Our first action against OIART Inc.

Cease and Desist for O.I.A.R.T. Incorporated Written May 12, 2026 by The AMO and revised June 3rd 2026

To the administration at O.I.A.R.T. Incorporated: A required component of OIART’s program is that the “student” record a song for the “talent”. When I was working as a guitarist in Juice Joint, a bassist and producer for Sam Hansell, a recording engineer for Whine Problem, a guitarist for Amanda Movio, a guitarist and writing collaborator for Saveria, a guitarist and writing collaborator for Eleanor, and a guitarist for 4 da Tribe, I had plenty of first and second hand experiences as “talent” at OIART. This gave me a very positive impression of the incorporation. “Talent” was provided free coffee and free rein over the well-equipped studios 1 and 2. This equipment includes four “students”, as they were required to obey the “talent” as if they were being hired to do so. These “students” were simultaneously incredibly eager to help but incredibly anxious. I rationalised this as social anxiety, as the nature of the relationship between “talent” and “student” is unlike any other collaboration I’ve experienced in the arts. Normally, collaborations for art happen between artists. I did not see any “students” expressing creative ambition, which is strange considering how many of OIART’s “students” are musicians.

I have also worked as a session player at EMAC and several other studios in London. In these environments, the “talent” is the one being told how to perform by the producer… the engineer has already set up the studio… and the technician is there to operate it. The difference between a professional recording session and an OIART session is subtle, but it is in how there is often no producer. The “talent” is there to help the “students” complete their assignment, while the “students” are there to help the “talent” as the assignment itself. Nobody is calling the shots.

Despite this, the “talent” is still able to freely access OIART’s expensive studios. If instead of enrolling in O.I.A.R.T. Incorporated’s program, you exploit this opportunity as Juice Joint did to record gorgeous hi-fi jazz, you could undoubtedly make a passive fortune on Sirius XM’s WTRCLRS—all without hiring OIART graduates and without renting a studio. Because OIART charges each “student” $34,000 for the year, you can easily access the best recording equipment in the world. Did they not buy 2 more u87s this year? This means that even if you wanted to support the actual music industry by recording at the Sugar Shack, you would receive poorer quality recordings at a higher cost. Turns out, it is in your best interest to be your own producer. You can cut out as many technical roles as possible by fixing all of the mistakes in post. You’ll see that Nathan Nykor will find far more success with his sophomore album (which was recorded in this manner), than anything coming out of the Sugar Shack, Aviation Lane, or any other studio in London (the UNESCO City of Music mind you) that employees OIART graduates. It cannot be simultaneously true that an institution is providing a satisfactory educational program while they are indirectly creating a situation in the recorded music industry that makes it near impossible for an OIART graduate to find success.

All that being said, I am sure there is still some doubt. Because O.I.A.R.T. Incorporated is registered as a career college in Ontario, it will take more than Nathan Nykor’s case to prove how O.I.A.R.T. Incorporated’s talk of a cohesive sound industry is complete misinformation. The distinction that can presently be made is that OIART is competing with businesses in the recorded music industry. This is a problem. As a career college, OIART should be firmly in the education industry. Why are they undercutting every recording studio in London?

It can also be said that until OIART fixes their program, aspiring music producers and sound engineers should not enrol at OIART. It’s the obvious choice. If you want clients, you should invest the 34k in your studio. Not in support of an institution that takes clients from you.

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My experience as a “student” at OIART was enlightening in all the wrong ways. At orientation, I was told to maintain an open mind despite how my mind was necessarily made up earlier that February when I sent the first payment to reserve my spot. In the first semester, I learned that O.I.A.R.T. Incorporated exists as gatekeepers of IATSE and at least one other union for the sound technicians employed by Global Spectrum Facility Management, L.P., who then has an exclusivity deal with Canada Life Place. A similar situation is blocking qualified professionals from working at The Western Fair. It is nice to know that my applications have been ignored because of these unethical business practices, and not because I was unqualified. But I thought, maybe there was something I was missing. I maintained an open mind at OIART as instructed.

Here are some of my takeaways:

The LSEP (Live sound and event production) class was good. The most valuable piece of information was that live sound technicians were often learning on the job, so it should be possible for me to enter the industry as a stagehand or rigger without graduating from OIART. Especially as I have several years of professional experience as a front-of-house mixer for a church with 200 members, I should not be struggling to find a way into working at Sunfest or London Music Hall.

The AVIS (Audio-visual) class should really be called ‘sound for film, television, and advertising’, as the audio-visual technology used in stage productions was sufficiently covered in LSEP. Despite my complete disinterest in the film, television, and advertising industries and despite how OIART’s promotional material did not show this class as being as integral to their program as it actually is, I was tempted to give up on music altogether and go down the OIART funnel. When coupled with the gravity of my tuition debt and the promise of the luxurious life of union-provided housing and cortados, Mark Vogelsang’s messaging made it seem as if I really should give up on my career in music. I could not continue in OIART’s program after noticing this, because if I were to switch from the music industry to the film industry, there was no point to continue in the other classes. If I were to remain focused on developing my career in music as I had originally intended on doing as a “student”, I could not opt out AVIS. Frustratingly, AVIS had two assignments in first semester, and PROD had zero. This all makes it quite clear: Mark Vogelsang has no business as program director when OIART’s promotional material makes the program seem as if it’s hyper-focused on the recorded music industry.

Which leads me to PROD. The supposed focus of the OIART program was severely restricted. I was unable to produce my own music for my grade. Musical collaboration between students was discouraged when I would expect it to be facilitated. Classes were long and boring, and shallower than an Adam Neely YouTube video. The highlights of the class were posted on OIART’s instagram page anyways, resulting in a class that is being sold at a premium, promoted as the central focus of the program, and effectively almost completely useless for someone who intends on making music production my career.

I also must point out how the sound engineering component of OIART’s program has atrophied into acoustics (which has no assignments), and the two soldering assignments are crammed into LSEP. I was really hoping for hands-on instruction in learning how to repair the microphones and amplifiers that OIART has access to. I expected the program would have an extremely heavy focus on sound engineering. Especially considering how the building is constructed to be like a recording studio, I thought I’d actually be constructing sound baffles and Helmholtz resonators, installing and repairing analog gear, etc.

Seems that because OIART’s instructors are former “students” and because most hands-on work is done without proper instruction at all (Because the interns do not count towards the provincial requirement that instructors have 10 years of professional experience, they should not be doing so much of the hands on instruction), OIART has simply forgotten how to teach the art of sound engineering.

Instead they are incorrectly equating the job of the sound technician with the job of the sound engineer, and incorrectly preparing their “students” for entrance into other industries such that they can pretend that their claim to 100% job placement is at all honest (the current version of oiart.org is saying 80%, but I recall seeing 100% when I was enrolling. The point still stands).

I theorize that the reason OIART is not accurately promoting their program is because they do not consider their role in the industry to be that of an educational institution. Based on the actions of the incorporation, it seems as if their product is not the music and sound engineering program they promote, but the obedient graduate which is then provided to their friends in Canada’s hidden professional unions. This is why “student” is in quotations, and why the program starts with YOUR NEW JOB. This means that professionals like myself (with prior experience working with record labels, churches, venues, festivals, and government-funded councils and nonprofits to create music that genuinely resonates with people) can easily be exploited by my employers, and that the protections provided by unions are only accessible to those who work for advertising, television, and industries that I will never be dealing with as a music producer (the music producer does it through record labels and distributors). So because of how OIART converts young passion for the arts into doctrine-obsessed jack-of-all-trades technicians and because outspoken people like myself are filtered out in the first semester, these unions do not need to advertise their job openings and the employers do not need to provide training for their employees. This is also causing a great divide between the arts and mass entertainment, ensuring that organizations like the Western Fair and London Tourism do not platform the creativity that earns this city its UNESCO designation, further ensuring that London’s “talent” does not receive the financial support that they should be receiving from municipal and provincial efforts to fund the arts. This disproportionately harms minority and low-income artists, and explaining why this is an issue is well beyond the scope of this letter.

This is a cease and desist. As of this year, I have achieved 10 years of professional experience in the music industry, and so I am actually qualified to be an instructor at OIART. From this experience I can guarantee: the misinformation being disseminated by OIART’s program is going to kill this industry. Unless it already has? hmm……I am out of work……… and so is Brandon Valdivia, he’s got at least 10 years on me.

O.I.A.R.T. Incorporated must refund all down payments for the class of 2026-2027, and must not run their program next year. This is because the overhaul that is required for OIART’s program and promotional material cannot possibly be completed in the 1 month gap between this year’s graduation and next year’s orientation.

This is the first of many changes they must make if they wish to continue to exist as a career college, but I would be a fool to give O.I.A.R.T. Incorporated the answer to the question of “How does one succeed as a music producer in 2026?” for free. Will OIART be a fool and continue to ignore my letters? Take them seriously and you’ll find they’re helpful.

AWRF