Tom Froese

We are honoured to be able to present playwright, performer, and CBC radio host, Tetsuro Shigematsu who will share his story of creativity through the lens of this month’s global theme ‘acceptance’.

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A former writer for This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Tetsuro’s theatrical solo-work Empire of the Son was named the best show of 2015 by the Vancouver Sun, and was described by theatre critic Colin Thomas describes it as, “one of the best shows ever to come out of Vancouver. Ever.” His other solo-work, 1 Hour Photo was named as a finalist for the 2019Governor General’s Award for Drama, and was the co-winner of the Holden Street Theatres’ Edinburgh Fringe Award, 2021. The Vancouver’s Georgia Straight declared him to be, “one of the city’s best artists.” In 2018, he earned his PhD in Arts-Based Research from the University of British Columbia, and now serves as Creative Director of the Research-based Theatre Lab.

As usual, we asked Tetsuro a handful of probing questions to give us a deeper glimpse into her life and relationship with creativity:

How do you define creativity and apply it in your life and career?
What iridescent feathers are to peacocks, creativity is to humans, a reliable indicator of genetic fitness. It’s a costly signal to fake. In other words, I think talent is sexy. For me, something that I’ve begun to realize is that autobiographical solo theatre works can function as metaphysical pageant shows. Creativity is the ability to create work that is smarter than yourself. There’s two ways of doing this. Plumb the depths of your subconscious and work intuitively. Secondly, work with people who are smarter and more talented than you, and listen closely to what they have to say. The best work is often the result of collaboration. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?
In the bathroom, either while getting clean or getting dirty.

What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
If I had a chance to meet my younger self, I wouldn’t say anything, because it’s been a pretty meaningful journey so far. I’d like to listen though. I’d ask, “So? What do you think? Are you excited to become me? Or are you disappointed?”

Who (living or dead) would you most enjoy hearing speak at CreativeMornings?
I once read that Shakira and Gabriel Garcia Marquez used to hang out while he was still alive. Even if they spoke of banal minutiae of everyday life, I’m sure it would have been fascinating.

What did you learn from your most memorable creative failure?
When my marriage of 25 years came to an abrupt end, I realized that the health of my relationships is directly correlated to my willingness to have uncomfortable conversations.

What’s your one guilty creative indulgence?
Scrolling endlessly through the FaceBook group Midjourney, a forum for AI-generated art work.

What fact about you would surprise people?
I was a child preacher. Also, I fly a great deal. Whenever I experience severe turbulence on a flight, I never get nervous because I often think, “I’ve lived a good life. Things have never been better. So maybe it’s not a bad time to die.”

How does your life and career compare to what you envisioned for your future when you were a sixth grader?
When I was in grade school, I saw myself wearing a top hat and tails, dancing like Fred Astaire. Picture an Asian boy with a bowl cut doing that. You would never know it to look at me today, but what I do is not far off.

How would you describe what you do in a single sentence to a stranger?
I travel the world telling stories about my life.

If you could open a door and go anywhere, where would that be?
I believe humankind will be around far longer than most people think. I would like to visit the final epoch of human existence, say the final 10 years.

What keeps you awake at night?
Nothing keeps me awake at night. I am preternaturally worry-free. I asked my therapist friend if my condition could be pathologized. She said no. No state of mind that enables equanimity and independence could be considered a condition.

What myths about creativity would you like to set straight?
To be a “real” artist, you need to be doing it full time. You can’t have a day job. My favourite example is the poet Wallace Stevens who sold insurance.

If you could do anything now, what would you do?
Become an astronaut.

Where is your favourite place to escape?
Going fast on my e-bike.

What was the best advice you were ever given?
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou

What books made a difference in your life and why?
Something Like an Autobiography by Akira Kurosawa. He recommends to study all the art forms that make up a medium, rather than just the medium itself.

What practises, rituals, or habits contribute to your creative work?
I have a walking treadmill beneath my standing desk. Nietzsche said there are no great thoughts that happen outside of walks. On a good day, I’ll walk over half a marathon.

If you had fifteen extra minutes each day, what would you do with them?
Have sex, meditate, and workout all at once, but I’m not sure if that form of yoga exists?

What object would you put in a time capsule that best represents who you are today?
My standing desk with my walking treadmill, multiple monitors, and multiple keyboards, and multiple computers is such an ugly monstrosity, it’s beautiful.

What is the one movie or book every creative must see/read?
Impro by Keith Jonstone.

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April’s global theme is ‘movement’ and we can’t think of a more suitable (and exciting) speaker than non other than Missy D.

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If you don’t know, now you know - Missy D. This femcee has been rapping since she was 11 years old in French and English coming from the 3 corners of the motherland (Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire, Zimbabwe). Missy D is a bilingual Hip Hop, Rap & Soul Artist who makes music like a form of therapy, to express feelings, share a message and connect with music lovers. You will hear the sounds of MC Solaar, Diams, Erykah Badu, India Arie, J.Cole, Missy Elliott and Lauryn Hill echoing through her voice. Rest assured Missy D will have you grooving, singing along or feeling that je ne sais quoi in French and English. Whether you call her Dee, Didi, Diane, Missy D, you will get to meet an artist, an educator, an experiential advisor, a community builder, an interviewer, a daughter, a sister or a friend ready to create and connect with you.

As usual, we asked Missy D a handful of probing questions to give us a deeper glimpse into her life and relationship with creativity:

How do you define creativity and apply it in your life and career?
Creativity belongs, builds, gathers, moves, feels, sparks, holds, shapeshifts, connects into various mediums, practices, ways of knowing, problem solving or simply existing. I have found that in my career, it appears most often in the form of music, community building and ideation. It’s often allowed me to tap into a different part of my brain, emote that communal feeling or resonate it back from me to you, problem solve out of the box or color out of the lines. It’s allowed me to set boundaries and go beyond the barriers that are in front of me. I feel like myself when I’m creative, I feel like an evolving version constantly becoming, empowering, educating, creating whenever I am an artist, an educator, an experiential advisor, a daughter, a sister, a friend or simply put human.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?
I find it in people, in community and our world. You know that saying that you hear often: “It takes a village”, well you are going to hear it again and again in my story. That’s my constant inspiration and energy, from jam sessions to 1-1 conversations or festival performances, there is always magic that is created in those spaces in between and especially with people willing to allow room for echoes. You get to share, reflect, inspire with others.

What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
Whenever that imposter syndrome kicks in, remember that you belong, you are enough and you matter! Your creativity is second to none, because YOU are the only YOU.

Who (living or dead) would you most enjoy hearing speak at Creative Mornings?
Cicely Blain, Kari Marken :-) , Lauryn Hill, Natalie Gerum…(the list is too long)

If you had fifteen extra minutes each day, what would you do with them?
Check in with my friends, family and loved ones. It often feels like time moves fast and you forget the importance of that call, text or email. The pandemic was a strong reminder to connect and this question reminded me once again to take those 15 minutes and create them!

What keeps you awake at night?
I’m an overthinker, so quite often I’m reflecting, reflecting and reflecting about my day or thinking about the future/past. These days I ask myself, what is love? How do I show love to myself, my friends and others? What does it feel like, sound like? What is the action: to love? How do I show love in my art and creativity? I’ve created often with hope and pain in mind and heart, and hoping to add love to that equation.

What fact about you would surprise people?
That I have a Bachelor in Science; Combined Major in Science in Earth and Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences and Statistics. Remembering that creativity also shows up in Science…

This month’s live musician is Sejal Lal, a researcher by day and a musician and composer by night. She is a violinist and vocalist in Laydy Jams, a collective of 3 women of colour, including Missy D as female emcee and Roya Bennett on vocals and beatbox.

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The global theme for March is ‘corruption’ and we are excited to welcome Councillor Christine Boyle.

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Boyle is a second term Vancouver City Councillor with OneCity Vancouver. She has been a leading voice at the Council table on climate action, rental and non-market housing, reconciliation, active and public transportation, tackling inequality and the drug poisoning crisis, and more. Christine is a community organizer and an ordained United Church Minister, born and raised on unceded Coast Salish territory in Vancouver. She has done national multi-faith climate organizing, including efforts focused on divesting from fossil fuels and investing in building retrofits and other climate solutions, and was on the ministry team at Canadian Memorial United Church and Centre for Peace. Prior to that, Christine spent four years supporting progressive local governance and leading strategic communications at the Columbia Institute’s Centre for Civic Governance and supported the development of GreenJobs BC. Christine also spent many years working at First United Church in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and supporting kids and families at Grandview/?Uuqinak’uuh Elementary School in East Vancouver. She has a BSc in Urban Agriculture and First Nations Studies from UBC, and an MA in Religious Leadership for Social Change from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.

As usual, we asked Christine a handful of probing questions to give us a deeper glimpse into her life and relationship with creativity:

How do you define creativity and apply it in your life and career?

I think a lot about the ability to strengthen our creative muscles in thinking beyond the limited options that our current systems and structures present. A conservative British Prime Minister famously declared that “there is no alternative (to our current system)”, and I think of creativity as a protest and a practice and a declaration of how untrue that is. It is our responsibility to imagine better alternatives, stronger communities, healthier ecosystems, deeper justice and equity, more whole and beautiful lives. Creativity is a key muscle in the increasingly urgent project of human survival.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?

I love working on teams, drawing creative inspiration through learning and collaboration. But I also need to recharge alone, and shape ideas while I’m running or biking, baking or gardening.

What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?

I wish I had understood earlier that my almost complete lack of skill in the visual and performing arts wasn’t synonymous with a lack of creativity elsewhere. I wish I had known as a young person that activism, and community organizing, and colour-coded spreadsheets, and rebellion were all acts of creativity too.

Who (living or dead) would you most enjoy hearing speak at CreativeMornings?

Jacinda Ardern (outgoing Prime Minister of New Zealand)*

What’s your one guilty creative indulgence?

Stand-up comedy and baking shows.

What keeps you awake at night?

The Climate Crisis

How does your life and career compare to what you envisioned for your future when you were a sixth grader?

My career path has been less linear than I likely imagined when I was young. I’ve had many types of jobs, and I’m constantly learning new things that shape what I take on next. The question I keep asking myself is “how can I make the most impact on the challenges of our time?” When I was young I wanted to be an environmental lawyer when I grew up, so I wasn’t that far off. But it’s all been more challenging, more creative, and more rewarding than I could’ve imagined.

What are you reading these days?

Long Council agendas, and as many novels as I can. Whenever I don’t have evening meetings, I tuck into bed with my 8yo and we read books together before falling asleep. It’s nice time together, and it gets me off a screen and into a good book.

What books made a difference in your life and why?

I read The Ministry For The Future by Kim Stanley Robinson last year, and I still think about it all the time. I also love Alice Walker’s The Temple of My Familiar. And every book from Ivan Coyote. I am a sucker for stories that shift how I see the world.

How would you describe what you do in a single sentence to a stranger?

I once heard my younger kid tell someone that my job is to tell the builders where they can build things.

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The first global theme of 2023 is ‘TOUCH’ and we are grateful to be joined by one of the original CMVan volunteers, Johnathon Strebly, a designer, photographer, design leader, chief of staff, and community-builder.

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The first global theme of 2023 is ‘TOUCH’ and we are grateful to be joined by one of the original CMVan volunteers, Johnathon Strebly, a designer, photographer, design leader, chief of staff, and community-builder.

Strebly brings a wealth of creative leadership and systems-thinking supporting numerous organizations navigating growth, while remaining true to their core values and culture. An expert in capacity-building, he has enabled many organizations to discover and achieve their strategic vision.

As Past President of the International Council of Design (ICoD), founder of the brand strategy and communications agency The Notice Group, former Director of Creative Services for HCMA Architecture+Design, past president of the Design Professionals of Canada (DesCan), and most recently working with the Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw, Squamish Nation in his role as Chief of Staff, Johnathon brings decades of experience and involvement in the applied arts, encouraging growth and change in creative systems, challenging and contributing to the contemporary fabric of system and service design required today, and tomorrow.



As usual, we asked our featured speaker a handful of probing questions to give us a deeper glimpse into their life and relationship with creativity:

How do you define creativity and apply it in your life and career

Fortunately, I have had amazing opportunities to apply creativity throughout my life and career, and I look forward to sharing some of these touchpoints in the presentation. Defining creativity is both easy and impossible. For me, creativity is the foundation of the best conversations, the dialogue needed to transition from opportunity or concern, to solution and action. I love the line “If you only do what you know, you will never grow”. We all desire change, some more meaningfully than others. Growth and change requires courage and a commitment to doing the work to evoke the change needed. Creativity is fundamental and an essential requirement to develop the ideas that challenge status quo and introduce other ways of seeing and engaging opportunities that contribute to amplifying the good in our world.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?

In negative space. The spaces between the known and accessible. A designer’s eye and mind is calibrated to seeing the details in everything we touch, or that touches us. By being present and available to these details, patterns emerge and within these patterns we reveal the spaces yet to be connected or filled, the bridges yet to be built, the conversations we have not had. These voids are opportunities, they are questions, they are where we are challenged to present something new, and that challenge is what inspires and moves me.

What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?

If you think you know something, try teaching it. Teach as many types of learners as possible. Challenge yourself to say the same thing in a myriad of ways and mediums to get the core message across. There is no one way to share information and there is no one target audience that will experience your work. If you wish to use the words Inclusivity, Accessibility, Equity, and/or Empathy, you better be prepared to explore every way of sharing the work possible.

Who (living or dead) would you most enjoy hearing speak at CreativeMornings?

Haruki Murakami. An award winning author sharing dystopian environments from a background of coffeehouses, whiskey bars, vintage jazz vinyl, long distance running, and asking biting questions of life and love.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

So many crazy things! Thankfully (most) were done before the advent of social media! Shhhhhh… secrets.

What’s your one guilty creative indulgence?

A strong whiskey cocktail and vintage jazz vinyl is a blissful pairing.

What are you reading these days?

“Namwayut” by Chief Robert Joseph, “It Didn’t Start With You” by Mark Wolynn, and “Healthy Boundaries” by Chase Hill

What fact about you would surprise people?

I travelled across Canada by train because of Lego.

If you could open a door and go anywhere, where would that be?

Death Valley, California.

What myths about creativity would you like to set straight?

Two myths actually: that creativity is easy; and that creativity is hard.

What are you proudest of in your life?

That work I have done has positively impacted individuals, communities, and that the work is still continuing benefitting others.

Where was the last place you travelled?

Globally? Kaunas, Lithuania. Regionally? San Francisco, California.

What music are you listening to these days?

Jazz. Jazz. And more jazz.

What was the best surprise you’ve experienced so far in life?

One night in a back street taverna in Spain, where I was simultaneously introduced to Paella, Rioja Wine, and Flamenco.

Where is your favourite place to escape?

On a plane. Going anywhere.

What was the best advice you were ever given?

If you know you are giving, you are doing it wrong.

What practises, rituals, or habits contribute to your creative work?

Cursive handwriting with a fountain pen. Slow shit down and see every damn letter form. Patience. Life is too fast these days.

Teresa Marie is a Vancouver-based Jazz and R&B vocalist who has performed in many venues around the city, usually performing music from the Great American Songbook tradition as well as her own compositions. Teresa enjoys sharing the magic she finds in music with her audiences.

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January’s Theme is Sanctuary.

You can stop running now, you are safe here. A sanctuary offers protection to those who are vulnerable: those who are fleeing violence, those who have been cast off and told there is no place for them there, even animals whose habitats have disappeared. Here is a place where you can finally lay your head down and rest.

Our Sheffield chapter chose this month’s exploration of Sanctuary, Lisa Maltby illustrated the theme, and Mailchimp is presenting the theme.
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We are excited to invite Francis Arevalo as our speaker for January.

January’s global theme is ‘SANCTUARY’ and we are excited to invite Filipino-Canadian Francis Arevalo, an artist, producer, founder and manager at UWIDO, and mental health advocate.

A multi-hyphenate from Vancouver, Arevalo’s work in the music industry is informed by his previous work as Music Program Coordinator at Creative BC and Board Director at Music BC. As a hip-hop artist, Francis writes to uplift, inspire, and energize himself and his communities. He is known for his personal storytelling, thoughtful messages, and colourful production.Arevalo’s production highlights include co-producing Desirée Dawson’s JUNO-nominated EP Meet You At The Light (2021), producing and co-writing Mikey Jose’s Wait (2020), and his own artist catalogue. Francis released the Threes & Frees EP in November 2022, as a teaser for his upcoming debut album HEATCHECK! for release April 27 2023.

We asked Francis a handful of probing questions to give us a deeper glimpse into their life and relationship with creativity:

How do you define creativity and apply it in your life and career?
I find creativity to be nebulous and hard to define. For me, creativity arises from the intersection of imagination, expression, problem-solving, play, work, experience, environment, evolution and liberation. It connects the space between my personal and the collective, what’s inside me with what’s beyond me.Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?
I don’t believe there is such a thing as “best” creative inspiration or energy, because I don’t put ideas into a hierarchy or relate to them in a binary good or bad. There are just ideas, and circumstance and personal/collective need determine the usefulness, appropriateness, and potential of them. I can more easily think of circumstances in which I most reliably receive or come up with novel ideas or progress on something I’m thinking about: long walks, most often and ideally just before sunrise. There is something powerful for me in that space in the morning before the day becomes a day and the rest of the world starts needing things from me. The early morning is my time for me and my ideas, feelings, wants, and turmoils to have the space to be full. Physical movement the mental, emotional and spiritual movement. Timing my walk to end just after sunrise gives me a sense that I’ve made progress and I almost always end up somewhere new with an idea that I wouldn’t have gotten to otherwise.

What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
Learn how much sleep you need to feel well. As someone living with bipolar disorder, I have a complicated relationship between sleep and creativity, but overall, I wish I slept more when I was younger. It takes a certain capacity for me to properly cultivate my ideas, and I need to be rested to do that work.

Who (living or dead) would you most enjoy hearing speak at CreativeMornings?
My creative peers who don’t often speak or present about their works in this way.

This month’s live musical guest is Bella Roces.
Born Isabella Boquist, Bella Roces comes from a Filipino-indo and Scandinavian background. Bella released her first single in 2018, “You’re Confusing”. Since then, Bella has performed in various shows and venues throughout Vancouver, including The Railway club, Fortune sound club, the Juice Truck and more. For her soft spoken soul, singing and song writing became a way for Bella to express herself. Growing up, she was influenced by her parents love for R&B and alternative indie. Bella’s smooth vocals mixed with her authentic, vulnerable, song writing that connects across generations.Please join us.

Join us on December 2nd for Volunteers Take The Stage!

CMVan volunteers are a group of diverse, inspiring, creatives that work in silence behind the scenes to produce our gatherings every month. This month’s theme of ‘abundance’ brings their voice to the front of the room.Register

Dr. Kari Marken
A PhD and former high school drama teacher who now teaches creativity at the Sauder School of Business as well as running her own educational design consultancy.

Marga Lopez
A Mexican immigrant with extensive international experience as a communication designer who is now the national president of Design Professionals of Canada when she isn’t running her own design practice or teaches young designers at the Wilson School of Design at KPU.

Heidi Christine
Heidi is a rare born and raised Vancouverite and someone who not only has a strong creative and artistic side, but was a math and science nerd who studied electrical engineering! These days she is the Head of Community for an online gaming startup.

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Additional details

Virtual Attendance We will be limiting in-person attendees, so if you cannot attend in person, please click here to attend virtually via Zoom.

COVID-19 NOTICE CreativeMornings/Vancouver has taken necessary measures consistent with BC Health guidelines to mitigate the risk of exposure to COVID-19. Despite these measures, COVID-19 is highly contagious, and we cannot guarantee that you will not be exposed to COVID-19 at any CreativeMornings in-person event. By attending a CreativeMornings/Vancouver in-person event, you acknowledge and assume this risk and are encouraged to wear a mask when in close proximity to others.

Note: By registering and participating in this event, you consent to the recording of your likeness, image, and/or voice and authorize CreativeMornings to use photographs, video, and audio recordings containing your likeness, image, and/or voice in any medium for any purpose. If you are unable to be recorded, please release your ticket by clicking the link above.

November’s global theme is ‘TRUTH’ and we are thrilled to showcase accomplished writer, creative director, 
public art enthusiast, designer, 
and amateur printer Leanne Prain who will share insights and perspectives and her personal story of creativity.

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By day Prain works as a creative director for a crown corporation, and at night she writes. She is the author of four books published by Arsenal Pulp Press: The Creative Instigator’s Handbook: A DIY Guide to Making Social Change Through Art (2022), Strange Material: Storytelling Through Textiles, Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti, co-authored with Mandy Moore; and Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery. She also writes for a variety of publications on craft and culture, such as Digits and Threads, Designer, Desktop, Works that Work, Applied Arts, and Seamwork. 



Leanne is a former president of the BC Chapter of the Society of Graphics Designers (now DesCan), and a Certified Design Professional. She is also an amateur printer – having recently acquired a tabletop letterpress and some 100 year old wood-type. Leanne has been called a Shameless Woman by Shameless magazine and a Lingo Maker of the Year by Mclean’s magazine. Her creative projects and books have been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vogue Knitting, the BBC, the Guardian UK, CBC, and the Globe and Mail.

As usual, we asked Leanne a handful of probing questions to give us a deeper glimpse into her life and relationship with creativity:

How do you define creativity and apply it in your life and career?
I define creativity as problem-solving with a curious and open mind. For me, I often find that I’m most creative when I’m seeking an answer to a big question or I’m trying to fill a gap in my knowledge or experience. Creativity is not the answer for me – it is the process of trying to improve oneself and life by having a healthy appetite for new experiences, and the will to try and process what I’ve learned from these experiences through writing or making or gathering my community together.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?
I get my best creative energy from new places and new people. I am definitely an information seeker – when I profile some one I want to know everything about them I possibly could know. People are endlessly fascinating to me. I also find human-made places a source of inspiration, whether that is a historic piece of architecture, an unusual small town museum, or a side-show attraction. I’m a collector of all sorts of things – from ephemera to vintage dishware to publishing antiquities. I get a lot of inspiration from learning about the past and thinking about how it applies to our collective future.

What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
Focus on what excites you. Even if your current interests seem tangential to your school projects or your ideal career path, you never know what strange connections will come out of pursuing what you love. Also, you have more support than you think you do. I’m constantly delighted by the acquaintances and strangers who have come out of the woodwork to support my projects.

Who (living or dead) would you most enjoy hearing speak at CreativeMornings?
Dead: Pamela Colman Smith, original illustrator of the Rider tarot deck
Living: Jackie Dives, Vancouver photographer of many things, including chronicling the Lytton Wildfire, Bountiful, the Overdoes Crisis…. I met her when she was just starting her career and I’m amazed at how quickly she has pushed her photo journalism.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
I sent an email to a stranger who I’d only met once, who I cyberstalked online, and asked them if they wanted to write a book about the yarn bombing movement with me. Luckily, they said yes – and we wrote a book that has been in print for over 12 years. Thanks Mandy!

What’s your one guilty creative indulgence?
YouTube. I started watching people who stumble into abandon houses or dig up vintage bottles over the pandemic. I find watching other people treasure hunting very soothing.

What are you reading these days?
I am currently reading Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder, which is a novel about a feral, artistic mother who takes on werewolf characteristics and Just My Type, a book about fonts by Simon Garfield. Next I really want to read How Not to Be Strange: The Curious History of the Island of Redonda by Michael Hingston. It is his personal account of a real island – Redonda – that a series of real authors have made each other king over generations. The book sounds bonkers and amazing.

How does your life and career compare to what you envisioned for your future when you were a sixth grader?
When I was in grade six, I wanted to be making crafts, be writing stories, to live in a city, and to own a cat. Checkmate.

How would you describe what you do in a single sentence to a stranger?
I rally people to do absurd, unusual, and fun projects together.

What’s the most recent thing you learned (big or small)?
I was recently at a store in Toronto called Curiosa. I learned the difference between a zoetrope and a praxinoscope, both which are vintage animation tools. Both use still images to produce an animation but only a zoetrope allows a group to see the full animation.

What keeps you awake at night?
The climate crisis. The decline of old growth trees. The housing crisis. The fentanyl crisis. Fish farms. Textile waste. People who ban books.

What myths about creativity would you like to set straight?
Creativity is not a label that belongs to any one group of people, I believe that all people are inherently creative, we just show it in different ways. Creativity visits on some days, and does not on other days. It is best harnessed when we are in the act of doing things. I do not believe in waiting around to be creative or waiting for someone else to make you creative. Go read some stuff, make some stuff and experiment. Along the way, you’ll begin to feel creative.

What has been one of your biggest Ah-Ha! moments in life?
No one is going to show up and ask you to act on your dreams but if you can cultivate a vision for the thing that you want to bring into the world, or the goals that you want to achieve, you will find a surprising number of people to collaborate with and who will cheer you along as you go. I believe that if you create something that you need in the world, other people probably need it too.

What object would you put in a time capsule that best represents who you are today?
A 0.7 Sarasa black ballpoint pen. My primary tool for thinking, plotting, and strategizing.

What is the one movie or book every creative must see/read?
Love it or hate it, The Writer’s Way is a classic for a reason. It taught me more about showing up, angst, and creative relationship building than any other book. Gordon MacKenzie’s Orbiting The Giant Hairball is also a great book for those entering a corporate creative life.REGISTER

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For October’s gathering we will explore creativity through the thematic lens of ‘ETHOS’ and are excited to showcase Juno Award-nominated music producer, composer, sound designer, and DJ, Adham Shaikh, who will not only share his story, but he will be performing live for us!Register

Adham Shaikh is a Emmy and Juno Award-nominated music producer, composer, sound designer, and DJ who brings his uniquely powerful global sounds to the world stage and screen, not to mention many a crowded dance floor.Adham has scored original soundtracks for numerous film and television productions, including National Geographic (Emmy nomination), Sacred Planet (Disney Imax), Velcrow Ripper’s Fierce Light (National Film Board, Fierce Light Films), Rainbow Jaguars’ Earth Pilgrim, The Edge of the World: BC’s Early Years (Knowledge), and Secrets (CBC’s Passionate Eye, Make Believe Media), for which he received a Leo Award for Best Musical Score in a Documentary Program. His music has also been licensed to an extensive list of media productions, including BBC Orphan BlacK , Suzuki Speaks (Avanti Pictures). Look out for his latest original work on the upcoming program 940 Caledonia.Shaikh skillfully weaves organic and electronic sounds into global music tapestries that take listeners on sonic journeys transcending time and place. He has released 16 albums and many individual compositions, among them the 2004 release, Fusion, which was nominated for a Juno Award (Canadian Grammy) in the World Music category and Universal Frequencies (2010) which won best album ( BC Independent Music awards). Shaikh also co-produced and mixed the award-winning debut CD for global fusion group Delhi 2 Dublin, Produced the last two Buckman Coe albums and has finished re-mixing tracks for internationally renowned artists Nickodemus, Deya Dova, Kaya Project, Tripswitch and David Starfire, Delhi2Dublin, Desert Dwellers, Eccodeck, Issa Bagayogo, Ganga Giri, and the Footsteps in Africa Project (Turag remix).

As usual, we asked Adham some probing questions to augment his biography as a glimpse into his life and relationship with creativity:

How do you define creativity and apply it in your life and career?

On some level I try not to define it but put myself in service of it. In the daily pursuit of the joy of making/creating things. The hunger to create new musical landscapes that no one has heard fuels a lot of my musical endeavours. In the daily dynamics of problem solving and working with what is available to get the results. I love experimenting and exploring. I enjoy looking for patterns in disparate musical things and seeing if they can be combined. Creating musical maps of inner worlds.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?

In my bathtub! And then In my studio. I have created a space that is cozy and quiet in the forest where I feel inspired and am able to work uninterrupted for long periods of time. Jumping in the river brings me inspiration and energy and I can channel that back in my studio.

What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?

That it’s simply a matter of doing it. Start the journey. Sit down every day and make something. Whether it’s a sound or a beat or a riff or a whole song. It’s the act of sitting down and setting the intention to do something. It’s amazing what comes along when you are in the act/practice.

Who (living or dead) would you most enjoy hearing speak at CreativeMornings?

The creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Or Rick and Morty creators Justin Roland and Dan harmon.

What’s your one guilty creative indulgence?

Smoking pot.

What are you reading these days?

“In the Blink of An Eye” by Walter Murch.

How would you describe what you do in a single sentence to a stranger?

I’m an interstellar traveller collecting sacred vibrations for the intergalactic jukebox at the centre of the universe.

Where was the last place you travelled?

Tar Desert in Rajasthan India.

What was the best advice you were ever given?

Don’t look back (creatively), just keep going forward it’s a journey, not a destination.

When you get stuck creatively, what is the first thing you do to get unstuck?

I go jump in the river.

What are you proudest of in your life?

My children.Register