Francis Arevalo

Note: This event is in person, but if you would like to attend online (via Zoom), please click here to register for the virtual event.

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.