While most of my podcast guests share their identification as artists and creators, I remain committed to including within that ensemble, conversations with people who feel the fire of creativity within themselves and encourage it’s light and warmth to be expressed on a daily basis, personally and professionally. In curating these recorded gatherings, I hope these conversations might resonate just as powerfully for all listeners.

Dr. Sian Williams began her professional career in the arts and somewhere along the way, made a choice to set that work down; work that had defined and fueled her, to step towards another love, of science and specifically chiropractic medicine. In 2019, Sian fulfilled a career-long dream and opened Alinio Chiropractic & Massage in the heart of Edmonton’s Ice District. The Welsh word ‘alinio’ meaning alignment, is inspired by Sian’s South Wales roots as well as her belief in the importance of bringing all facets of a life into – ‘alinio’.

For as long as I have known Sian, I have been inspired by her way of being in the world and when I finally found the courage to trust anyone with cracking open some space in my own bone structure, I couldn’t imagine trusting anyone else.

In the case of his first formal play, Rocko and Nakota: Tales From the Land, theatre artist Josh Languedoc has come to realize that while the play was first produced in 2018 professionally, he had been carrying in pieces for many years, being unpacked and revealed gradually along the way. Josh, a proud member of the Saugeen First Nation, now lives as a guest in Treaty 6 Territory as an Anishinaabe playwright, producer, storyteller, and teacher. His most recent production, Civil Blood: A Treaty Story, an immersive contemporary tale inspired by the signing of Treaty 6, the love story of Romeo and Juliet, and the lessons learned about what it means to be treaty people. This intriguing production, co-written by Josh and Neil Kuefler and produced by Thou Art Here and Common Ground Arts onsite at Fort Edmonton this past summer, invited audiences to consider present truth by meditating on our collective past. At the time of our conversation, Josh had also just begun work as an Associate Producer at the National Arts Centre of a project titled #ReconcileThis, one of many topics we had a chance to dive into.

The role of mentor suits Jenna Rodgers’ love of partnership whether she’s sitting alongside a playwright in the supportive role of dramaturg, as the leader of an artistic ensemble somewhere in the midst of bringing a story to the stage or in the past few years as a mother of two, learning how to best respond to the wild wonder of early childhood; an improvisation unto itself. While her professional path following her double Science and Arts major led her to a life in the theatre, Jenna remains committed to a practice that embodies the inquisitive curiosity of a creative laboratory.

A graduate of the National Theatre School’s Artistic Leadership Residency, the Banff Centre’s Cultural Leadership Program and a member of the artEquity National Facilitator Training cohort, Jenna also holds an MA in International Performance Research from the universities of Amsterdam and Tampere. Highly committed to shifting the landscape of opportunities in the theatre, Jenna remains an active and passionate advocate for equity in the arts. Most recently Jenna was appointed the Artistic Director of Edmonton’s Concrete Theatre and as she enters into the next scene of her creative narrative, she finds herself in the familiar space of preparation.