Storytelling Podcast Living a Creative Life

Sydonne Warren had a plan. She was going to quit her job at Cats Art Studio Cats Arts Studio teaching clay and painting to kids and adults, and go back to school. Her interest in and talent for the arts was cemented in high school, and she had already taken some design and architectural technologies courses, so she enrolled at Alberta University for the Arts and started in the design stream in 2019.

Tune in to our Storytelling Podcast to hear more about Sydonne Warren's work and how she's looking forward to working on new opportunities in the public art space.

Col Cseke is many things to the Calgary arts community. A community organizer, playwright, director, storyteller and the artistic and executive director of Inside Out Theatre, a Deaf/disabled and mad theatre company.

Since moving here years ago as a recent grad from the University of Lethbridge, Cseke has found his artistic home, his lifelong people, and his purpose — bringing people together and bringing awareness and activism into the arts sector.

A well-known name in Calgary's arts community, Eric Moschopedis is an interdisciplinary artist, a creator of exhibitions, public art installations and participatory works, a facilitator and educator and is perhaps most recognized as being one half of the artist duo, Mia and Eric. It was from a background in theatre and performance and the possibility of ultimately becoming a high school drama teacher that made Moschopedis rethink this path.

A long-time champion of the arts in the city, visual artist Kathryn Pearce is the executive director of Maude Collective and a project manager with the City of Calgary Main Streets Project. Her interest in making meaningful spaces that people want to be in is apparent in her work with public art, placemaking and community building.

What started as a desire to have somewhere to hang out and create grew to an idea and then into a reality for Bethel Afework, founder of Raw Voices and now the executive director and co-founder of the Alcove Centre for the Arts, a community recreational space where people can spend time, learn something, perform or take in a performance themselves.

When Ishita Singla experienced a lack of opportunities for female dancers in her community, she created them herself. The dancer and choreographer is also the artistic director and founder of Madhuban Performing Arts in Calgary, a hub for dancers, singers, musicians and actors rooted in South Asian heritage and cultural forms.