Manitoba·CREATOR NETWORK

Got the pandemic blahs? Here's how 28 Canadians found their bliss

Artists from Manitoba and across the East Coast create their happy places in dance, poetry, film, audio essays, illustrations, and photos in this national CBC Creator Network collaboration.

Find your own antidote to ennui with these 17 inspiring stories

Natalie Dobbin, Robin Summerfield · CBC News · Posted: Apr 29, 2021 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: April 29, 2021

Dance, sing, write, create your way to happiness

4 years ago

1:00

How 28 Canadians unlocked their happy places during the pandemic. Video: Arden Ong

A sidewalk dance party for one; the voices of friends and family; a make-believe island; and a dog named Dexter.

These are some of the happy places — real and imaginary — that Canadians have embraced as we head into a very challenging second year of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Finding joy and creating happiness was at the heart of series of personal stories, art projects and short films produced in collaboration with CBC's Creator Network, which works with independent producers to tell their stories.

In December 2020, CBC Manitoba and CBC East Coast called on Canadians to show us their happy place. There were no rules — we wanted their imaginations guide them. A happy place could be a person, place or thing, and something in the past, present or future.

Seventeen projects — including audio essays, short films, a comic, illustrations, photos and personal essays — were produced by 28 storytellers in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia, and released over the past several months.

The final project, a short video that celebrates the Canadian landscape through dance, poetry and film, was co-produced by artists in Manitoba and Nova Scotia. You can see that by following this link: