This vision to create a "creative renaissance" and a reclamation of our Doukhobor culture has been living in me for years. I kept asking: how will this come to be? Creating connection and context to my roots became a natural next step in my own healing journey.

After searching much of the world to find belonging and purpose — training in yoga, meditation, leadership, and facilitation — I returned home to find it: to the Kootenays, rich in my ancestral story. Doukhobors believe everyone has a divine spark, and that it grows stronger in community. I felt there were some answers hidden in my roots. I needed to find internal relevance and context in our complicated Doukhobor story. I am still discerning which beliefs, traditions, and stories I hold near, and those are changing every day.

Choir happened quite by accident, and was enthusiastically embraced by the participants of our weekly gatherings. What I didn't anticipate was how lovingly we'd be embraced by our community. People come to our shows as audience members and leave as part of our choir. It's time to share this with a broader community. Would you like to be part of it?

I am not a Doukhobor historian, an expert in the Russian language, or even a trained musician. I am not a perfect Doukhobor. I am a naturally creative and collaborative person who has spent my life building communities and producing events: in the corporate sector, in my children's schools, at leadership retreats, for the paddling community, and for women in recovery — including my own path through recovery from alcohol misuse, and a few other things I continue to heal from. I have been most honoured to act as a celebrant for celebrations of life, and to facilitate ceremony around other life transitions.

This project is the most exciting and challenging work I have done. Organizing people and sharing a creative project you care deeply about takes courage, confidence, and trust. I have found sad truths in my family story and uncovered blessings and have deepened relationships. Group work has hurt my heart and feelings, and has filled my soul more than I ever dreamed it could be filled. I can't promise you won't laugh and cry. I can't promise you won't be annoyed by someone singing off-key or too well, frustrated by Russian pronunciation or triggered by something I say. I can promise that navigating those feelings with a group of people wholeheartedly collaborating and sharing their voices to make one voice is moving.

We meet both online and in person, and you don't need singing experience to belong here. A sense of pitch and timing is helpful, and can be developed with practice. You didn't come here to stay the same...