When Emily Carr University of Art + Design announced it was setting up shop in Prince George, it was a Prince George arts figure who held the spotlight.
While political dignitaries and post-secondary senior officials did all the talking at the podium, one figure in the background stood out as familiar and comfortable in the Prince George context. Emily Carr's vice-president of financial advancement and communications was longtime local arts figure Broek Bosma.
"You knew him right away. That's what this is about," said Emily Carr provost David Bogen about why Bosma was playing such a prominent role in the art and design school's foray into northern B.C. "So much of this, because the programming is still formative, is about responding to the community. It is a complicated thing. There are many skateholders, many needs to address, and we intend to be collaborative throughout this process, so all the talents and resources we call on fit the goals of the community. He knows a thing or two about this community."
Minister of Labour, Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training Shirley Bond, a Prince George MLA who knew Bosma during his upbringing here, was thrilled to see him back on home soil.
"He will be pivotal in designing the new role Emily Carr will take on here [at the Wood Innovation And Design Centre]," said Bond. "The added bonus is, Broek will be a key player in that connection between UNBC and Emily Carr and northern B.C." thanks to his knowledge of the area's people and issues.
Bosma is most notable as the former operator of the Prince George Conservatory of Music, which burgeoned in student population and balance sheet under his guidance.
He was also artistic director of the Prince George Symphony Orchestra for a time.
On his own creative side, he was the founder and conductor of groups like Sinfonia Prince George and the Borealis Chamber Choir.
Other organizations often called on Bosma for his artistic and organizational skills, like conducting musical theatre orchestras (Brigadoon, Beauty And The Beast, Cats, etc.) most often by Bonnie Leach's Excalibur Theatre Arts but also special consultation with Theatre North West on their needs for the production of Portia White, a show steeped in singing needs.
Bosma's composition skills were called into action by painter Betty Kovacic. He wrote the 50 short pieces of music used in her famed Two Rivers Gallery art installation commemorating B.C.'s missing and murdered women.
The last time he publicly performed in Prince George was in 2010, conducting a Christmas concert by vocalist and fellow P.G. expatriate Veera Khare-Asher.
Bosma had, by then, been hired as the director of marketing and development with Orchestra London in Ontario, a position he began in 2006, and then held a similar post with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra before moving into the healthcare sector (a senior fundraiser for the Sunnybrook Foundation).
With his resume of artistic creation and art entrepreneurship, he was perfectly fit for the position he now holds with Emily Carr University.
Bosma also embodies the province's post-secondary expansionist agenda into the regions of B.C. He got his first degree, a Bachelor of Arts (Music), at UBC because no arts programs were available in the north. He came back, however, to get his Master of Business Administration from UNBC. Although he will continue to be stationed at Emily Carr's headquarters in Vancouver, he will be playing a role in establishing better arts-based post-secondary education opportunities in the north with this design and research collaboration between UNBC and Emily Carr.
"This is a once-in-a-city's-lifetime opportunity," he said. "There will be experts in engineering, experts in wood, experts in design and art, all working together on what the future holds for the future of wood. To have that kind of innovation base located at the source - the place the product comes from - is a real opportunity."
There is no set agenda quantifying the students, staff and exact program parameters, but according to Bogen and Bosma, the first intake of students will be in summer/fall of 2016.
