Creativity Workshops

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Anna has had a life-long interest in the creative process. Over the past few years, she has had hundreds of conversations with artists and other creative people – such as musicians, actors, photographers, designers, composers, digital storytellers, painters, quilt-makers, theatre technicians, writers, cartoonists, bloggers, and film makers – about their creative lives. Over and over again, she has heard the same challenges: How do I live in the creative world and the “real world” at the same time? How do I juggle my creative goals with jobs, responsibilities, mortgages, kids, family and bills?

Anna has written dozens of essays and articles, and presented numerous workshops, in response to these questions. She currently keeps a blog called The Pragmatic Artist (www.annalidstone.tumblr.com) and is working on a book by the same name.  

She also has extensive experience as a teacher, speaker, workshop presenter and facilitator. She has presented to audiences ranging from creative professionals to academics to students to business leaders on a wide range of topics, including writing, literature, creativity, education and contemporary issues, on three continents.  

She first offered her course "Protecting Your Creativity" several years ago at the Toronto Women's Bookstore, and found that it sold out almost immediately. She has since taught it several times, as well as presenting workshops on "Keeping it Alive: Creativity and the Pressures of University Life" at the University of Toronto, and workshops on various aspects of creativity to a number of private audiences in Toronto and Vancouver.

She is currently available to present workshops on "Creativity for Grown Ups", addressing the joys and challenges of balancing creative pursuits with the practicalities of everyday life such as mortgages, bills, responsibilities, jobs and parenting.

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