About Us
The EPAC (École Professionnelle des Arts Contemporains) is the first Comic and Game Art school in Switzerland.
Its goal is to be an experimental platform for interdisciplinary exchanges based on technological developments and professional realities. This objective is reflected in the training it offers which, as well as teaching traditional techniques, meets the needs of continually evolving artistic media (interactivity, virtuality). Students are thus trained to be generalists with a good understanding of professional problems who are able to grasp the contemporary demands of art. The school’s external mandates testify to this ongoing dialogue between students and the professional world, be it through conventional media or transmedia approaches.
​
EPAC is dedicated to providing the best education and training programs for students who dream of a career as an illustrator, comic artists artist, game designer and many other artistic careers. Courses consist of practical and theoretical lessons with workshops given by prominent comic artists, illustrators, screenwriters, game artists or interactive designers on a campus with over 600 square meters dedicated to narrative art.
Since its creation, EPAC has associated itself with many renowned, innovative figures through various workshops and conferences organised throughout the academic year. These leading figures also make a regular appearance in daily lectures. Not only do they support students in their artistic creation process, they also bear witness to the main challenges and issues inherent to the world of narrative art. This teacher-student dialogue is not limited to artistic practice: it often opens up to other areas such as science & technology or more conceptual artistic fields.
​
​EPAC is also proud of the record of collaboration with institutions and Swiss companies allowing students to experience the challenges of the professional world and includes internships as part of the programs.
The EPAC is authorized by the European Accreditation Board of Higher Education Schools to award the European Bachelor of Fine Arts (with comic strips/illustration and new media as the specialty) and the European Master of Fine Arts (specializing in sequential art and international distribution/game art).
The EABHES is an accreditation company which supports higher education institutions. By making recommendations regarding the structure of course contents and the use of universal tools such as the European Credit Transfer System, it favours student mobility within Europe.
Historical Highlights
2015
Collaboration with the Swiss Federal Parliamentary Services, creating a book for future young citizens of Switzerland and an internet site with interactive, educational games.
2014
Commissioned by the HES-University students to design their magazine, Etumag. EPAC students produced all the illustrations and plates in this issue.
2011
Opening of the Game Art section, with Thomas Crausaz as head of department.
2010
Opening of the Animated 2D/3D Film department.
2009
Collaboration contract with the animation, painting, and new media departments of the Academy of Fine Arts at Cracow, Poland. The first EPAC students took their MA there.
2008
Student exchanges with Taiwan National University of the Arts and Ming Chuan University in Taiwan.
2005
Opening of the department for the EMA in Sequential Art and international Distribution.
European Master of Art accreditation by EABHES.
2004
Collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts at Cracow, Poland.
Collaboration with the Saint-Luc Institut in Brussels, Belgium.
The EPAC celebrates its 5th birthday, and the Strapazin its 20th.
An exhibition was opened in the presence of their founders and directors.
2003
European Bachelor of Art accreditation by EABHES, with specialization in comic art and illustration. Attributed eduQua label (the Swiss certification for further education) by the SGS.
2001
Situated at Sion from its creation, the EPAC moved into new premises thanks to support from the commune of Saxon. A disused cinema was reborn as a school and provides the commune with its primary site for art and culture.
1993
The aim of the school remains unchanged since 1993: To develop a unique and trans-disciplinary training around the narrative arts, while remaining on the watch for the development of new media derived from emerging technologies.