WELCOME to the 25th PUBLIC SALON

Imagine the honour of receiving an invitation to a small, intimate dinner party at the private home of Vancouver’s former mayor Sam Sullivan and his wife Lynn...

Photo credit:John Gurcharan Niijar 

The food being served is exquisite and your fellow dinner guests are as interesting and different as you and I.

Credit: jbtrainingsolutions.com

Intellectuals, educators, rule makers, ground breakers, story tellers, difference makers, passionistas, inventors, die - hards. This eclectic mix is hard to come by, unless of course, you happen to be invited to the Sullivan's dinner table.

Here’s the glitch: these invitations are pretty hard to come by! Not everybody has the opportunity to enjoy an intimate tet a’tete with some of the thought leaders in the field of science, literature, entrepreneurialship or philanthropy. 

Mrs. and Mr. Sullivan are known for their innovative ideas, big kindred spirits and hearts. It comes to no surprise these intimate dinner get- togethers have taken on a life on their own:

Today they are called Public Salon.

Their private home has been swapped for Vancouver’s Playhouse, the dinner has been scrapped and the intellectual stimulation has been brought forward to a wider audience.

Thank you Sam and Lynn.

The real food might be missing from the program but the ‘dishes'(apologies dear presenters) served during the 25th Public Salon were as varied,refreshing, delicious, easy and a bit chewy to absorb just like a real smorgasbord.

And here is what the menu had to offer: 

Like all good parties we were treated to pre-dinner entertainment!  Our Bhangra Performers were a feast for all!

Credit: John Gurcharan Niijar

1. Entree:  Dessert first (Yeah!)

Brian Scudamor

Entrepreneur

Credit: John Gurcharan Niijar

Funny, witty, stimulating and oh so entertaining with his seven minute long“Can you Imagine" presentation! 
Brian is the living, breathing example that mega success doesn’t necessarily depend on a high school diploma- or any higher education certificate whatsoever (definitely spoke to my Motherpreneurial heart). Yet, I wouldn’t necessarily rub his story into my children! 

His message to us was,

Create a vision in writing!

2. Entree: 

Minelle Mahtani

Author, Journalist and associate Professor

The appetizer was served in the form of Minelle's introduction into Creative Serendipity.

So, the question is, how do we create creative serendipity?

Well, bring two strangers together. Two strangers from different socio, economic background and see how the magic unfolds...

3. Main:

Jocelyn Morlock

VSO Composer in Residence

Ms Morlock gave us brilliant presentation into the Who's Who of Vancouver's culture and music scene. Her highly amusing narration about who visited, just left and who's about to perform in Vancouver not only left us in stitches, it made me wanna visit the city more often.

She introduced us to the Lumiphone! And this particular version had its world premiere during tonight's Public Salon!
Performed by Brian Nesselraad and Colin Van de Reep:

Credit: John Gurcharan Niijar

4. Main:

 Mark Winston

Author / Bee Time

Credit: John Gurcharan Niijar

Bee-ologist (= lover of bees) author and curious about what we humans can learn from bees!

Well, we can learn a lot actually:
E.g. to be fully present in the moment. Bees only concentrate on one thing at a time. So should we.

Bees are 'restaholics', not workaholics (huge difference). So should we.
Bees don't judge.
Bees and humans are in constant dialogue. And in order to get the most of our communication we need to listen. 

Brian's message was,

Hear without judging!

5. Main:

ChrisMorissey

 Rainbow Refugees

Credit: John Gurcharan Niijar

There are several reasons why people become refugees: 
Some are forced to leave their home as a result of war; others flee persecution for their political or religious beliefs, ethnicity, nationality or membership of a particular social group. And then there are individuals who flee (a country) in fear of persecution due to their sexual orientation.
Chris, a former Franciscan nun, left the order and returned with her girlfriend from Chile back to Canada in fear of prosecution for being gay.

Chris is the co-founder of Rainbow Refugees"helping queer immigrants and refugees reunite with their partners and find sanctuary from oppression, discrimination and possible death." 

Her message to us: 

Form a small circle of people who can change the world!

6. Main:

Mo Dhaliwal

Cultural Communicator

Credit: John Gurcharan Niijar

I must have dozed off there for a moment as I don't remember much! Apologies Mo! All I recapture is that music and dance made him a better listener.

And, multiculturalism translates to different cultures getting on with each other, living together.
He introduced us to some pretty awesome dancing:

Credit: John Gurcharan Niijar

7. Main:

Eric Peterson

Environmental Research

Credit: John Gurcharan Niijar

Have you heard of the Tula Foundation?
No problem, I haven't either.
Now I know it's a private charitable foundation run by Mr. Peterson.
The Tula foundation operates the Hakai Institute, "a research and postgraduate teaching organization that promotes field research at remote locations on British Columbia’s coastal margin".
Puh, what a mouthful.
Nevertheless, it was interesting to listen to Eric's account of life on remote Calvert Island, chatting about the institute's own faculty, staff and research equipment! 

And we finished off with another dessert-or so it felt like it:

John Burns

Journalist

Credit: John Gurcharan Niijar

His sparkling, charming explanation of how he survived and left journalism was the perfect end to this eight course meal!

It was light hearted, easy digestible!
And his big question remains:

Is technology the death of journalism?
Are we writers getting too hung up about Likes and Comments of strangers in regards to our pieces?

Johns big question was, how often do we really want to engage?
Isn't it much better to love and be loved by the right people?
The ones who really read what we write, love and care about?
Because these are the readers who love and care about us- a lot!

I may not call Vancouver home. And I don't come here very often!
But with so many interesting "Good-Doers" in the city it easy to fall in love with Vancouver more and more. 
One Public Salon at a time.

From the Dinner Table to Vancouver Playhouse: PUBLIC SALON

Fun and adventure can be found at the most unlikely places.
In front of our door step so to speak.
Fun can be found during a stroll through your own neighbourhood, on a snow covered trail hike or watching and listening to eight speakers working their magic during an evening of the 20th Public Salon at the Vancouver Playhouse!

Vancouver's population is as diverse at a good artisan bread shop: immigrants from all around the globe and locals alike can be found here! Each and every one of them carries their own, unique story.
Most Vancouverites are fond of community building. The buzz words are Shop local, Eat local, Support local! Platforms for sharing community building inspiration can be found everywhere. Like the one I am going to tell you about.



 Public Salon is similar to a TEDx event, several speakers, all on a mission to make their community a better place to live in!
Public Salon is the brainchild of Mr. Sam Sullivan, former Mayor of Vancouver and Ms Lynn Zanatta. For over 10 years they hosted private dinner parties at their home and invited a diverse (eclectic?) group of individuals to share their individual views, experiences, world view and passion with each other. As you know, the best conversations always happen over a shared meal with a few glasses of tongue loosing beverages!

Instead of being invited into the private dinning room of the couple we were invited into the Vancouver Playhouse to listen and watch eight speakers, dancers and musicians!
Here is how the 20th Public Salon looked like:

A welcome dance,

And now, my friend Vicki and |I, ready to get dazzled:

 

But before the action starts, a few shots from the crowd - and what a shame, they didn't turn out well, too dark!

The line-up included
Mohamed Assani- Sitarist - Music teacher who teaches Indian Music at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music. (What an interesting instrument,. My son plays the guitar, five strings is enough for him)!

Dr. Lance Barrett Lennard, Director of the Vancouver Aqaeium's Marine Mammal Research Program - interesting stuff about the health of killer whales.

Martha Carter, Choreographer

More entertainment was provided by Ms. Becky Wenham, playing her cello while dancer Hayden Fong put his talents on show:

Furthermore we had Mr. Paul Draggan, "Reckless Bike"shop owner. On a mission to get  Vancouverites on a bike.

Genevieve Ennis Hume, of Hume Atelier, specialises in custom made jewellery  Their atelier supports artisanal miners.

Ms Kwiaahwah Jones of  Haida and Nishgaa descent
 is the curator of the Bill Reid Gallery. This First Nations woman put her love for native art on display:

Claudia Li, Co-founder of HUA foundation (dedicated to creating solutions for the Hua, ethnic Chinese community). She read us a letter, addressed to her grandma, revealing her years of struggle: torn between meeting expectations of her demanding parents and finding her own voice and way in Canada.
And last but not least it was
Jason Lindstorm of Bucket List.org.  Bucket List is one of the largest data bases of life goals on the web with over one million visitors per year. Funny story about Jason wanted to meet Richard Brenson- and just like that, Voila, Sir Richard kite surfed right into his arm and needed to be rescued by Jason!

As I just said, as diverse as Vancouver's population!

Nothing was too heavy to digest, too complicated to understand, too controversial or mind blowing. It was a representation of what Vancouver stands for and represents: Nice people supporting their local community,