• How can we remind ourselves that we're all creative and we're all artists? I think that we need all parts of ourselves to be able to navigate this transition that we're in as a species and as a part of the world.

I first met Louise Adongo at the Transition Innovation Group (see e163). We spoke on Monday April 22, 2024, earth day.

Louise is a bold and grounded leader in systems change, policy and evaluation who is a founder of Caprivian Strip Inc (CSI) and a co-steward with the Transition Bridges Project.

Louise's work brings care and intention to uncovering the roots of tangled problems; enabling shifts to greater resilience, sustainability and impact. I’ve heard her talk about it many times and noticed that there is often an arts component in her work. For example:

• There are artists in communities and creativity is really important in a context where you're trying to inspire imagination and do strength-based and asset-based work in contexts that maybe people do not naturally see and think of things that way. I've always understood that creatives and artists have a way of drawing out of us more than what we even understand about ourselves on a surface level.

Louise believes that co-creating more nimble, transparent and creative institutional spaces is key to the reinvention that we all need.

I agree. A key part of this is knowing how to slow down. I appreciate Louise’s take on this: 

• My perspective on what slowing down means is that we really need to think more deeply before we take the actions, which is different than let's slow down and not take any actions at all. And so the system mediation feeds my action orientation because it's willing to actually step in and say the hard thing to people that need to understand their readiness to hear the hard thing. So it's not waiting to say the hard thing until people are ready to hear it. It's almost saying the hard thing to determine how ready people are. 

We also discussed how to invite people to get further involved.

• It’s less about wanting to convert or convince people to respond to the reality of our state than figuring out how to create invitations for people to come to it for themselves.

Consider yourself invited. 

Louise recommended Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden by poet and scholar Camille T. Dungy, The Creator film and suggested that we spend time outside. 

Links that Louise mentioned in the episode include:

• Berkana Loop
• Panarchy Loop
• We Will Dance with Mountains, notably the work of Cara Judea Alhadeff

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END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES

Hey conscient listeners, 

I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020. It’s my way to give back.

This Indigenous Land Acknowledgement statement was developed by members of the Algonquin community for my former employer the Canada Council for the Arts. I have adapted slightly to make it my own.

• I acknowledge that my studio, located in Ottawa, is on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.
• I recognize the Algonquins as the customary keepers and defenders of the Ottawa River Watershed and its tributaries. I honour their long history of welcoming many Nations to this beautiful territory and uphold and uplift the voice and values of our Host Nation.
• Further, I offer my respect and affirm the inherent and Treaty Rights of all Indigenous Peoples across this land and honour commitments to self-determination and sovereignty that have been made to Indigenous Nations and Peoples.
• I acknowledge the historical oppression of lands, cultures and the original Peoples in what we now know as Canada and fervently believe the Arts contribute to the healing and decolonizing journey we all share together

In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish a free ‘a calm presence' monthly Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.

Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.

Share what you like, etc

I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. 

Claude Schryer

Latest update on January 9, 2026