I Am YEG Arts: Gail Sidonie Šobat

Gail Sidonie Šobat is a writer, educator, arts administrator and singer, passionate about sharing her love of words and inspiring the next generation of wordsmiths. Most notably, she is the creative force and coordinator behind YouthWrite®, camps for kids who love to write, just about anything!©, which is celebrating its 30^th anniversary this year. 

In this week’s I Am YEG Arts feature, we chat with Gail about her multidisciplinary arts practice and the narrative threads she explores, the origins of YouthWrite and what we can expect during this year of celebration. 

As someone who has had the opportunity to live in several different places — in the province and beyond — tell us about your connection to Edmonton and why you’ve made it your home and creative base. 

I’ve left Edmonton a few times, but I do find my feet coming back here, and I think it’s because Edmonton is such a cultural hub. It’s really an artsy city. And despite all the adversity in terms of funding and COVID and all the things that derail the arts, Edmonton perseveres. And maybe it comes up as something new; a theatre company rises like the phoenix, or artists find a new way to make a living. It is exciting to be in this city and to see all the things that are going on. And I rely on, for example, the Edmonton Arts Council to keep me apprised of what is happening in my own city because I feel like everywhere I turn something new is popping up. 

I have a lot of friends in the arts, and that makes for a vibrant community and an informed and progressive community. I also think that we’re a university town, certainly U of A, but also the other universities, including MacEwan, which have really added to the artistic life of this city. Those are the up-and-coming baby performers and arts admin people. 

I think we have a different sensibility than elsewhere in the province, and I guess I call it progressive, humane, and compassionate. And I think it’s also an affordable city. This city has given me and my partner a wonderful livelihood and an affordable life that I couldn’t have had elsewhere. 

You work across so many creative forms — writing, poetry, acting, singing, and teaching. How do these different artistic pursuits intersect for you? Do they influence or shape one another in ways that surprise you? 

Recently I said to Stephen Heatley, who’s the former director of Theatre Network and also at the Citadel, ​“you know, isn’t it amazing that I became a teacher and then I forged a life where I got to be a singer and an actor and a writer and an arts administrator?” That Education degree opened all the doors for me. I know I wouldn’t be the director of YouthWrite had I not had an education background. And yet I get to sing, to improvise, and sometimes I get to act, and I get to run YouthWrite and the spoken word youth choir and all of that stuff. And people say, what do you do with a BA in English or in Education? Well, here’s what you can do. It is so much more than just a narrow degree. 

I think what I mentioned is the real surprise: who knew that being a teacher could mean that I travel and present internationally, and I get to be a writer. I have a very rich, artistic, creative life, and I think that would surprise my younger self. When I was in the Education faculty, I did not see this on the horizon. 

How do they inform each other? Well, I think the humanities are the place where we learn to be human. As an advocate for reading and writing, I see that as the way to a more compassionate, critical thinking, and creative thinking world. I’ve certainly seen evidence of that. I think that the arts are not divorced from one another. The music feeds into writing, feeds into dance, feeds into storytelling, feeds into filmmaking. I know we compete for different pockets of money here and there, but I think we are more connected than we are separate. Maybe that’s the way to go forward in this chaotic and disparate world. 

As a storyteller, what narrative threads or inspiration do you find yourself drawn to?

Fairy tales have always been my go-to. I love grown-up fairy tales that don’t always have to end happily ever after. I love the darkness and the hope. I’m drawn to those kinds of writers as well. 

And the other thing is music. Music has been integral to who I am. Singing and a musical life have given me ways into friendships, networks, and communities in ways I never anticipated. And I guess I’d be remiss if I didn’t say theatre. The theatre community in this town has been a friend to me. And although I’m not in professional theatre anymore, those people remain dear friends, and I continue to meet new ones. If you think of it as a DNA molecule, those three things are woven together in my life. 

Congratulations on 30 years of YouthWrite! Tell us a little about your role with YouthWrite and what makes it special to you and the city.

Years ago, I was asked to begin a camp for kids who love to write. I left [teaching] to do that because I felt like high school was doing kids a disservice. After grade nine, there’s so little creative writing in high school. Writing instruction is focused on the five-paragraph essay, which I find is akin to a horrible death for writing. I thought, there are better ways to thrill kids about wordplay. That’s how YouthWrite was born.

There is a multidisciplinary focus because I believe that all the arts are conjoined and that we can’t sit and write all day. I don’t even think professional authors can do it. Using other art forms as a springboard into creative writing was really important to me. Getting the body involved is key, because I think the body and mind are connected. That led to courses like improvisation and writing, drumming and words, dance and words, and yoga and words. There are kids who can’t sit still, so this was an opportunity to show them that you can be a storyteller in so many ways.

We started in Edmonton at the Bennett Centre, but now we’re at the Highlands United Church, and they’ve been very gracious hosts. We are secular and non-denominational, but the church happens to be a nice site near McLuhan House, which is where our office is. For those who don’t know about McLuhan House, it’s a beautiful museum of the short childhood years that McLuhan spent in Edmonton in that very house. Marshall McLuhan, as we know, is so important to communication and writing. And then across the street is one of our venues for our summer and spring camps. We also have camps elsewhere in the province because we are a province-wide organization, but our Edmonton camps are our home and where we began — the genesis of the whole shebang. Additionally, MacEwan University has very graciously granted us rehearsal and performance space for the Spoken Word Youth Choir and the Spoken Word Adult Choir, and they prepare and print our beautiful YouthWrite the Magazine, which is a professionally produced magazine.

YouthWrite is a supporter of the artist. We are known as one of the highest paying arts instruction organizations, and we continue to try to find ways to improve that so that we’re on par with the Writers’ Union of Canada. Over the years we’ve paid so many artists, and I think they come back to us because they feel well treated. And then we have these great kids who graduate and go on to do amazing things.

What have been some of the major highlights for you over the last 30 years of inspiring young writers?

Having the benefit of 30 years of watching people grow — whether that’s the youth writers themselves, or our supervisors who are young, emerging professional artists, or our instructors. And of course, seeing our organization grow. We’re now year-round, and we offer so many programs — I think it’s nine different programs over the year — and we continue to seek ways to grow and flourish. Of the youth writers themselves, I’ve seen people grow into filmmakers, poets, published authors, and arts administrators. And as the arts inform all the professions, I’ve also seen youth writers become doctors, lawyers, activists, paleontologists, teachers, professors, animators and people who write for games. It’s so rewarding to see all these people blossom into these incredible human beings. We knew they were great at YouthWrite and they’ve gone on to prove us right.

Many of our supervisors are former youth writers, while others started as emerging playwrights or emerging screenwriters, and they’ve come into their own. We have supervisors who are drag queens, television writers, showrunners, filmmakers, dancers, improvisers — they’ve all gone on to these amazing creative lives.

And then finally, the instructors. All of our instructors are certainly professionals in their fields, but they have also, over 30 years, become award-winning, or they were already award-winning, and now they’re recognized on the national or international stage. That is inspirational to see how these great mentors took their art even further over 30 years, and that they have continued to make a living in the arts.

There is nothing like YouthWrite in other provinces with this scope. For all the things that are said about Alberta, Alberta has maintained this funding. To allow this camp and others like it to continue and to blossom is fantastic at a time when, arguably, the arts are in peril everywhere. Without the Edmonton Arts Council, Edmonton Community Foundation, the City of Edmonton, I know we would not have grown.

Tell us a little about what you’re currently working on or hoping to explore next.

Personally, I’ve launched Songs from This and That Country, which received funding from the Edmonton Arts Council. I’m hopeful that it has wings and carries on in wonderful ways. I’ve also been asked to write a musical based on The Book of Mary, which is in the works. The script is finished and I’m working with local composer Michael Clark of the Edmonton Pops. He’s composing the music, and we’re having a grand time. Thirdly, I’m working on a book about the Edmonton Grads.

In terms of YouthWrite it’s our 30^th anniversary, so we’ve got a whole year planned of wonderful activities celebrating our camps and our additional programming. The Spoken Word Youth Choirs are going to be performing at the Edmonton Poetry Festival. We’ve got an alumni weekend planned for this summer in between our camps. We’re offering not only the Highlands United Camp, but also the camps in Calgary and Write2Film in Rockyview, AB. And in the fall there will be a huge block party anniversary celebration in Highlands. So many exciting things for our anniversary celebration year!

About Gail Sidonie Šobat

Gail Sidonie Šobat is a multi-award-winning teacher and author, with thirteen books for children, teens and adults, and a number of educational and academic articles. She is the creator/​coordinator of YouthWrite®, camps for kids who love to write, just about anything!©, its adult version, JustWrite, and the Spoken Word Choirs. Gail is also an instructor in the Communications and Arts and Cultural Management programs at MacEwan. From 2016 – 2020, she was the regional representative for The Writers’ Union of Canada.

Registration is open for YouthWrite’s 30^th Anniversary season! 

Celebrating 30 years, registration is open for YouthWrite® Summer Camp in Edmonton. YouthWrite is a unique opportunity for kids expand to their writing horizons. Campers will receive instruction from published authors and learn techniques in many forms of communication and storytelling. 

This year’s Highlands Experience, June 28 — July 3 for ages 8 – 12, provides 8 hours of daily instruction and activities including visual art, yoga, dance, and music. Camps are led by high-calibre professionals from a variety of backgrounds. Register here.