conscient podcast

e214 roundtable – this moment in canadian culture

Episode Notes

I think, as has already been mentioned by a number of you, that we need to slow down, not speed up. This is a moment for really slow thinking and to be listening and to be doing deep listening. I like this concept that we use, again in Primary Colours. Instead of thinking of outreach and trying to convince people and tell them about how great the arts are, we need to do in-reach, we need to go into communities and listen to people, go where people are and understand what it is they understand about their cultures, plural. And their art practices plural. And after that process, maybe there's something to be said.

- Chris Creighton-Kelly (1h03m05s)

A special edition conscient roundtable with Robin Sokoloski, Annette Hegel, Jai Djwa, Owais Lightwala, Sarah Garton Stanley (SGS), Max Wyman, Chris Creighton-Kelly and Claude Schryer

Key links

Episode notes generated by Whisper Transcribe AI

Action points

Acknowledge the ongoing nature of crisis and disruption, particularly in the arts sector
Focus on deep listening and understanding the value of art within communities
Deconstruct and pluralize the concept of Canadian culture, embracing multiplicity and diverse voices
Recognize the importance of both large-scale advocacy and grassroots community engagement
Seek out joy and connection as a means of addressing broader systemic challenges

Story Preview

What does it mean to be Canadian in a rapidly changing world? Artists and cultural leaders gather for a candid conversation about identity, purpose, and the future of art in Canada, revealing both anxieties and surprising sources of hope.

Chapter Summary

00:00 Introduction to Canadian Culture
03:34 Setting the Tone: A Moment of Silence
05:11 Reflections on Crisis and Opportunity
09:14 Navigating Cultural Identity and Reconciliation
12:49 The Role of Arts in Community Building
22:10 Art as a Source of Hope and Advocacy
30:10 Finding Joy and Connection in Art
39:00 The Long Arc of Change and Future Possibilities
55:11 Listening and Learning from Communities
01:08:01 Closing Reflections on Art and Identity

Featured Quotes

Annette Hegel: We’re coming to the end stages of capitalism and colonialism and we’re all trying to kind of fumble in the dark, looking for new ways.
Max Wyman: The crisis is not about the plight of the artist. I think it’s about what the artist can do to find joy, help people find joy and meaning and grace and courage in a world that right now doesn’t seem to offer much of that.
Robin Sokoloski: Art is in the relationship.

Behind the Story

Amidst rising global tensions and a re-emerging sense of Canadian identity, Claude Schryer convened a diverse group of artists and cultural workers for an open discussion. Inspired by the Create Canada project and recent articles and media exploring the state of Canadian culture, the conversation navigates complex issues of decolonization, regionalism, and the essential role of art in building community. The participants grapple with defining Canadian values and finding actionable ways to foster a more inclusive and vibrant cultural landscape.

Episode Transcription

Note: below are excerpts from my introduction from this episode (the rest of the episode has not been transcribed)

Welcome everyone to a special edition of conscient roundtable where the theme today is ‘this moment in canadian culture’.

It’s Saturday April 12, 2025, 3pm eastern standard time and we have an hour, but possibly more, ahead of us to touch upon this complex issue. This is a first conversation, and I expect there will be more.

I have colleagues from the arts and cultural sector with me today on my zoom screen from across the country (Robin Sokoloski, Annette Hegel, Jai Djwa, Owais Lightwala, Sarah Garton Stanley (sgs), Max Wyman, and Chris Creighton-Kelly) and I’m very excited and honoured that you have taken time from your Saturday afternoon for this recording.

All of you have been or will soon be guests in this podcast. Thanks also for that.

So dear listeners I’m not going to repeat how conscient roundtables work - other than to say that it’s basically a kitchen party conversation - and for those want to know more I wrote a posting on my a calm presence Substack.

My hope is that there will other artist citizen conversations like this happening everywhere in this country and that we can find ways to seize this moment, so to speak, to better understand how best to respond and also how to ensure that all voices are being heard, which is not always the case.

It’s also an opportunity to remind ourselves of some of the root causes of the issues that we face, including colonization, extractive capitalism, and the ongoing and sadly every worsening climate emergency.

And you’ll notice in episode notes that I refer to a few documents:

https://createcanada.ca initiated by SGS, Owais Lightwala and David Maggs. We’ll hear more about it in a second. It’s a space for generating bold, actionable ideas that harness the power of culture to supercharge Canada in a rapidly changing world. Timely. The Create Canada team are producing weekly ideas posting that is generative and a lot of fun.

Save the Arts, Blow Up the Old Ways an article by Max Wyman published in the The Tyee. It is a very good read. Max suggests that it’s time to publicly reimagine what the arts sector can really do, and why it matters. FYI I also released e212 this week of conscient which is my conversation with Max.

TV Ontario produced an excellent roundtable on April 4, 2025 called ‘Does Canadian culture reflect Canadian identity?’ where they observe that ‘Canadians have struggled to define their culture as separate from the U.S. since the two are intertwined, especially as it relates to most genres of the arts. What sets Canada apart? And do Canadian art and artists need a renaissance?’

Also, just today in the Globe and Mail, Kate Taylor wrote about the controversy with PEI artist Christopher Griffin’s The Crossing painting.

So are we in a renaissance, in a crisis, is it a panic, a meditation, you name it: it seems to be all of the above.

A Canadian spring?

Alors voilà. La table ronde d’aujourd’hui est en anglais mais demain à Montréal je vais enregistrer la première table ronde du balado conscient en français et nous allons sans doute parler de ces enjeux aussi.

As I always do with conscient roundtables I’ll begin with a minute of silence where I invite my guests and listeners to think about and honour the traditional custodians of the lands and waters where they are today. Personally, I’m on traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Algonquin-Anishinaabe nation, also known as Ottawa.

So, a minute of silence and then we’ll get started.