Tips for incoming Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts students

A photo of the front of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, and the Artists' Common street sign

Leave yourself enough time between classes

While many of your classes may be held at the new downtown campus, you will also take several classes at our main Brock campus as well. When planning your schedule, be sure to leave yourself enough time between classes if commuting between the two campuses.

The location codes for the downtown campus include: MWS and PACRH or PACFS, both located in the Performing Arts Centre adjacent to the school.

Students taking courses with location codes of MWS, PACRH, or PACFS, will need to leave a minimum of 30 minutes between their downtown campus classes and their main campus classes, but an hour would be a preferable cushion to allow for transition and travel. There will be direct city bus connections between the two campuses. Your Brock student card is your transit pass for the city bus.

Information about travel and schedules is available at the Niagara Region Transit website

Courses with location codes MWS, PACRH, or PACFS can be scheduled back to back and courses with on-campus codes (all location codes that are not MWS, PACRH or PACFS) can be scheduled back to back.

Click here for a map of the
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts

Context credits

All students require courses called context credits. These are Mandatory courses intended to provide you with a broad educational background. All students must complete at least one full credit from each of the following Faculties at Brock:

  • Humanities
  • Mathematics and Science
  • Social Sciences

Click here to view a complete list of context credits

Below, we’ve assembled a list of suggested context credits that may work best for your program.

MIWSFPA students are afforded maximum flexibility in placing their context credits within their degree. Taking context credits later than suggested is an acceptable practice.

Dramatic Arts:

The context credit requirement is meant to encourage diversity of learning. Explore the offerings and choose something that may be out of your area but in which you have an interest.

Remember that the context credit course could be the beginning of a Minor or Combined Major program in a subject different than Dramatic Arts.

For those who may be interested in drama therapy, PSYC 1F90 would be a wise choice. Many graduate programs require a number of completed psychology courses in order to qualify for admission.

Choose a context credit course that is NOT in schedule conflict with your required DART courses AND that permits sufficient commuting time between classes at the MIWSFPA and those at 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, the main campus. Your schedule at Dramatic Arts will be very busy in the evenings with rehearsals, obligatory field trips and talkbacks, and other events. Whenever possible we recommend that you take your context credit courses during the day.

Music:

For first-year Music students choosing context credits and/or the Departmental language requirement, the deciding factor will likely be schedule. It is usually recommended that Music students take ONE of the following in first year:

Social Science Context Credit: For students who might be interested in the Music Therapy Foundations concentration, it is highly recommended that they take PSYC 1F90 in their first year. This course is not only context elective, but also a requirement of the Music Therapy Foundations concentration and a prerequisite for other required courses in this concentration. If students are interested in other concentrations then they can elect any social science context OR any ONE of the following:

Science Context Credit: Any science context credit that fits in their schedule. BIOL 1F25, ERSC 1P92/1P94 and ASTR 1P01/1P02 have proved particularly popular, especially the on-line versions.

Language Requirement: all MUSI students must complete 1.0 credit of a foreign language. This can be a full credit in FREN, ITAL, GERM or LATI at any level.

Visual Arts — Studio Art:

There will be choices for context credits depending on the section of studio courses selected. On-line science context credits like BIOL 1F25, ERSC 1P92/1P94 and ASTR 1P01/1P02 might be the easiest to schedule, but on-line courses require a commitment of time. IASC 1P00 (section 1) and APCO 1P50 (section 1) also work. The Social Sciences context credit requirement is officially in year two in the calendar, but should a student wish to take it in year one, that is fine. Should they wish to delay it to second year that is fine also.

Studies in Arts and Culture:

DART 1P91/1P92 and DART 1P94/1P95 are the only courses that are offered at the downtown campus, the others are on the main campus or on-line. STAC students have quite a bit of choice for their first year and their choices will largely determine their schedule.

Click here to view a complete list of context credits.

Discuss your options with an advisor

You are welcome to book an online MS Teams advising appointment, or contact rmaddeaux@brocku.ca for specific questions after you have had the opportunity to make a preliminary plan and attempt to register. Please be patient with our responses as we negotiate responses for both new and returning students, but we will do our best to answer your questions.