About

Our Purpose

SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement (SFU VOCE) has supported creative engagement, knowledge democracy, and access to arts and culture since December 2010. We recognize the arts as a catalyst in social change and transformative community engagement. Our programs are designed in collaboration with and for our community, creating dynamic content in the areas of:

Arts, Culture, and Community
Social and Environmental Justice
Urban Issues

Our work is guided by the Carnegie Foundation’s definition of Community Engagement as "the collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional… global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity."

100+

Discussions Hosted per Year

20+

Community and Academic Partners

25K+

People Engaged per Year

Emma Talks, Tin Can Studio community-engaged art, 2016. Photo courtesy of Emma Talks.

Our Method

SFU VOCE makes participation in vital conversations accessible to the wider community through public programming, community partnerships and community-engaged research. We work with community and academic partners to carve out physical and digital spaces to amplify community voices in the exchange of ideas.

'Recollect' by The Carnegie Dance Troupe of Karen Jamieson Dance, 2019. Photo by Chris Randle.

Our Partners

Working with our community partners, we have spent over a decade fostering reciprocal relationships between SFU students, staff, faculty and the wider community. Through these collaborations, we aim to centre community perspectives and lived experience in research and policy change. We are grateful to partner with organizations who are working towards these common goals.

Meet Our Partners

'Recollect' by The Carnegie Dance Troupe of Karen Jamieson Dance, 2019. Photo by Chris Randle.

'Illicit', performance in the Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre, 2018. Photo courtesy of the 'Illicit' cast.

Recommended Resources

As an educational, cultural and community-building initiative, we actively curate a list of relevant resources. These include articles, reports and organizations that are involved in innovative community engagement practices.

Explore Resources

Recommended Resources

As an educational, cultural and community-building initiative, we actively curate a list of relevant resources. These include articles, reports and organizations that are involved in innovative community engagement practices.

Explore Resources

Our Supporters

The work of SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement is supported by SFU and external funders such as Vancity Credit Union and the Goldcorp Community Endowment.