Art Heals Podcast

In December 2022 The Highs and Lows Choir and Kettle Choir performed together in a concert at the Recovery Club in Vancouver. This podcast is about the two choirs and their show together

During a nine-month battle with depression, Sergei Van Hardeveld leaned on pottery and singing to get through. "The healing part was being able to focus and not think about the past or the future and just to be in the present," Sergei said. Since then, he's picked up painting and photography and found purpose through environmental and social causes. We met Sergei at Leeside Skate Park in Vancouver to talk about thriving through creative expression and his new focus on love.

On the eve of her 60th birthday, Art Heals caught up with acclaimed Vancouver musician and composer sylvi macCormac ("aka elviS"), who turned to soundscapes after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. With influences ranging from Buffy Sainte-Marie and Bruce Cockburn to Barry Truax and Hildegard Westerkamp, sylvi has produced works for Co-op Radio, the Vancouver Adapted Music Society (VAMS), and the Utsam Witness Project. In 2012, she was named one of Vancouver's Remarkable Women, and released her first documentary film, Patience and Absurdity, about her relationship with her mother who was facing dementia. Whether she's profiling social justice and Indigenous rights issues or fellow artists and people with disabilities, sylvi's work explores the intersection of pain and beauty and gives back to the communities that have supported her along the way.

In this episode, you’ll meet Alaric Posey, a Vancouver-based composer and music teacher. He’s also the assistant conductor and manager of the Highs & Lows—a low-barrier choir that promotes wellness for people with mental health challenges. From an early age, Alaric found inspiration and purpose in music. More recently, the choir has become his home. Co-producer Serena Renner and host Elaine Joe interview Alaric in the pavilion-style sanctuary where the choir used to rehearse.

Sarah Jickling is a Vancouver-based musician and mental health advocate who isn’t afraid to sing about her deepest truths and struggles. Her first album,When I Get Better, told the story of her journey through bipolar recovery. Her latest record,The Family Curse—released last November—explores the root of her mental health challenges: intergenerational trauma and family mental illness. When she’s not recording under the nameSarahJickling and Her Good Bad Luck,Sarahcan be found spreading mental health awareness at local high schools with Reach Out Psychosis, a touring presentation developed by the BC Schizophrenia Society. She’s also studying circus arts at Tantra Fitness in Gastown, which is where we met her on a rainy Saturday morning.