The world of advertising education is a small, interconnected world.
By Megan Nash
STORY:
Vann Graves, EdD has been executive director of the Brandcenter at VCU since 2018. Dr. Graves has over two decades of experience in creative, business, and executive leadership. He has worked with leading global brands including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, MasterCard, Visa, GE, and M&Ms in prior roles as Chief Creative Officer at J. Walter Thompson; EVP, Global Executive Creative Director at McCann New York; VP, Creative Director at BBDO New York; and CoFounder at FL+G, a full-service branding agency in Denver.
Dr. Graves details the thought leadership behind VCU’s acquisition of The Creative Circus in 2022, and the shared history that ties portfolio schools.
It’s all in the family.
When The Creative Circus announced its closure in 2023, it marked the end of an era–or so it seemed.
For nearly three decades, the Atlanta-based portfolio school had been a proving ground for some of advertising’s most influential creatives. Months later, after the announcement, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) stepped in, acquiring the school and sparking questions about what this meant for The Creative Circus’ legacy–and how it might coexist alongside VCU’s own Brandcenter, a longtime peer and friendly rival.
As we discussed internally what it would mean to keep “The Circus” as it is affectionately known, alive, I thought back to a conversation with Diane Tench-Cook, the founding director of the VCU Brandcenter. Early in my tenure as executive director, she shared a lesser-known truth that has stayed with me: all portfolio schools share a common thread, and it begins here in Richmond.
To understand how these schools are connected, you have to go back to the start of it all–and, as so many transformative stories do, it started with a single visionary: Ron Siechrist.
Ron Seichrist isn’t a household name, but if you’ve ever flipped through a glossy award or show program filled with ads, you’ve seen his influence.
In 1958, he graduated from Richmond Professional Institute (now VCU) with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Advertising and Design and a Certificate in Commercial Art. From there, his creative career took him to New York, Philadelphia, and London during the height of the “Swinging Sixties”.
By the early ‘70s, Seichrist had arrived in Minneapolis, where he began teaching at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD). Back then, advertising education was stuffy, academic, and hopelessly out of sync with the industry. Agencies trained their own talent because universities weren’t up to the task. Ron changed all that, first at MCAD, then with the Portfolio Center in Atlanta, and later with the Miami Ad School.
His big idea? Ditch the lectures, scrap the textbooks, and bring in the pros. Let working creatives teach, give students real-world assignments, and make sure they leave with something tangible: a portfolio that gets them hired. “Reality-based education,” as one of his students put it, but with an edge that felt fresh and a little rebellious.
The Portfolio Center became the blueprint for schools like the Brandcenter. The Brandcenter, formerly the ADCenter, which Cook-Tench started in 1996, has always been a kindred spirit to schools like The Circus and Miami Ad School. Cook-Tench was a student of Seichrist at MCAD, and her program borrowed his best ideas: a portfolio-driven curriculum, practitioners as professors and a graduate focus that didn’t waste time on theory.
The Creative Circus, which broke away from The Portfolio Center in 1995, had its own take on advertising education. But when the pandemic hit, The Circus struggled to keep its tent up, and in 2023, it planned to close.
That could have been the end of the story. However, my colleagues and I understood the importance of The Creative Circus to the advertising industry, and with the support of VCU, we were able to keep The Creative Circus from closing for good.
At Brandcenter, we were able to welcome current Circus students into the fold, inviting them to transfer and complete their portfolios. It wasn’t just about preserving their education–it was a way of honoring that shared lineage. Transitional scholarships were offered, portfolios completed and a handful of new voices joined a community already brimming with creative energy.
VCU’s acquisition of The Circus is in the same spirit – to honor the school’s legacy while forging something new. It’s tempting to frame this as a rescue mission, but to me, it feels more like a relay race. Seichrist passed the baton to those who started schools like The Circus, which inspired institutions like the Brandcenter.
It’s not often you see a story like this in education. Schools tend to compete for rankings and reputation, treating collaborations as an afterthought. But advertising has always been about reinvention, and if this moment proves anything, it’s that the best ideas don’t belong to any one place.
The Circus may no longer be in Atlanta, but its spirit is alive and well in Richmond–and now online, hosting new generations of aspiring creative leaders.
*Artwork created by Midjourney