Victoria - 4. Ideafest University

People probably do not realize that most universities have lectures, panels and workshops most weekends, if not daily, open to the general public. If you are in need of some intellectual stimulation, but are not interested in enrolling in a full course or degree, then these [often free] seminars can be inspiring.

The idea sessions that I attended, because of my own interests, were focused on creativity. Rita Wong, a poet and environmental water activist from Emily Carr University in Vancouver had just completed a series of poems and visual word watersheds based upon American Sandra Steingraber’s Living Downstream framework. Wong invites everyone to “listen to what’s around you; to be open to what you are connected to on the ground and through the air; and give back.” For Wong, the catalyst for creation begins with one’s environment. We are connected to the ground we walk on, so we have to be open and aware of this connection. How the connection changes, “what it says”, will provide the content for ideas.

For example, Wong says, “what if the sidewalk were to break open? What would be hiding underneath? What if the English language cracked open? What languages, words would pop through?” Like many West-coasters, Wong is fascinated by indigenous Canadian culture and language (although she has learned neither fluently). She feels strongly that endangered, indigenous languages should be restored and preserved (but is not sure how to do this), so her poems evolve out of this need.

If you are attending talks in British Columbia, you will often hear the speaker give thanks to the Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, or the Coast Salish whose land is here. It is a gesture of thanks to the first known, continuously living people in this part of the World.

Ideafest also featured ‘the future of games’ day, and I was most captured by a “Games without Frontiers” workshop led by David Strong who said, ‘journalism may be saved through gaming.’ Gaming, and the stories behind the games, is a growing industry in Canada, and each new game constructed requires a story writing team, and those stories are getting longer and longer with more sustained playing time. Strong thinks that gaming may be one alternative way to tell our stories. Is gaming a new forth of truth sharing?

“Is there still potential for human activity?” was the question debated, or discussed, at an evening panel in the science building. Five ‘creators’ in their various fields discussed how “an artist cannot live outside of her time and experience” (Jennifer Stillwell); “communal creation can still be distinct if not completely independent from its cultural connection” (Victoria Wyatt); and how ‘all art involves some form of plagiarism’ (Lee Henderson and Jonathan Goldman). Goldman, for example, said, “Shakespeare took all of his ideas from someone else, but his genius [his creativity] was in the execution of the idea.” Most of the panelists agreed that it is impossible to sever the artist from the world s/he lives within; all new ideas evolve from somewhere. What makes something creative is the sustained work and thought that goes into refining the idea until it is unique.

“The roots [to creativity] are children,” George Tzanetakis said, “they don’t have panels about creativity; they just do it.” During Picasso’s life, he was always struggling to find the essence of the child artist within himself too.

Let’s find our child. Go home, find what you most loved to do at five, ten, twelve, and do it!