Toronto is the home of an intellectual legacy that punches above its weight. McLuhan, Frye, Atwood, Hacking, Ratto, Hinton… not to mention public intellectuals like Naomi Klein and Gabor Mate. What is it about this place that produces new and exciting thinking? How can we ourselves use our specific blend of centrality and remoteness develop our original ideas and create a body of work that we are proud of?
irid aims to be a vehicle of original thinking through supporting thinker-creators in becoming teachers and public intellectuals. In teaching, we incubate our ideas, and are forced to think with greater depth, rigour and accessibility. We are forced to be grounded in the now, in the needs of the present, while considering how our current concerns echo the past and potential futures. We must necessarily extend beyond the tweet, the quick thesis, the splashy thought, and into the realm of systems of thought, complex argumentation, and new intellectual worlds. In the process, what might we uncover about ourselves, the world, and each other?
to teach a course with irid, you must demonstrate a commitment to living in the city of Toronto for the next year, and/or contributing to the health of the Toronto ecosystem. You must come with original questions you believe teaching will help you answer, and come prepared to be critiqued with love, care and rigour. Finally, you must come prepared to teach, which is to say, to give yourself to a group of students wholly and thoroughly, keeping in mind their development not only as thinkers but human beings.
If this is interesting to you, irid's course incubation program can offer:
- A classroom and physical setup (e.g. chairs, projector, etc.)
- Our brand and network
- 100% IP of your own course material
- Most importantly, 1-on-1 coaching in shaping your ideas by Michelle Jia, whose coaching experience spans a decade of thought and practice
What you share with us in return:
- Your enthusiasm, spirit and energy, willingness to work
- 85% of net proceeds to irid
At its best, this program pays you to create your own material, be coached by an expert design coach, and run your own class in the city of Toronto.
We are currently taking applications for irid's inaugural fall quarter, which will run from late September to the end of December 2026 and winter quarter, which will run from January 2027 to mid March 2027. Course development begins on a rolling basis.
apply here: [FORM LINK]