The common thread that links the stories and columns in What’s Up Yukon each week boils down to two words – creativity and commitment.

From the outset, this magazine has had a strong focus on arts and entertainment, where creativity is a given.

Musicians, dancers, actors, visual artists, writers, photographers, filmmakers, et cetera have always been considered the “creative” members of society.

Artists and performers in any discipline draw on their own perspectives and resources to permit the rest of us to experience the world in new ways, whether in the hush of an art gallery, the din of a rock concert, or the artificial reality of a play or film.

Getting a song, a painting, a novel, or a pas de deux to that point of direct connection between producer and consumer – seemingly effortless and spontaneous – takes hundreds or thousands of hours of effort outside the spotlight.

Learning the basics of one’s craft, pushing one’s innate abilities to the limit, trying, failing, trying again, are essential to the creative process.

As the old joke goes about how to get to Carnegie Hall, the answer is practice, practice, practice.

In a word, commitment.

Another important element of What’s Up Yukon is the area of sports and physical activity.

True, we don’t take the traditional approach to sports, filling our pages with scores and statistics.

What we do instead is focus on the personal aspect – the passion that people bring to the activities they pursue, whether for fun or with a career in mind.

Anyone who has dragged themselves out of bed to take a youngster to the hockey rink hours before school starts, or has spent half their lives driving teen athletes from one practice to another, knows the commitment it takes to excel in sport.

But is there creativity? You betcha.

The ability to visualize one’s goals and rally the available resources to meet those goals – individually or as a team – is no less creative for an athlete than for a concert violinist. And no less creative for a coach than for a conductor.

All these ramblings are a long-winded way to introduce a new element inWhat’s Up Yukon this week, the section called “How’s Business”.

When the decision was made to replace our sister publication How’s Business Yukon with features on Yukon’s business culture in WUY six times a year, the question facing Meg Walker and me as editors was how this content would fit with the rest of the magazine.

The answer? Like a glove.

Once again, it comes down to those two words – creativity and commitment.

You won’t see long, boring pages of stock market analysis, or announcements of who’s the new CEO of XYZ corporation.

Instead, what you will see is stories of Yukon people who are taking risks, exploring their passion, doing business in new and interesting ways.

Whether it’s starting a new restaurant, inventing a pain-relieving device, entering the Dragons’ Den to pitch your smoked salmon, or using the internet from your home in Carmacks to do business around the world, enterprising Yukoners are up to the challenge.

With creativity. And with commitment.

Leave a Comment

Scroll to Top