July’s global theme is ‘SPIRITUALITY’ and we are excited to showcase poet, people enthusiast, and public learner, Lance Odegard.

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Lance’s current work is with Unstucking, his coaching and facilitation practice centered on transformative conversation design. He is also the Director of Learning & Development at Versett (a design agency in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto) and continues to write poems after re-releasing his first collection in 2020 (At the Pool We’ve All Got Bodies).

People-centered work has been at the heart of his working life over the last twenty years, collaborating with people as an artist, college instructor, communications director, design facilitator and pastor. Throughout these multidisciplinary pursuits, Lance has held a singular focus on cultivating people potential. He loves to see people get unstuck, build their creative confidence, and take their next step. Lance lives in the Strathcona neighbourhood of Vancouver, BC.

How do you define creativity and apply it in your life and career?
Choosing curiosity over fear. That’s Elizabeth Gilbert’s line, but it’s my favourite definition. On the surface, my work has lots of creative components whether that’s in writing or in design education. But I think beneath that, much of my creativity is expressed through unlocking other people’s creativity. I think people are the most fascinating thing going. Which is why my favourite word is a made up one (unstucking). I love to create the conditions for people to be reunited with their creative confidence and to see them get unstuck and to fully unfurl their potential.

What does the theme mean to you through the lens of creativity?
I like Ron Rolheiser’s definition of spirituality, how it’s essentially what we do with our restlessness, our longings—both in the pain and the hope they bring us. I think spirituality is what we make of the human experience, which is ultimately a creative act.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?
The marginal moments of the day—a walk, a shower, a break, an in between space where the mind isn’t occupied.

What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
Begin before you’re ready. The conditions will always be unfavorable, less than ideal, maybe impossible—you might as well just get going now. Your fears are lying to you. Keep moving even when scared. The act of finding your starting line is your greatest challenge and greatest priority. The cost of preserving the status quo is never worth it. Then I’d quote Ijeoma Umebinyuo, “Start now. Start where you are. Start with fear. Start with pain. Start with doubt. Start with hands shaking. Start with voice trembling but start. Start and don’t stop. Start where you are, with what you have. Just… start.”

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

What’s your one guilty creative indulgence?
Books. So many, but not too many, books.

What myths about creativity would you like to set straight?
That there are creative people and non-creative people. Creativity is a muscle. Some people use it and there are others who don’t. That’s the only difference. The more you use it, the more you have!

What are you reading these days?
Learn or Die by Edward D. Hess. Also Ada Limon’s new collection, The Hurting Kind

What are you proudest of in your life?
Who my kids are becoming.

Who has been the biggest influence on your life? What lessons did that person teach you?
My Dad is one of my favourite conversation topics. He’s an ongoing marvel. He has always been fluid, flowing in and out of different jobs, at times: a horticulturalist, recreational therapist at the nursing home, a baker and caterer, a flower arranger, a restaurant owner. Also, he rides an endless wave of creative pursuits: canary raising, stocking Japanese Koi fish in the pond he made in the garden, grooming and showing Shetland Sheep Dogs, starting restaurants, water-colour painting, acting in community plays, while dabbling in set-design, choir directing, antique hunting, and most recently, bonsai collecting (he joined Twitter and at this point he has one tweet: “interest in bonsai continues”).

I could tell you one hundred stories about him. In each of them, the same themes:
+ So much permission to pursue interests and to make the pursuit visible.
+ So little questioning—is this allowed? what are my peers doing? am I good enough? is this weird?
+ So little fear. What mattered was making the stuff, not how he looked in the making or what people thought.

Where does this kind of creative confidence come from? I’m asking because I’ve shared a postal code and even a genetic code with this man, yet share so little of the courage. I can honestly say that self-doubt has been my achilles heel. I’ve known a bit of the creativity, but often without the accompanying confidence to truly bring it forward. I’m still learning creative confidence and seeing my Dad’s ongoing commitment to a creative life is still helping me.

We are thrilled to kick off this event with a live musical performance by classical guitar virtuoso Anna Pietrzak.

🎵Anna Pietrzak is a versatile guitarist, pedagogue, adjudicator and founder of the Vancouver Guitar Orchestra. A highly sought after recording artist, Pietrzak frequently performs as a soloist with orchestras and giving recitals in North America, Europe and throughout Asia.

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