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Filmmaker MARY DICKINSON has an astonishingly long filmography working as a Producer and Director, mainly for the BBC’s flagship Arts programme, ARENA. During her seven years of art school, culminating in an MA from the Royal College of Art, Mary rapidly abandoned her teenage dreams of becoming a painter. Instead she experimented with decaying food as sculptural statements, performance art, and developed an interest in human mortality and the rituals of death.
As Mary tells us in CREAGEIVITY 21, she realised that these preoccupations would not necessarily provide a steady income, and after the Royal College joined the film unit of the National Coal Board, working on educational and safety programmes. This led to a career defining 24-year spell with the BBC, working in Music and Arts, and Community Programmes. During this time she became attached to Arena, the highly influential and respected arts programme, steered from 1975 by Alan Yentob. Mary tells us of the first Arena programme she produced and directed, Old Kent Road, which defined her approach to having documentary subjects tell the story in their own words (now a common technique, but in the 80s a big break from presenter-led programmes).
We also hear of films made with comedian Alexei Sayle, comic strip artists Robert Crumb and Aline Kominsky-Crumb, and the story of Masters of the Canvas, about painter Peter Blake’s obsession with the masked wrestler Kendo Nagasaki. These are just a few among very many entertaining and challenging films made by Mary while at ‘The Beeb.’
Following a period working in the Independent TV sector, Mary briefly retired, before having a ‘Eureka Moment’ on Catford railway station in London, and launching herself back into a new collaboration which will soon be submitted to film festivals and other public screenings.
Fasten your seatbelts folks and tune in to Creageivity 21 with MARY DICKINSON!Music with thanks: Steampunk Victorian Orchestra by Humanoide Media
If you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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Born in Canada during the Second World War, Norma Geddes has for many years been resident in Virginia, on the Eastern seaboard of America. She forged a career in healthcare and garnered a fistful of degrees along the way, while always being interested in creative expression. In our lively and entertaining meeting with Norma, she tells how one of her early forays into spinning yarns had to cease due to a lanolin allergy, however in time she found her calling: stained glass.
She discovered stained glass art when renovating her kitchen and needed to choose textured glass for some cabinets. In the glass shop she noticed a very small ad for stained glass classes, and said to herself, “I have never done that before...” and so began her 'journey of bliss'.
Norma is now a highly regarded glass artist working in stained and fused glass, creating vibrant original work which has been exhibited in eight galleries, and is currently shown in three in Virginia, with a new show which started October '24.
The passion for her art and for life is joyous and encouraging for everyone who feels the spark of creativity, and Norma is a living example of someone who keeps on keepin' on. Hear Norma's enthusiasm and infectious, impish wisdom in Creageivity 20, and discover why her quote from US writer Joseph Campbell is so apposite to her work: 'When you follow your bliss, doors will open for you that you did not know were there and would not be there for anyone else.'
See Norma's work at her website:
http://www.normageddesglass.comand on instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/geddes_glassMusic this episode with thanks to Dvir Silver:
https://pixabay.com/users/sonican-38947841If you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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South-east Londoner MARTIN CROCKER fronted school plays and was drawn to performing, while at the same time going on to become a sportsman and enthusiast for the outdoors, including mountaineering. In CREAGEIVITY 19, Martin describes how and why he was attracted to success in different areas, especially as an actor on stage, television, and as an in-demand voice-over artist. At the same time he admits to the ‘yin-yang’ of a fascination with corporate life – one which was to lead him, at a relatively late age, to starting a whole new life in France as a Director of Communication.
Martin’s story takes in many stopping points, including studying English and European literature with Germaine Greer, being in a cabaret style theatre group, further study at the Bristol Old Vic theatre school, running a major arts centre, and writing the novel he always felt he had in him.
His voice will be familiar to many radio listeners over the years, and his face will be recognised from a variety of TV parts, although he has yet to portray the pirate role he dreamed of (but he did play a serial killer on one occasion!)
These days Martin lives in idyllic surroundings in Provence and has returned to an early love of water colour painting. We’ll be posting some of his pictures on our Creageivity Facebook page over the next month. Do listen in to our creative and thoroughly charming guest Martin Crocker!
Music with thanks to Vitalli Korol
If you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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As Adrienne points out in Creageivity 18, listing the many and varied accomplishments of composer, musician, GRAMMY award winning conductor and writer LUCAS RICHMAN is quite the task. Coming from a family of performers, including his actor father and mother, Peter Mark Richman and Helen Richman, Lucas knew from early on that he would be a musician, and as we hear in this episode, at 17 he was commissioned to write the score for A Streetcar Named Desire.
Lucas gives fascinating insights into what a composer does and reflects on the inspiration and mentorship he gained from studying with Leonard Bernstein. We hear short excerpts from a few of his over 350 compositions, including a piece from The Warming Sea - an example of Lucas’ increasing work with educational and social awareness projects.
We also find out how conductors for film music require at least three eyes and are sometimes expected to work with an orchestra on zero rehearsal time. Eavesdrop an extraordinary career in music and prepare to be fascinated and charmed!
https://lucasrichman.com/
https://soundcloud.com/lucas-richman
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0725046/
If you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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A graduate of the Second City improvising group in Chicago, Latifah Taormina went on to co-found, produce, direct and perform with The Committee, San Francisco’s famed improvisational theatre of the late 60s. Under her stage name of Jessica Myerson, her Hollywood career included parts in The Graduate, Mrs Doubtfire, and Steelyard Blues, and she was a familiar face on American TV with appearances on many popular evening shows.
As well as her performing history, Latifah is highly experienced as an arts administrator, painter, educator and mentor. She also initiated the Poems for Peace movement which spread to 14 countries, and she continues to work on projects to promote peace.
Her autobiography, Ha Ha Among the Trumpets: An Improvisational Journey, chronicles her incredible journey set against the historical backdrop of the Kennedy assassination, Bloody Sunday, the Selma civil rights march, the early feminist movement, and anti-war protests. It also takes in her time as a teacher and educationalist during 10 years in Indonesia.
In Creageivity 17 we barely scratch the surface of an incredibly creative and inspiring life, so join us for a fabulous conversation with Latifah Taormina!
https://amongthetrumpets.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Ha-Among-Trumpets-Improvisational-Journey/dp/B0BRLVS7B3
If you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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Our planned guest for this episode was unable to join us, so we made the creative decision to fall back on our own resources, with Adrienne Thomas the special guest of Harlan Cockburn and vice versa.
Back in the 1970s we met at Maidstone Art College in Kent, southern England, and the journeys there were similar... but different: Adrienne battled for her place, and Harlan arrived by accident. Hear about 'Honouring your mistakes as hidden intentions', the magic of Captain Beefheart, and the bloke that wrote Ulysses... Y'know whassisname...
We hope you'll be entertained, stimulated, and smile as we celebrate creativity in many forms down the years.
Photo credit: Fortepan_231567 Bor DeszőIf you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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Graham McGregor-Smith took a long detour as a Chartered Accountant, and then stay-at-home Dad before eventually launching himself into music. Having started with a love of AC/DC, he became influenced by the Great American Songbook, with artists such as Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. However it was many years before he was able to progress things, when a chance meeting in a park led to him start realising that he can write highly melodic, lyrically-charged songs, and - as he says in the podcast - 'show off' by performing them live. Also performing live in the podcast is an elderly Westie dog called Polo, who has recently received a fresh lease of life!
Graham's new album, Road To Anywhere is also his debut album (and there's an endurance cycling-related story behind the title) which he is now promoting and performing live. So does he see Madison Square Garden performances, and songwriting credits for Lady Gaga beckoning? Listen to Creageivity 15 to find out.
You can also hear three songs from Graham's album, two of which feature an unusual solo...
Website:
https://mcgregor-smith.com
Music at:
https://mcgregor-smith.bandcamp.comIf you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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CHRISTINE COHEN PARK is a novelist, freelance writer, facilitator of shared reading groups, and a former tutor on the University of Sussex M.A. in Writing & Personal Development,
She’s written three published novels, Joining the Grown–ups, The Househusband, and A Key To Lock Out Cougars. She has also co-edited a prize-winning collection of short stories Close Company.
As Christine joins us on Creageivity she has just completed her latest novel Bye Bye Apartheid Road set in Israel and Palestine, and this forms the start point of our discussion.
There’s also some great storytelling about being a single mother in London, and slowly emerging from the role of a successful businesswoman, to that of a published author. Along the way Christine tells of the transformation she experienced when she went to a remote island in British Columbia, Canada, and learned that, ‘We also think with our bodies.’For a thoughtful, entertaining listen, tune in to Christine Cohen Park.
https://www.christinecohenpark.com/
Music: Seaside Café by Peri Tune, and Goin’ Back by James Bragg: https://wabisabimusic.de/artists/james/
https://souterrainsounds.bandcamp.com/album/red-cloudIf you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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To describe MARK RIMMELL as a movie set designer, or as a jeweller, is to barely scratch the surface of an extraordinarily rich and varied life. Mark starts us off with his birth in the slums of London's East End in 1933, followed by incredibly difficult years. Gradually he overcame many obstacles and his creativity began to flower as a singer, and through an appreciation of fabrics.
As a young man, moving back to London from Northamptonshire, Mark ran an antiques shop and started rubbing shoulders with the likes of Paul McCartney, Derek Jarman and Francis Bacon. (Talk to Mark for a while and it becomes easier to say who he hasn't met or worked with - check out the story of 'Charles and Marlon' at the end of the episode).
Mark lives in Budapest, Hungary, where he makes wonderfully exotic jewellery and has produced over 70 gem-encrusted crowns. He is a testament to the spirit of Creageivity.
Many thanks to musician and artist Maia Eden for her songs 'New Horizons' and 'Home':
https://www.maiaeden.comIf you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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Wow! Eleven episodes of Creageivity, so we thought we would open the treasure chest for a bumper bundle compilation of clips from throughout 2023. Featured guests are: Lisa Armytage, Claire Waller & Arthur Brown, Tim Fraser, Gregory Gudgeon, John May, Honora & Dahlan Foah, Jonathan Weightman, Mich Maroney, Steve McDade, Hermione Elliott, and Emil Thompson - All full of inspiration, fascination and creativity!
Music clips include If You Don't Love Me by Louise Setara, Fables of Faubus from Mingus in Newcastle, Long Long Road by Arthur Brown, I Keep Waking Up In Your Dreams by John May, White by The Birth of Color Chorus, Offstage Stories Theme by David Personne, Front Line Man by Emmanuel Williams & Emil Thompson, and Introduction by Emil Thompson.
The opening speech from King Lear is performed by Jonathan Weightman, and the photograph for episode 12 is by Skylar Kang, with thanks.
Thanks also to Mark Flett and Richard Bolley for the kind permission to use their music in earlier episodes.
Listen, enjoy, and please return for season 2!If you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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Our guest on Creageivity 11, Jonathan Weightman, performs as King Lear - a 2023 film role he starred in. Listen to this wonderful bonus minute of Jonathan in full flight!
If you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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Jonathan Weightman has had a storied career as an actor, writer and director, beginning with almost exclusively female roles including Lady Macbeth and St Joan while at school, coming right up to 2023 when he starred as King Lear in a movie, shot underground!
With an English father and Brazilian / Uruguayan mother, Jonathan describes how he always felt something of an outsider. However while he was at university in Manchester, Jonathan's mother moved to Portugal, and on his visits there he began to love and appreciate the country. Meanwhile he was involved in theatre and street theatre projects in the UK and across Europe, and in this time met his husband-to-be Keith Esher Davis. The deportation of Keith from the UK, as an 'undesirable alien' meant that they could no longer perform their jointly written play, Fever, and began their search for a haven where they could build a new life together.
That place turned out to be Lisbon, Portugal, and in time Jonathan became a director at Lisbon Players theatre, and co-founded the Tagus Theatre. When covid came, he transferred his skills from live theatre to writing and directing two movies, We Came to Lisbon (2020), and Offstage Stories (2021). He also had a short story, Mary Dances published by the Daily Telegraph in the same year, to his 'mixed horror and delight.'
Jonathan's life admirably underscores the themes of Creageivity - of keeping on keeping on, and of finding outlets for personal expression, whatever we are presented with. Or as Jonathan says, "I have been extremely lucky."If you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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Visual artist, writer, magazine publisher, and classical music enthusiast, Mich Maroney is an inspiring creative who relocated from the metropolis of London to the rural peace of Ireland. It's here that she has realised a long-held ambition to start a magazine blending the written word with distinctive visual art. SWERVE Magazine is available in print and on the web, featuring stunning images and writing, from a wide variety of contributors. These include international artists, as well as members of the local community.
Mich is the designer and maker of SWERVE - skills she has taught herself in recent times - and is very inclusive in her activities. These include encouraging others through workshops and writer's groups, and running a scheme for guest artists to stay in the County Cork town of Skibbereen to work on their own projects. In the podcast Mich describes herself as both a gambler in life, and someone who is scared of fairground rides, and yet her roller-coaster activities are testament to a 'never say die' creative spirit. SWERVE Magazine is an inspiring distillation of her ideas, and Creageivity 10 with Mich Maroney is a must-listen!
The podcast also features music by the contemporary composer Richard Bolley.
For more on Mich, go to: https://www.michmaroney.com/
For more on Swerve Magazine, go to: https://www.swervemagazine.org/
To hear Richard Bolley's music, go to: https://soundcloud.com/user-374152765-982950488
Photograph of Mich by Sarah Kate Murphy: https://www.sarahkatephotography.ie/If you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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Based in the countryside near Dundee, Scotland, 'Old Man Thompson' - Emil Max Thompson - is a talented musician, songwriter, stonecarver... and so much more. In this fascinating podcast he traces some of his family roots, including a cross-dressing great grandfather who was a risque star of Music Hall. We also learn what ekphrastic means, and how this is linked to the Glasgow city coat of arms and Saint Mungo.
Then there's a diversion into piano tuning and how every instrument has its individual character, and why Dundee played a formative part in the writing of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. This is nothing if not an eclectic podcast.
Emil has collected many of his past musical works - and those of other musicians, including Creageivity guest John May - on his record label Souterrain Sounds, where his latest EP release Sailing To Port Manto is now available. Some of the EP is included in the podcast to whet the appetite of listeners.
To hear more, and learn about lithophones and rubber bridges, listen to Old Man Thompson on Creageivity 09.
https://souterrainsounds.bandcamp.com/
https://souterrainpress.bigcartel.com/about-us
https://yelluk.wixsite.com/my-site-22591/ABOUTIf you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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In her late 50s, as she was contemplating retirement from a career as a nurse, midwife and counsellor, Dr Hermione Elliott instead embarked on a huge journey of what she describes as ‘Unfoldment’. She saw the need for end of life care which was analogous to the Doulas who assist with birth, and has since worked tirelessly to found and lead the organisation Living Well Dying Well.
Hermione is passionate about care of the whole person – physical, emotional and spiritual – and about upholding dignity and self-determination at every stage of life.
In our podcast she talks about what led her to start LWDW, and how it was ‘a profoundly creative process’ in her own development.
It’s an inspiring story with messages for everyone, and in particular those who are growing into their later years – an unflinching, but also uplifting look at death and dying. Unmissable!Find out more about LWDW, End of Life Doulas, and Hermione at:
https://www.livingwelldyingwell.com/
https://eol-doula.uk/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hermione-elliott-7a47a44/?originalSubdomain=uk
If you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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A drummer who arts, or an artist who drums? Steve McDade's academic career culminated as Head of Fine Art at the University of Chichester, and he has been a constant painter and exhibitor over the years: his most recent work being shown in 2023, with a back catalogue spanning very many art shows.
As a musician he was inspired by Tony Williams at an early age (banging out rhythms on Tupperware, as we learn in this podcast). He has played in a wide variety of jazz-oriented combos, from the free-form Displacement trio, the guitar-based Big Tent, and On the Corner, an ambitious big band rendering of works by Charles Mingus.
And here's another thing: Steve, Adrienne, and Harlan were students together at Maidstone College of Art about 50 years ago, but somehow neglected to catch up until now. Join us for a deep dive into the art of painting, and find out why we are living in the 1970s, all over again.
Steve's website is at: www.stevemcdade.co.uk
Steve's YouTube channel is at: https://www.youtube.com/@StevenMcDade-cn2flIf you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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Honora and Dahlan Foah are multi-disciplinary artists and producers, living in Atlanta USA, and working across a dazzling variety of media. Together they are creating a sequence of seven Frequency Operas, with the first of these unique events being staged in a Budapest church, and the latest taking place in the Vatican.
Honora originally trained as a dancer, while Dahlan was a photographer and early audio-visual pioneer. They joined forces, forming Visioneering, a production company making large scale events and experiences around the world.In this podcast Honora talks movingly about their visual work for children’s hospitals, how she views death, and the conscious process of becoming an elder. Dahlan also reflects on his side hustle as conductor of two prestigious orchestras.
Plus you can learn why Honora times the duration of the Frequency Opera sections according to the resilience of the average human bladder...But what is a Frequency Opera? Tune in to Creageivity 06 to find out!
More info at:
The Birth of Color: http://www.birthofcolor.org/
Mythic Imagination Institute: https://www.mythicjourneys.org/newsletter_nov06_foah.html
Atlanta Musician’s Orchestra: https://www.amorch.com/aboutus
Honora bio: https://mythhonora.wordpress.com/about/
Dahlan bio: https://www.birthofcolor.org/bios/dahlan-robert-foah/If you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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What hasn't John May been involved in? He describes himself as a Generalist, and his first activities were in the early UK Arts Lab network. There followed eight years with the New Musical Express (at the time the most influential music weekly in Britain), writing as Dick Tracy.
He has met and interviewed - among many others - Allen Ginsberg, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, William Burroughs, Al Gore, and our favourite muso, Captain Beefheart.
He is authour of numerous books, including four for Greenpeace, and is active in green and climate change issues. His collection of magazines, posters and interview recordings is vast, and in this podcast he talks about his role as 'Archivist of the counterculture and connected thinking'.
John is also a poet, songwriter and musician, and we're pleased to have two of his tracks on the show, from his album Boho Solo.
A fascinating journey through the history of almost everything, from a self-described 'young elder'.
The photograph of John was taken on his 73rd birthday, by his son Alex.
http://www.generalistarchive.co.uk/
https://hqinfo.blogspot.com/p/about-john-may.html
https://twitter.com/generalistblog?lang=enIf you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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In Creageivity 04 Gregory Gudgeon talks about performing Shakespeare's King Richard II, with puppets.
Richard is alone in his prison cell, and begins to use objects there to take the place of people in his life as he compares how far he has fallen: ' Sometimes am I king; Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar, And so I am.' He hears distant music, and is irritated, and also soothed by it, 'In this all-hating world.'
We're delighted that Gregory offered to perform Richard's soliloquy especially for Creageavity listeners, so here's three bonus minutes: bask in the voice of a wonderful actor!If you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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Acting seems to have been in the blood for Gregory Gudgeon from an early age, with family connections to the stage, and a childhood role in a local pantomime which captured his imagination. Later, movement training came at the Jaques Lecoq school in Paris, with productions in French, and the mentorship of the Czech actor and director, Hannah Kodicek.
Gregory has appeared with the international touring theatre company Complicité, is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has performed his one-man show of Richard II (along with a host of puppets) at festivals in The UK and Holland. His film career is long and varied, including 2022’s All Quiet on the Western Front, as well as a major new movie which is currently strictly under wraps!
In an entertaining and wide-ranging interview we hear about the importance of spoons, oatcakes, and why the Royal Navy’s loss was theatre’s gain.
A must-listen!
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1087129/
http://www.complicite.org/peopleperformers/GregoryGudgeon
Intro and outro song excerpts by Mark Flett, from his album Somewhere Man
https://markflettandhisband.bandcamp.com/album/somewhere-manIf you think you're too old to be creative, or too creative to be old, then Creageivity is the podcast for you!
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