Coupland and Annie Liu, to name just a few. 

The scope of this year’s exhibition reflects Emily Carr University’s commitment to its multidisciplinary, hands-on educational approach. In the spirit of a practice-based education, The Show explores the depth of student talent, passion and perspective through a range of immersive and interactive installations that push the boundaries of traditional art and design. Audiences will experience works that explore everything from future-facing technology to community-focused art that challenges the status quo.

Through these innovative installations, attendees can glimpse not only where creative practices are today, but where they are heading tomorrow. 

Three pairs of students stand in an indoor gallery space interacting with the visual art on display. In the foreground is an installation featuring tall yellow pillars in an exaggerated shape.
Whether you’re an art enthusiast, a design professional or simply curious about emerging talent, The Show has something for everyone. For a Moment in Time and Space by Rachel Tin-Lan Wong, BFA (visual arts), The Show, 2024.

Admission is free and everyone is welcome, so join in celebrating the talent of Emily Carr University’s exceptional graduates and the real-world impact of the university’s leading-edge, hands-on education. 

‘The Show’ opens at Emily Carr University on May 7. Find the full schedule online or explore the online exhibition.  [Tyee]

Read more: Education, Art

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