Living a Creative Life Congress 2022

The Plenary Sessions will be held in the library theatre starting at 8:45am.

What is significant about these times we find ourselves in and how might we imagine a better future together?

Lena Soots, Director of the Trico Changemaker Studio at MRU, with Sally Njoroge and MelVeeX:
What roles do artists play in changing systems?

Patti Pon, President and CEO.

A light lunch catered by Ethnicity will be available in the theatre lobby.

Each person will be able to attend two of the five breakout sessions held in various rooms throughout the library. The breakout sessions run from 12:30 – 2pm, and repeat from 2:15 – 3:45pm.

Michelle Thrush and Neil Fleming from Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society
As an Indigenously led, settler supported, professional theatre company located in the heart of Mohkinstsis, it is incredibly important to myself and our staff that we provide a safe place for our artists to create. Since becoming artistic director it is a huge part of my vision to understand what that means to be Indigenously led and how we as a company can hold ourselves responsible to our long held motto. Neil Fleming (executive director) and myself would like to discuss this specific process and how that relates to our stories. We have been exploring this process for the last two years and with Elder guidance we feel we have come up with a unique approach to theatre making as well as creating a safe and respectful place for artists to create.

Cesar Cala
Coalition building is like math — working with groups and numbers. It is like science – testing, mixing and discovering. And it is like art – reimagining with curiosity and passion the possibilities of equity and justice. This session is a conversation on how we can participate in coalition building – and strengthen our collective power across the divides imposed on us.

Arts granters from Calgary Arts Development and Rozsa Foundation
In this session, artists, arts administrators, and arts community members are invited to join representatives from arts funders in Calgary to reflect on how the funding needs of the arts ecosystem have shifted and transformed over the past two years. What have we learned from short-term solutions such as relief funding, digital funding, and other responses to the pandemic? What are the gaps, opportunities, and shared priorities in federal, provincial, and local supports? This will be a facilitated, interactive session.

Beth Gignac and Daniel O’Shea
When we say creative spaces, what do we mean? Has how we talk about creative spaces in Calgary changed? In this session, we will examine the knowledge and recommendations of the 2016 Building on our Momentum: Arts and Culture Infrastructure report in contrast with our current context. This is the first in a series of conversations, and the continuation of our journey toward supporting cultural spaces that are responsive to the changing needs and new realities of Calgary. We want to hear from organizations and artists about how spaces may be used and what action could look like with Calgary’s existing infrastructure. Help us imagine the future of what Calgary’s creative spaces can look like!

Kaley Beisiegel and panelists Cowboy Smithx, Parker Chapple (Beakerhead) and Leah Naicken
The creative economy looks at creativity as an output that intersects job fields, rather than isolated to particular industries. Adopting an ecosystem lens, the creative economy recognizes the connections between fields such as education, arts, culture, and innovation, rather than viewing them in isolation. It maps the interdependence of these as unique drivers of direct and indirect economic outputs. This session will explore how we might activate the CreativeCity strategy as a way to diversify our economy and contribute to Calgary’s global reputation as a creative and innovative city.

Closing remarks will take place in the library theatre, and end with words by Poet Laureate Wakefield Brewster.