JOIN US ON NOVEMBER 26, 2021 TO EXPLORE THE THEME OF “LIMINAL”

TALK TITLE: Finding yourself in a liminal space in your creative career, and how to break through it

*ASL Interpretation is available at every CM WPG event.

REGISTER HERE!

John Luxford talks about finding himself in a liminal space between knowing exactly what he wanted to do with his life and realizing he had no idea what that actually meant. How it took staying in that space for a long time in order to learn how to honestly answer the deceptively simple question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” for the first time. How that led him to discover his passion not just for making art himself, but for making creation tools to help others express themselves.Jumping from being an artist to a writer to a musician into graphic design and software development and now into virtual reality, John realized your title, your medium, and your past work can come to impose limits on your thinking and your ability to continue to grow as an artist and, more importantly, as a human.

Meet Our Speaker! JOHN LUXFORD

John Luxford is a self-taught software developer, musician, and entrepreneur who is passionate about technology as a means of social change. John’s first company, Simian Systems (2001-2011), was an open source software company that worked with clients such as Princeton, NOAA, TiVo, and Disney. After a decade immersed in all things web, John got a taste of working in virtual reality as part of one of the first VR projects in Manitoba. At this, John co-founded The Campfire Union with two of his best friends to explore the possibilities of this new technology. Fast-forward a few years, they’re now called Flipside XR and spend their time making the world’s first virtual TV studio that enables anyone with a VR headset to make their own live animated shows with their friends. Their mission is to enable anyone to bring their imagination to life and share it with the world.

November’s Theme is Liminal.When we find ourselves in an in-between place, we might call our location “liminal.” Liminal space is found at the threshold, between leaving an old life and starting a new one. When we have shed a tired identity but not yet donned a fresh one. Liminality is a state of becoming. It slips away, eluding easy categorization.Invite yourself into the cocoon of transformation. Instead of asking what comes after the chrysalis, what if, in the words of anthropologist Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, we look around rather than ahead? If we learn to trust the process, we can remain curious and open. We can surrender our certainty and leave ourselves vulnerable and open to the mysteries of being. What joy and sweetness can we find in all this, in the depths of liminal spaces and times?Our Sofia chapter chose this month’s exploration of Liminal and Sevda Semer illustrated the theme.

JOIN US FOR CREATIVEMORNINGS WINNIPEG OCTOBER 29, 2021 EVENT

GLOBAL THEME: DESIGN

SPEAKER: JORDAN STRANGER (@TOTEMDOODEM) on “Unpacking the Past”

Pencil, paint, or digital, Jordan Stranger (Black Bear Man - Makade Makwa Inini) communicates the importance of life, culture and acceptance. His works are deeply rooted in the traditions within contemporary Indigenous culture. As an Oji-Cree individual, Jordan uses his life experiences to drive his artistic passions.

Jordan’s presentation for CreativeMornings Winnipeg will focus on his relationship to design from an Oji-Cree perspective, cultural influences and symbolism in his work, and the processes from which he draws inspiration while working with clients or for himself.

October’s Global Theme is DESIGN

We live in a world of design, an intention behind every encounter, every technology we touch, every structure we step through. Design is an alchemy, a marriage of material and meaning, investigation and inspiration, form and function. To design is to create — out of nothing, something. To design is to play — an invitation to stay open and curious and reimagine in new ways. To design is to think — a method of learning through making, scraping failed experiments for fresh insight. To design is to be human. Designers are called to operate in a way that transcends disciplines, making it possible to understand the world in all its complexity and envision passageways to more just futures. At their best, designers center the experiences of people whose needs have been overlooked, stepping outside of themselves and into their shoes. Design asks of us empathy and humility, if we are brave enough to answer.Our Trois-Rivières chapter chose this month’s exploration of Design, Olivier Charland illustrated the theme, and Skillshare is presenting the theme.

October’s Manitoba Musician

Our Manitoba musician this month is “Warming.” Trading in a white picket fence for living out of a van, synthpop artist Brady Allard is the multi-instrumentalist behind Winnipeg’s Warming. His music began to take form of an obsession when he left his job, his house and his partner of a decade. While living out of a van, he wrote the 12 song LP - a lush, driving mix of 80’s inspired pop, twisted synth noises, lonely arrangements and memories of his former life.

September 24, 2021 (Virtual Event) with Brenda Bourns

With musical guest Paul Bergman

“Daring to stay creative in a crisis…tales of an accidental pirate”

(NOTE: ASL interpretation is available at every CM Winnipeg event!)

September’s Theme is DARE.To dare is an act of faith. We work up the nerve to make the soaring leap, even when we don’t know what the outcome will be. At the core of daring, you’ll find bravery and defiance entwined. We dare to challenge the stories passed down to us that no longer fit, the stories that limit our imagination. CreativeMornings/Porto Alegre chose September’s theme of Dare and Mitti Mendonça illustrated the theme.

Join us on September 24, 2021 (virtual event) to hear from our speaker Brenda Bourns!

Here’s Brenda’s story:

My story is one of perseverance, strength and bravery during a surreal pandemic when the world around us was already fragile and uncertain. 

On August 1st, 2020 while out walking my dog, I suffered a freak accident which resulted in the loss of my right eye. As a type 2 Diabetic I went into shock (Diabetesketoacidosis) and found myself fading in and out of consciousness on my neighbour’s front lawn.  Survival instinct as well as Mom’s instinct kicked in. I knew my daughter would be coming home from a socially distanced bonfire within in the hour. There was no way I was having her find her mother, covered in blood with a dog attached by a leash 30 feet from our home. My dog saved my life by dragging me across my neighbour’s lawn, my front lawn and up the stairs and barking until my husband woke up.What followed was 23 hours of chaos including 4 trips to 2 different hospitals alone in ambulances, separated from family because of pandemic restrictions. One hospital dealt with the eye removal, the other dealt with the Diabetic shock. My journey takes the audience from the night of the injury to the journey to relearn new simple tasks, depth perception, peripheral vision to custom made eye patches and then being fitted for a prosthetic eye. This is a story of perseverance, strength and a little bit of stubbornness thrown in for good measure.  I have dared myself many times to try new things, step out of my comfort zone, challenge myself over and over this past year. I’ve learned alot about myself and how important it is to keep going. Losing my right eye was a gift. The support of a community, combined with feelings of gratitude for the simplest of things was the greatest lesson. Life is too short. My name is Brenda…and I’m an accidental pirate.

RELEASE YOUR CREATIVITY THROUGH OUTDOOR ADVENTURES with Lise Brown!

Friday, August 27, 2021 at 7:45am-9:30am

*ASL Interpretation is offered at every CM/WPG event*

CreativeMornings Winnipeg is pleased to welcome Lise Brown as our speaker for the CM Global theme of RELEASE.

One of the etymological foundations of the verb RELEASE is from Latin meaning to “stretch out.” Another version is “to surrender.”

How can we approach creativity through the act of surrender, which may also be an act of vulnerability? How can being outdoors help us “stretch out” beyond our own self-imposed beliefs and limitations of our own capacity to be creative?

Lise Brown (she/her) is the perfect CreativeMornings speaker for this theme! She is the co-owner of Momenta Inc., founded in 2006, a small, local to Winnipeg 100% female owned B Corporation. B Corporations complete a certification process that ensures high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.

Momenta creates experiences that discover strengths and foster growth. They specialize in current, best practice research in the field of adventure therapy with a focus on being outdoors, increasing access to the outdoors, adventure sports and outdoor certifications.  They integrate a strengths-based perspective, TRC calls to action and radical inclusion in all aspects of the work done at Momenta.

Lise combines these areas of practice to provide clinical direction, facilitate and train groups, and counsel individuals both in urban and wilderness environments focusing on physical and emotional safety, successful participation, fun and meaningful activity.

Lise is also on the Forest School of Canada Facilitator team with the Child and Nature Alliance of Canada and sits on the board of the Association for Experiential Education.

Join us for this exciting event! Register here.

HONOUR ALL LIFE GIVERS

I discovered this graffiti while wondering the back alleys of Osborne Street here in Winnipeg this past weekend and was struck by the reference to Life Givers, which is the focus of our presentation for June 25, 2021.

Talk Title: Being a Midwife to Creativity

Subtitle: Lessons and truths I’ve learned from Lifegivers

Speaker: Nathalie Pambrun

Description: 
Matrilineal teachings remind us of the power of lifegivers. They connect us to the natural laws that facilitate creative conceptions. There we find ourselves with new vantage points, gaining greater understanding about ourselves and the world that surrounds us. Through the life stages and phases the matrilineal is present and intimately woven into the fabric of our cells, community and society.

We invite you to join us on June 25th at 8am to connect and better understand matrilineal gifts and how these are essential to the creative process. Ensure your creative ecosystem is fueled with matrilineal teachings to ignite bold new ideas capable of transformational, intersectional and essential growth.

Join us for Nathalie’s presentation!

Nathalie is a mother of three children and currently lives in Treaty one Territory.

Nathalie Pambrun is a Franco-Manitoban Métis midwife who has practiced for 17 years in urban, rural and remote communities across Canada and the world. Committed to midwifery care that is accessible, equitable, and culturally safe, Nathalie works primarily in Winnipeg with Indigenous teens and newcomers to Canada.

As the Past-President of the Canadian Association of Midwives (2018-2020), Nathalie is CAM’s first ever Indigenous midwife to serve as President of the organization and served on the board for 9 years.

A founding member of the National Aboriginal Council of Midwives (NACM) for the last 16 years and served a two-year term as the organization’s co-Chair between 2011-2012. Nathalie has been instrumental in building a unique partnership between these two midwifery associations that respects self-determination, reciprocity and humility. This relationship has informed CAM’s global framework and success in association strengthening. Currently Nathalie is NACM’s Advocacy and Policy Advisor focusing on federal files related to eliminating anti-Indigenous racism in the Canadian health care system through Indigenous-led education initiatives to grow the Indigenous midwifery primary health workforce.

Nathalie is a board member of Grand Challenges Canada with a cross appointment to the Indigenous Innovation Council empowering First Nation, Inuit and Metis innovators and communities to identify and solve their own challenges, transform lives and drive inclusive growth and health through innovation.

JUNE’S CREATIVEMORNINGS THEME IS MATRIARCHY

We often return to the CreativeMornings manifesto as a compass that guides our work. At the heart of the manifesto, there are these words: Everyone is creative. Everyone is welcome.

Each month, a different CreativeMornings chapter picks the global theme, including this month’s theme, Matriarchy. To discuss matriarchy is to discuss women, from across the vast spectrum of identities and experiences of what it means to be a woman in our society. CreativeMornings/Rotterdam chose June’s Matriarchy theme, and Xaviera Altena created the accompanying illustration.

This month we are honoring women and reimagining the systems and structures embedded in our societies. It is a way focusing attention on swathe of the population whose have historically been suppressed and whose voices have been silenced.

Imagine a society in which women make all the key decisions that shape the safety, health, education, opportunities, and culture of the community. What would your town or city look like if the systems and structures were re-envisioned and women held the majority of the positions of power and leadership? What would change? What would it feel like? Or maybe you already live in such an environment; societies led by powerful women exist today, including Indigenous communities around the world.

The experience of women supporting women, children and families during pregnancy, childbirth and post-partem is one of the most powerful opportunities for the sharing of knowledge, support and cultural transmission. Therefore, when CreativeMornings Winnipeg was considering our CreativeMornings speaker for June, there was no more perfect match than the first Indigenous midwife to be the President of the Canadian Association of Midwives: Nathalie Pambrun!

Nathalie Pambrum is a mother of three children and currently lives in Treaty One Territory.

Nathalie is a Franco-Manitoban Métis midwife who has practiced for 17 years in urban, rural and remote communities across Canada and the world. Committed to midwifery care that is accessible, equitable, and culturally safe, Nathalie works primarily in Winnipeg with Indigenous teens and newcomers to Canada.

As the Past-President of the Canadian Association of Midwives (2018-2020), Nathalie is CAM’s first ever Indigenous midwife to serve as President of the organization and served on the board for 9 years.

A founding member of the National Aboriginal Council of Midwives (NACM) for the last 16 years and served a two-year term as the organization’s co-Chair between 2011-2012. Nathalie has been instrumental in building a unique partnership between these two midwifery associations that respects self-determination, reciprocity and humility.

Currently Nathalie is NACM’s Advocacy and Policy Advisor focusing on federal files related to eliminating anti-Indigenous racism in the Canadian health care system through Indigenous-led education initiatives to grow the Indigenous midwifery primary health workforce.

Nathalie is a board member of Grand Challenges Canada with a cross appointment to the Indigenous Innovation Council empowering First Nation, Inuit and Metis innovators and communities to identify and solve their own challenges, transform lives and drive inclusive growth and health through innovation.

Our Musical Guest: DIAPHANIE

We are also pleased to be joined by the musician Diaphanie!

Diaphanie means “the art of recreating stained glass on translucent paper”. its tremulous nature defies genre and makes each song part of the ephemera, never permanent. Led by writer/singer Heather Thomas (ATLAAS, Bunny), Diaphanie was born out of a desire to slough off the shackles of a high risk/low reward music industry system and forget that music is a business. Every song is an exploration of styles and moods, and a meeting of different minds, bound together by the throughline of Thomas’ expressive and ethereal voice.

What does it take to face your fears, hit a hurdle, or confront a challenge – and still be able to carry on?

May’s Theme is Resilient

To be resilient is to be adaptable. It’s a way of being that’s flexible and alive, bouncing with the stuff of survival: learning, evolving, and intertwining our roots to share resources and to create a strong anchor of collective care. Like trees in a storm, it means swaying instead of snapping. It means persevering in the face of hardship and heartbreak is not easy, to say the least. To heal, to grieve, to bend but not break? It requires time and dedication to build these muscles of resilience.

Whether for your life, community, or planet, consider this:What can you do today to help build strength and ease for the future?CreativeMornings/Dallas chose May’s Resilient theme, and Niki Dionne made the accompanying illustration.

CreativeMornings Winnipeg’s Speaker on May 28, 2921 is Natasha Boone

We are very excited to welcome Natasha Boone to the CreativeMornings Winnipeg stage on May 28, 2021!

Natasha Boone is a writer, artist and illustrator. She is most recently the creator and director of The happy brain co., a Winnipeg-based women’s illustrative co-op. With more than twelve years in the professional illustrative field and a lifetime of drawing in her pencil, she puts this well-honed skill and humour into much of what she draws.

Natasha has been recognized for her work by a Manitoba Book Award nomination (Children’s book illustration) and publication of her illustrations in The Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine, 10th edition.

She is currently at work on a medical advisory guide entitled: How not to Bite the Hand that Heals you: a Patient’s Guide to Surviving and Thriving in the Medical World, as well teaching her cat Wendy not to sit on the kitchen table.

We are also very pleased to welcome Manitoba band "Leaf Rapids" as our musical guests! Our Event Program goes something like this: 1. Open networking 2. Welcome message and introduction to cool Manitoba musicians to set the tone for a great speaker 3. Introduction of CreativeMornings monthly global theme and CreativeMornings manifesto 4. Main speaker presentation (ends at 9am) 5. Thirty second pitches and optional second song 6. Additional networking opportunity Register now!

What are You Waiting For?

April’s Theme is Procrastinate

The things that we perpetually push to tomorrow’s to-do list can become a mental weight. Even though we know the welcome relief that will wash over us when that thing we’re avoiding is complete, still, we delay, just a little while longer.

Procrastination can be a sort of art form: the art of deferred action. It’s a technique that’s got a bad reputation, one often tinged with shame. But it can also be a way to claim the ways you wish to your time. It harbors creative possibilities, too.

In that game of waiting-waiting-waiting until it’s almost too late but not quite, a coiled spring of potential energy hides, ready to leap into action at a moment’s notice. Narrowing a timeline can be a fruitful creative constraint, an exercise in trusting the unknown. When a window of opportunity shrinks, improvisation and spontaneity might unfurl like a flower in a time-lapse video blooming at super speed, a confetti cannon of petals bursting in full color.

CreativeMornings/Turin chose April’s exploration of Procrastinate. Elisa Talentino made the accompanying illustration, and Basecamp/HEY is this month’s global theme partner.

Join us on April 30th to hear about how PROCRASTINATION fuels Shaun Vincent’s creative design process!