Strictly Creative!

For the foreseeable future, the podcast will be stepping away from producing new episodes and entering an extended hiatus.

Strictly Creative was built around a simple idea: sit down with interesting people and give them the space to talk about what they create, what they think about and what they have learned along the way.

One of the great privileges of doing the podcast was discovering that every guest had something to teach us.

Artists, musicians, writers, actors, filmmakers, poets, researchers, innovators and other creative people came to their work from very different places. Their definitions of success were different. Their struggles were different. So were their motivations.

But almost every conversation offered some reminder that meaningful creative work takes curiosity, persistence and a willingness to keep learning. There was rarely one correct path.

The archive of those conversations will remain online. They represent different people, different moments and different perspectives, and hopefully there is still something useful to discover in them.

There is no timetable for another episode. Whether Strictly Creative eventually returns in some form, or whether this becomes the closing chapter, remains to be seen.

Most importantly, thank you to every guest who sat down, shared their work and allowed us to ask questions. We learned something from every one of you.

And to everyone who listened over the years, thank you for your time and your curiosity.

On this episode of Strictly Creative, we explore Qillaniq, a landmark exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada featuring more than 80 works by over 70 contemporary Indigenous artists from across the circumpolar world. Through themes of identity, kinship, resilience, activism, and radical joy, Qillaniq celebrates the creativity and vision of artists shaping contemporary culture across the North.

• Exhibition Information: gallery.ca

Almost a decade ago, I sat down with poet, performer, and community builder Jamaal Amir Akbari.

A lot has happened since then.

In this episode of Strictly Creative, Jamaal returns to discuss his debut poetry collection, CHAMBERS, and the personal journey that shaped it. We explore identity, transformation, fatherhood, creativity, vulnerability, and what it means to continually evolve as both an artist and a human being.

As Ottawa’s former Poet Laureate, Jamaal has spent years using poetry and storytelling to connect people, build community, and encourage reflection. Now, with CHAMBERS, he invites audiences into a deeply personal exploration of self-discovery, truth, and growth.

CHAMBERS: Book Launch & Concert

On Sunday, June 21, 2026, Jamaal Amir Akbari will bring CHAMBERS to life at the Richcraft Theatre inside Ottawa’s Shenkman Arts Centre.

This immersive performance combines poetry, music, spoken word, dance, and storytelling, featuring special guest artists:

• ​ Apollo the Child
• ​ Abena Beloved Green
• ​ Amanda Lowe Warnakulasuriya
• ​ Miss Ticca

Event Schedule

Marketplace & Reception

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM

Main Concert Experience

3:30 PM – 6:00 PM

Post-Show Marketplace, Meet-and-Greet & Book Signing

6:00 PM – 7:00 PM

EVENT LINKS

🎟️ Tickets & Event Information:

https://shenkmanarts.ca/en/CHAMBERS

🎙️ My Original Interview with Jamaal (from 2016):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG5DWS5soc0

🔗 Jamaal Amir Akbari:

https://www.instagram.com/jamaalamirakbari/

ABOUT STRICTLY CREATIVE

Strictly Creative is a podcast featuring conversations with artists, creators, dreamers, researchers, innovators, and supporters of all things creative.

Hosted by Garmamie

Becoming a parent can be a major life change, and mental health during this time does not get enough attention. In this episode of Strictly Creative, Garmamie speaks with Dr. Ryan Van Lieshout about paternal perinatal depression — what it is, why it matters, and why it is still not talked about enough. Dr. Van Lieshout is a professor at McMaster University and a perinatal psychiatrist whose research focuses on mental health during pregnancy and the early postpartum period.  

The conversation also looks at a McMaster-led pilot study exploring group cognitive behavioural therapy for fathers and fathers-to-be experiencing perinatal depression. The study is designed to test whether this kind of support is practical and acceptable before a larger study is done. Participants are randomly assigned either to a 9-week online evening CBT group plus standard care or to standard care alone, with follow-up questionnaires and interviews over time.  

This episode is about fatherhood, mental health, support, and the importance of recognizing that asking for help is part of becoming stronger for yourself and your family. Hosted by Garmamie, Strictly Creative is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Relevant links:

Dr. Ryan Van Lieshout – McMaster Experts

• Scholarly Works

Mental Health for Fathers

Santé mentale pour les pères

In the final episode of our Endless Becomings series, Strictly Creative's host Garmamie speaks with Elisa Jiménez Robles, co-curator of the exhibition.

Endless Becomings brings together eleven visionary artists shaping the future of contemporary art, united by a commitment to continuous transformation — across identity, memory, resistance, displacement, care, and change. The exhibition runs until March 15, 2026 — go see it.

Exhibition details:

ENDLESS BECOMINGS: EXPLORATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY ART

September 20, 2025 – March 15, 2026

Spencerville Gallery | Level 3

Curators: Elisa Jiménez Robles (Co-Curator), Shems Benmosbah (Co-Curator)

Artists: Aylin Abbasi, Annie Bérubé, Armand Diansambu, Elaine Diguer, Sophie El-Assaad, Emily Escoffery, Lea Hamilton, Sarah Hughes, Éric Mailloux, Shiva Nasiri, Leigha Stiles

Previous interviews (listen next):

• Leigha Stiles

• Armand Diansambu

Dans cet épisode de Strictly Creative, Garmamie s’entretient avec Armand Diansambu, artiste multidisciplinaire et chercheur bantou, dont le travail est présenté à la Galerie d’art d’Ottawa dans le cadre de l’exposition Redevenirs : Explorations en art contemporain.

L’entrevue aborde son parcours créatif, sa pratique artistique et les thèmes qui traversent son travail, notamment l’identité, la mémoire ancestrale et les héritages postcoloniaux.

📌 Entrevue menée en français.

🔗 En savoir plus sur l’artiste : armanddiansambu.com

🔗 Détails sur l’exposition à la Galerie d’art d’Ottawa : https://oaggao.ca/fr/a-laffiche/exposition/redevenirs-explorations-en-art-contemporain/

In this episode of Strictly Creative, judoka and filmmaker Luke Thomson talks about how a tendon injury became the starting point for his first documentary. Unable to compete at the Quebec Open and Canada Cup in Montréal, he stayed mat-side with a camera instead of a judogi.

Luke filmed fights and interviewed 27 people from the Canadian judo community—athletes, Olympians, coaches, and staff—including Christa Deguchi, Jessica Klimkait, Antoine Valois-Fortier, and Janusz Pawlowski. To all of them, he asked one simple question: “What does judo mean to you?”

Their answers go beyond results and medals, into stories about routine, sacrifice, family, identity, and how judo can shape an entire life. In this conversation, we walk through how the project came together and what Luke learned by listening to the people who live this sport every day.

Watch the full documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7f5VosP7iU

In this episode of Strictly Creative, Garmamie visits the Ottawa Art Gallery with multidisciplinary artist Leigha Stiles, whose work is featured in the exhibition Endless Becomings: Explorations in Contemporary Art. Leigha walks us through three of her pieces — Melancholy, SAD, and I can’t do this anymore — and shares the deeply personal experiences behind them.

Recorded inside the Spencerville Gallery of the Ottawa Art Gallery, this conversation dives into mental health, wearable sculpture, memory, softness and weight, movement, and unfinished stories.

Endless Becomings runs from September 20, 2025 to March 15, 2026 at the Ottawa Art Gallery — and admission is free.

In this episode of Strictly Creative, Garmamie attends a special event at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa celebrating CKCU-FM’s upcoming 50th anniversary — a live broadcast that captures the heart of community radio.

The event featured two of CKCU’s longest-running programs, Canadian Spaces and The Back 40, performed live from Peter A. Herrndorf Place with local musicians and an in-person audience.

Garmamie speaks with Michael Houston (aka "Tic"), host of Wednesday Special Blend, about CKCU’s rich history and how it’s evolved through the decades.

Then, Lia Kiessling, CKCU’s Station Director, shares how the station continues to shape Ottawa’s creative community and the enduring power of local storytelling.

🎙️ Strictly Creative — conversations with artists, creators, and storytellers shaping our cultural landscape.

Five years ago, Jamie Hahn closed Arcana Martial Arts, a well-known combat sports gym in Ottawa, Canada. Not long after, he and his family left Canada and moved to Colón Island in Bocas del Toro, Panama, trading cold winters for life on a small island.

In this follow-up to our 2020 conversation “Closing the Gym – Arcana Martial Arts’ Jamie Hahn”, Jamie talks about what it was like to start over in a new country and build Bluff Muay Thai, his new combat sports gym.

We talk about the move, the ups and downs of change, rebuilding community, and what it really takes to create something new far from home.