As an active partner within the academic fabric of Toronto Metropolitan University, the cultural network of Toronto, and the national and international photography community, we develop programs that speak to and welcome interested parties from many walks of life, including students, faculty, artists, historians, and curators, as well as the general public. The Image Centre boasts three interrelated areas of activity: an exhibition program, which addresses topics of social, cultural, aesthetic, and historical concern from a variety of contemporary perspectives; its research program, which conducts and facilitates inquiry into primary resource materials and offers lectures, symposia, and publications devoted to the history of photography; and, accessible in its Peter Higdon Research Centre, a collection of photography spanning the medium's history—including the renowned Black Star Collection of twentieth-century photo-reportage. The Image Centre is also home to several artists' archives, including those of Berenice Abbott, Wendy Snyder MacNeil, Jo Spence, and Werner Wolff. Our museum-standard facility consists of approximately 4,500 square feet of exhibition space; a Great Hall for lectures, conferences, screenings and receptions; a glassed-in entrance colonnade with the 16 foot Salah Bachir New Media Wall visible from the street; a temperature and moisture controlled vault for our growing collection; and a state of the art, professionally-staffed research centre.