Cochrane Ideas – December 2019

EXPERIENCING EXPRESSIVE ARTS

Please join us for a relaxing evening with Dara Dines, a member of our Cochrane Ideas community

7pm, Friday December 6th, 2019
King Solomon Lodge, Centre Avenue, Cochrane

Dara will share with us how she uses Expressive Arts in her work and will gently lead us in creating something meaningful together in preparation for the holidays.

DARA DINES has a degree in Fine Arts & Business from Concordia University, a certificate in Expressive Arts Training from the Prairie Institute of Expressive Arts Therapy (PIEAT) in Alberta, and she also studied Design at Algonquin College in Ottawa. She is a Registered Expressive Arts Consultant / Educator with the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA).

When she taught art classes she enjoyed being in process with people as they created. She explored and integrated many forms of art into her classes, such as mindfulness, movement, drama, music and play. Dara has has been working in the field of mental health and wellness, and has also been training facilitators to use Expressive Arts in their workplace. The past few years she has created leadership development workshops for community support workers, peer mentors and volunteers.


Warm thanks to the three brave and highly articulate Millennials who offered their perspectives at the November Ideas on the topic: “The Boomer Legacy.”  Eily Aurora and Zoe Richardson offered more personal visions of what is significant in their lives as young, caring people. Ben Carson dealt with some of the more commonly recognized differences between younger and older people. They helped provide an enlightening evening for all participants.

Cochrane Ideas – November 2019

THE BOOMER LEGACY

WHAT SORT OF WORLD ARE THE YOUNG INHERITING?

7pm on Friday, November 8th, 2019
King Solomon Lodge, Centre Avenue, Cochrane

A panel of millennials and others will lead an open discussion on the unique challenges they deal with. And, they’ll debate how much responsibility may be placed on the older and still-dominant demographic of the Boomer generation for these conditions. Other discussion points may include:

◊  What are the major differences between the world your parents lived in when they were young, and the world you now live in?
◊  Were the older Western world generations given a better chance than you have?
◊  Do you think older generations are blocking your access to political power? Does it help your interests to vote?
◊  What worries you the most? Climate change? Economic inequalities? Growing influence of artificial intelligence and other technological innovations? Population predictions? What else?
◊  Have formal mainstream religions lost their significance in your lives?
◊  What gives you the most hope?

Younger panel participants include:

Eily Aurora: 
Eily, 33, combines her background as a Family Constellations facilitator with music. She is a professional harpist, singer-songwriter and producer, with two CDs and a western Canadian tour among her accomplishments. With her passion to support mental health, she founded the Home Shall Be Here project, which toured to 14 communities across western Canada. As a practicing Buddhist, she does regular meditation, and has been a member of Birken Forest Monastery for 13 years. Native spirituality is a strong guiding force in her life, Eily spent four years at Mount Royal University, with two years in a student  executive role.

Ben Carson:
Ben, 32, spent two years as a music teacher in the CBE after completing his Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Education degrees at the University of Calgary. He went on to obtain a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Victoria and spent the following two years as Senior Community Relations Officer for the Victoria Symphony. In the summer of 2012 Ben Carson and Richard Marshall rode their bicycles from Calgary to Toronto just for fun.

Zoe Richardson:
Zoe arrived at the moment the panel discussion was about to start, and to everyone’s amazement immediately joined the panel.  Zoe had met Ely previously which led to her being somewhat at ease.  It was a delight to have Zoe share her views on being a millennial.

Katherine Arich:
It was with great regret that Katherine had to cancel her plans to join the panel.  She has been an eloquent 15 year old speaker at previous climate strikes on Calgary City Hall steps – sometimes before crowds of 400 people.  We very much regretted not having a passionate teenager in our midst.