 I'm Naomi Singer and I am a community-engaged artist. I love being alive. I don't take that for granted. I find a lot of inspiration in nature, which you can see as you look around my apartment. I draw a lot of inspiration and comfort from being in the natural world. The annual winter solstice lantern procession that I'm artistic director of is something that takes place in multiple neighborhoods and celebrates the return of the sun. When the sun comes back, the ice thaws, it gets warm, the animals come back, plants start to grow. It's about the cycle of life. When I studied at Emily Carr, I started off in Foundation and went along with all the course programs, but I met people who were very exciting and had lots of ideas and we decided we were going to start a school publication, a newspaper. The plan of the arts was about the beauty and the creativity and just the excitement of being artists and being together and sharing ideas. When I went in, I thought, oh, I can draw and I'm just going to stick to myself. I'm just going to do my own thing. And through my excitement of being there, I think I started a coffee night. People showed up. It became a huge thing that I ended up doing and then I did a parade and then I did the graduation catalog and the graduation ceremony. I just started organizing events. My art practice has changed somewhat in that instead of doing it with several hundred people, I'm now doing it with thousands of people. I'm inspired by people who like to have fun and that's what mentoring young people is about for me, is not saying these are the specific steps you need to take. It's like, let's have fun together. It was started spontaneously, but I just love putting together costumes, outfits. It's about transformation. I don't take it for granted. When I'm inspired and feeling happy, I'll take it as far as it can go. I don't know if my career path is something that other people should necessarily follow, but I've had a very rich life and that fills me up. Only my heart has worked for me.