Earlier this year I was invited to be interviewed by a series of grade 7 and 8 students at Willow Park School as part of “An Art Enabled Life.” This series of videos in which students interview artists about the tools and creative approaches they use to live a flourishing life; how do they generate positive emotions, sustain relationships, measure accomplishment, find solace, deal with stress, and stay inspired—not only in their artistic practices, but in all areas of their lives?

Produced with the generous support of The Calgary Foundation and created in collaboration with the Calgary Board of Education and the Alberta College of Art + Design we have produced video learning materials to be used in grade 7 and grade 8 school curriculum across the city. The videos consist of interviews with a range of contemporary Calgary artists (poets, painters, dancers, theatre directors, set designers, and sculptors). Students were engaged in the video production process, in particular, in the development and delivery of interview questions. Our key intention is to enable artists to speak honesty about their individual approaches to how they live an art enabled life and, despite a variety of challenges, flourish.

Each video is geared towards grades 7-9 and features some amazingly insightful and generative questions by the students involved – i’m honoured to be a part of this …