A tireless advocate for Black artists here in Toronto and abroad, Ken Montague runs the Wedge Collection and a related nonprofit called Wedge Curatorial Projects. We spoke about how his early life stoked his passion for art and culture, his belief in partnership and community building, focusing on expressions of Black joy, and working to change institutions from within.

Read a full episode transcript and access over 100 newsletters and podcast episodes in the Frontier Magazine archives. It’s all available free thanks to our patrons.

Cofounders Andrew Khedoori and Mark Gowing on their egalitarian ethos, emotional sustainability, and the value of curatorial vision in an algorithmic world.

Read a full episode transcript and access over 100 newsletters and podcast episodes in the Frontier Magazine archives. It’s all available free thanks to our patrons.

The multi-hyphenate artist on making music in clubs, seeking technologies that nourish creative endeavors, and bringing along the next generation.

Read a full episode transcript and access over 100 newsletters and podcast episodes in the Frontier Magazine archives. It’s all available free thanks to our patrons.

The founding director and chief curator of the Rivers Institute for Contemporary Art & Thought on a partner-centric model, what’s possible when you take your time and build with community, and Tina Girouard, an under-appreciated artist of the 1960s-era “Louisiana mafia” in New York who has deeply informed Rivers’s work.

Read a full episode transcript and access over 100 newsletters and podcast episodes in the Frontier Magazine archives. It’s all available free thanks to our patrons.

Engineering professor and author Deb Chachra discusses “care at scale,” our energy-abundant future, and her new book How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World.

Read a full episode transcript and access over 100 newsletters and podcast episodes in the Frontier Magazine archives. It’s all available free thanks to our patrons.

Sari Azout, the founder of Sublime, discusses the challenges of today’s information environment, designing for emotions, building software as an “infinite game,” and aiming for resonance, not scale.

Read a full episode transcript and access over 100 newsletters and podcast episodes in the Frontier Magazine archives. It’s all available free thanks to our paid supporters. If you enjoy this conversation, consider joining:

Writer Drew Austin, author of the newsletter Kneeling Bus, discusses how public spaces are increasingly shaped by digital platforms, how urban planners have struggled to keep up with the pace of change, and how giving people the power to follow through on their desires creates better cityscapes.

Read a full episode transcript and access over 100 newsletters and podcast episodes in the Frontier Magazine archives. It’s all available free thanks to our paid supporters.

Writer, editor, and COVID Tracking Project co-founder Erin Kissane discusses her career trajectory, designing equitable codes of conduct, creating work cultures that prioritize care, the emergence of new social-media platforms, and why “it’s an incredible moment to be working in online design.”

Host: Brian Sholis

Audio production: Heather Ngo

First Things First is now The Frontier Magazine Podcast. Our first season of conversations with artists, writers, startup founders, and other creative people begins next week! We’ll be exploring the ideas and ideals that inform their work and the ways that design and creativity accelerate positive change.

You’ll hear from Erin Kissane, Drew Austin, Deb Chachra, Sari Azout, Andrea Andersson, and more.

Subscribe, tell your friends, and get ready for a season of inspiration.

Matthew Hickey is a young architect and a partner at the Indigenous architecture firm Two Row, which is located in the Six Nations of the Grand River. Two Row specializes in projects for community organizations and for clients in education and government. In recent years, the company has partnered with national and international firms on projects of increasing scale and civic, cultural, and social importance.

In this conversation, Hickey discusses his idea of universal inclusivity, the embrace by settler cultures of Indigenous ways of knowing and being, favorite Two Row projects, and moving beyond star worship in architecture.

Farida Abu-Bakare is a young architect with a startlingly wide range of experiences. She has helped design everything from airports and major cultural centers to hospitals and university science labs. She is currently Director of Global Practice at WXY. In this episode, Abu-Bakare discusses her upbringing, working in North America and Africa, progressing through some of the world’s most prominent architecture firms, finding purpose in mentorship, and the importance of joy to designing a better world.