53. Dan Riskin - Always Curious
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Whether wearing the hat of scientist, educator, journalist, speaker ... or even entertainer, Dan Riskin has always been committed to bringing science and the natural world to life for others and doing so by bringing his wide-open curiosity to the game. Dan’s desire to help people tap into the fact that science is fun and surprising and hilarious and exciting, has helped him to build a multifaceted career whether as a leading expert on all things related to bats, a host of award-winning science-based television programs including the long running Daily Planet on Discovery and Monsters...
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52. Anne Wheeler - Just Keep Growing
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While acknowledging that part of being in a stage of life where she is both conscious and intentional about sharing her wisdom, Canadian film icon, Anne Wheeler, joyfully continues to learn every day and in every way; the belief that we keep going when we keep growing. Anne’s storytelling palette rich in historical narratives has always been inspired by the lives of everyday people finding their way in life. Reflecting on a career that now reaches back 5 decades, Anne takes well-earned pride in having created strong films, with strong messages and strong points of view. In her early...
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51. Hannah Beach - Play is Where We Discover Ourselves
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In her daily life and professional path, Hannah Beach has always been drawn towards the bubble of play. She is deeply committed to the idea that “play is where we discover ourselves”. Travelling the country, as educator, author, emotional health consultant or keynote speaker, Hannah channels her heart’s wisdom to share the power of relationship and play in children of all ages. Her best-selling book Reclaiming Our Students: Why Children Are More Anxious, Aggressive, and Shut-Down than Ever—and What We Can Do About It, co-authored with Tamara Neufeld Strijack, has been...
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50. Cosette Justo-Valdéz - To Inspire
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Whether from the podium surrounded by the swell of musical notes brought to life by an ensemble of artists in front of her or in the rehearsal hall exploring and honing possibilities fully alongside an ensemble of musicians or kneeling in conversation with a young audience member who sees in her, the possibility of a future as a musician, even a conductor, Cosette Justo-Valdéz inspires. My recent conversation with her was nothing short of joy, because joy is the language Cosette speaks; and perhaps it is through joy that she inspires most powerfully. Born and raised in Cuba, the...
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49. Rachelle Krieger - A Child’s Sense of Wonder
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Joyful, curious and optimistic by nature? Absolutely! New York based artist Rachelle Krieger firmly believes that there is something to learn in all situations and through her bold and vibrant, colour-filled and playful visual art she expresses her ever present wonder with the world unfurling all around us. Her work recently exhibited in a collection described by curator Charles A. Ridley II as “devoted to the theme of making the invisible energy of nature visible”, was in Krieger’s words, a “form of meditation”. Whether capturing singular moments of life in her plein art...
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49. Rachelle Krieger - A Child’s Sense of Wonder
Ellipses Thinking...
Joyful, curious and optimistic by nature? Absolutely! New York based artist Rachelle Krieger firmly believes that there is something to learn in all situations and through her bold and vibrant, colour-filled and playful visual art she expresses her ever present wonder with the world unfurling all around us. Her work recently exhibited in a collection described by curator Charles A. Ridley II as “devoted to the theme of making the invisible energy of nature visible”, was in Krieger’s words, a “form of meditation”. Whether capturing singular moments of life in her plein art...
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48. Anne Lindsay - Instrument as Voice
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Inspiration has a way of coming swiftly and if fortunate to be in the right place and time it may be received by an open and available imagination. Such is the experience of Anne Lindsay, who clearly relishes these moments when the voice that arrives invites her to lift up her violin and translate the language of the muse to the musical voice of her life. For Anne, the violin has found many voices over her musical career, rooted in her ongoing fascination with the many ways the strings can speak. While originally trained in the classical manner, she has always been intrigued by...
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47. Tamar Griggs - A Beautiful Journey
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In the summer of 1968, when Tamar Griggs was studying art and dance in New York City, she accepted an invitation for a short sailing holiday in the Mediterranean. Much to her surprise, that brief respite would lead to a year at sea, complete with a shipwreck on the coast of Spain before hitchhiking across the Atlantic Ocean. Carried by three different boats across thousands of nautical miles, she found herself hurled into trouble, doubt, beauty, laughter and conversations with the dead. As she sailed along, Tamar simultaneously made her way through a parallel inner journey, confronting...
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46. Marty Chan - Putting One Foot in Front of the Other
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Putting one foot in front of another is what Marty Chan learned many years ago, when as a child of hard working immigrant parents, who prioritized chores and help at the store over homework, became anxious that he wasn’t at the same reading level as his peers, leading him to develop imaginative strategies that have come to serve him throughout his successful writing career. His books, stage plays, radio dramas, television scripts and humour articles have taken him around the world from New York to Los Angeles to Galway to Beijing and have received many awards and accolades. In 2016, the...
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45. Dr. Sian Williams - Opening Space for Possibility
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While most of my podcast guests share their identification as artists and creators, I remain committed to including within that ensemble, conversations with people who feel the fire of creativity within themselves and encourage it’s light and warmth to be expressed on a daily basis, personally and professionally. In curating these recorded gatherings, I hope these conversations might resonate just as powerfully for all listeners. Dr. Sian Williams began her professional career in the arts and somewhere along the way, made a choice to set that work down; work that had defined and...
info_outlineIn the case of his first formal play, Rocko and Nakota: Tales From the Land, theatre artist Josh Languedoc has come to realize that while the play was first produced in 2018 professionally, he had been carrying in pieces for many years, being unpacked and revealed gradually along the way. Josh, a proud member of the Saugeen First Nation, now lives as a guest in Treaty 6 Territory as an Anishinaabe playwright, producer, storyteller, and teacher. His most recent production, Civil Blood: A Treaty Story, an immersive contemporary tale inspired by the signing of Treaty 6, the love story of Romeo and Juliet, and the lessons learned about what it means to be treaty people. This intriguing production, co-written by Josh and Neil Kuefler and produced by Thou Art Here and Common Ground Arts onsite at Fort Edmonton this past summer, invited audiences to consider present truth by meditating on our collective past. At the time of our conversation, Josh had also just begun work as an Associate Producer at the National Arts Centre of a project titled #ReconcileThis, one of many topics we had a chance to dive into.