Guest Spotlight: Kevin Woolridge on Creativity, Leadership, and Connection (Un)Common Threads 2025

Kevin Woolridge

Guest Spotlight
Guest Spotlight invites leaders and collaborators from across our community to share their own perspectives. This series will offer lived experiences, practical wisdom, and diverse viewpoints on what it takes to build meaningful creative work in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Kevin Woolridge (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist from Goulds, NL, primarily working in theatre and comics. He has been making comics since he was a kid but got more serious (or less serious) about it in 2007, when his comic strip, The Little World, found publication in Current. He is the publisher behind Heavy Sweater Comics, which launched in late 2023, and has published 8 books by local cartoonists since then. He has released a score of mini comics over the years, and loves introducing people to the medium. In his day life, he is the Public Relations & Fund Development Coordinator for Resource Centre for the Arts and Board Chair of Untellable Movement Theatre.

photo of Kellie Walsh by Ritche Perez

A reflection on (Un)Common Threads and the quiet, powerful role of listening, community, and leading with heart in artistic practice.

On November fourth of this year, I had the pleasure of attending (Un)Common Threads, a summit of creativity and innovation now in its second year and run by Business & Arts NL. Something incredible happens when large groups of creative people come together. It’s entirely intangible, but altogether electric. Even in a town such as this, artists float from creative bubble to creative bubble, with large groups getting together very rarely. When it happens, you can feel it. And we owe the organizers of those events a great debt of gratitude. Business and Arts NL brought together an eclectic mix of business and arts people for this year’s summit including architect Todd Saunders, musician and CBC broadcaster Tom Power, and choral director Kellie Walsh, whom I was particularly interested in hearing from. 

Kellie has this way about her that is calm, focused, and kind. She strives for what she knows you are capable of and leads you there with patience and curiosity. Her talk, Leading with Heart: Creativity, Culture, and the Next Generation, culminated in a surprise performance from Shallaway Youth Choir, of which she is the Artistic Director. The performance was preceded by a story of taking the choir to Africa and being asked in an airport if they would sing for the crowd. The students asked Miss Kellie if it would be okay to sing an African folk song. Kellie, leading with care and empathy, told her students to ask the crowd if it was okay for them to sing an African song. The result was a moment of connection across cultures and language, as the people in the airport danced and sang along to the music. Hearing this story, I could feel the goosebumps collectively rising from the audience, and when the kids came in to sing, you could hear a pin drop. I’ve never seen a more enraptured gathering. 

photo of Kellie Walsh and Shallaway by Ritche Perez

The example Kellie set in that airport speaks directly to her methodology. In her talk, she spoke of creativity as a practice of observing and responding. That creativity comes from how we move in the world. It thrives in authenticity and goes hand in hand with deep listening. I imagine her work as an empathy machine. Each student works in community, creating music, listening and learning, until they are ready to be released into the world. Little beacons of hope and understanding. My own time in choirs many years ago taught me similar. Kellie likens a choir to a living system – differences that work together, creating harmony. It is a tremendously comforting metaphor. That despite everything, we can move forward and create something beautiful. 

For Kellie, the most important attribute of an artistic leader is the ability to listen. And that listening helps to foster connection – a foundational condition for the creative process. It was a sentiment that permeated throughout the various talks that day. Todd Saunders said that connections feed creativity. When starting a project, you must first speak to the people that you are doing the work for. Tom Power shared a kindness meditation during his talk, reminding us to see people as people, and that great art can come from any of us. As self-doubt is also a common artistic attribute, it was a healthy reminder. 

The connection that each of them spoke of was undeniable in the room. Even as I rushed out the door at the end to evade a parking ticket, I kept running into people that I wanted to stop and chat with.  That electric bond is something that I think we crave, even if we are not aware of it. It is deeply necessary, and I am so glad that organizations like Business & Arts NL, and leaders like Kellie, Todd, and Tom continue to nurture those connections, and leading, as Kellie said in her talk, with much heart.

photo of Kellie Walsh and Shallaway by Ritche Perez