The Association des agences de communication créative, Collège Sainte-Anne and Sid Lee used the C2 Montréal event Monday to announce plans for a “school of creativity sciences” called Factry that will open this fall.
Though primarily centred on continuing education for those already working in advertising, marketing and related fields, Factry will also work in collaboration with universities and high schools on workshops to help shape the next generation of talent. The campus will be located in the Quartier de l’innovation in Montreal.
Speaking in French during a press conference at C2, Philippe Meunier, Sid Lee’s chief creative officer and a Factry co-founder, said the idea for the school came from a common question he fielded about how to best pursue a professional career in creativity. It became obvious the province needed a place to help equip people with the right skills, he said. “Today is a realization of that dream.”
Marie Amiot, Factry’s managing director, said the school would offer value to a wide variety of professionals including those working in architecture, fashion, industrial design, PR, graphic design and media. The emphasis will be on workshop-style sessions that solve business and societal problems. National Bank is among the corporate partners in the venture.
“In school, students are asked to respond to a question,” she said. “In the reality of work, it’s completely different. The solution to the [clients’] problem is not necessarily ‘an answer.'”
Factry actually started its first college-level program last fall with a small group of students at Collège Sainte-Anne, and 60 more students are expected this September as the campus officially opens. The founders said École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) are among those interested in working with Factry to quickly develop a program focusing on creativity.
The launch of Factry comes amid a flurry of other efforts to improve the education of marketing and creative professionals in Canada. Renowned Miami Ad School is setting up shop in Toronto this July, for example, while Digital AdLab, which recently partnered with the Sheridan’s Pilon School of Business on a student accelerator program, is expected to announce additional expansion on Wednesday.
The Factry name is deliberately meant to be neither English nor French, and is a reference to the 1850s manufacturing boom in Montreal that first brought French Canadians in contact with Irish immigrants.
