The Creative Process in 10 minutes or less · Arts, Culture & Society: Books, Film, Music, TV, Art, Writing, Creativity, Educ

Ten minute highlights of the popular The Creative Process & One Planet podcasts. Exploring the fascinating minds of creative people. Conversations with writers, artists & creative thinkers across the Arts & STEM. We discuss their life, work & artistic practice. Winners of Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Pulitzer, leaders & public figures share real experiences & offer valuable insights. Notable guests and participating museums and organizations include: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Neil Patrick Harris, Smithsonian, Roxane Gay, Musée Picasso, EARTHDAY-ORG, Neil Gaiman, UNESCO, Joyce Carol Oates, Mark Seliger, Acropolis Museum, Hilary Mantel, Songwriters Hall of Fame, George Saunders, The New Museum, Lemony Snicket, Pritzker Architecture Prize, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Galleries, Joe Mantegna, PETA, Greenpeace, EPA, Morgan Library & Museum, and many others. The interviews are hosted by founder and creative educator Mia Funk with the participation of students, universities, and collaborators from around the world. These conversations are also part of our traveling exhibition.
 www.creativeprocess.info For full episodes, follow The Creative Process - Arts Culture & Society.

  1. How does architecture  shape the way we think, learn & remember? SALWA & SELMA MIKOU

    Jun 16

    How does architecture  shape the way we think, learn & remember? SALWA & SELMA MIKOU

    Salwa and Selma Mikou are the founders of Paris-based Mikou Architecture. Born in Fez, Morocco and educated in Paris, they have spent the last two decades reimagining the relationship between the built environment and the cultural landscape. After honing their craft under two of the world’s most iconic architects, Jean Nouvel and Renzo Piano, they founded their own studio. For them, architecture is a living interaction with landscape and what they call the Atlas of Resonance, interpreting the hidden layers of a territory, geology, memory, and craft. It is a philosophy that rejects the generic, seeking instead to weave together technological innovation with local materials. Whether it is a mosque in the north of England or a hybrid innovation hub in a former royal manufactory, their work asks a fundamental question: How does space shape the way we think, learn and remember? They were selected by Rem Koolhaas to represent Morocco at the Venice Biennale. Most recently, they were commissioned by Hermès to create a 17,000-square-meter facility that bridges industrial performance with poetic expression. At the heart of their practice is a belief that architecture is not just about building—it’s about shaping relationships: between people, between past and future, between technology and craft. (0:03) Architecture as a Living Transformation (1:42) The Intuitive Knowledge of Living Art (2:20) Preserving the Human Core of Expression (3:14) The Medina and the Geometry of Childhood (6:35) The Social Spaces of Rooftops (8:27) The Twin Dynamic and Confrontation with 'l'autre' (10:21) Contextual Echoes & Traces of the Site (12:12) The Temples of Water (13:15) The Mosque as Pure Spatiality (15:49) Building Culture with Yves Saint Laurent & Pierre Bergé (16:57) The Wast ed-dar (وسط الدار) and the Heart of a Building (18:31) The Smells and Sounds of Home (19:44) Balance, Nature, and Sisterhood Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    22 min
  2. Why Do We Listen to the Talkers More Than the Builders Saving the Planet? - TOM CHI

    Apr 18

    Why Do We Listen to the Talkers More Than the Builders Saving the Planet? - TOM CHI

    Why does our economy treat environmental destruction as an inevitable side effect rather than a massive design flaw? How can shifting our focus from polarizing "talkers" to practical "builders" literally save the planet? We are repeatedly told that the climate crisis is too vast and volatile to solve, but what if the true obstacle is simply bad design? Tom Chi is a physicist, designer, inventor, and investor whose work has shaped everything from Google Glass and rapid prototyping at Google X to some of the most ambitious climate technologies being built today. He’s now the founding partner of At One Ventures, where he invests in deep-tech companies focused on a bold goal: a world where humanity is a net positive to nature. Tom’s new book, Climate Capital: Investing in the Tools for a Regenerative Future, reframes economics itself—not as a fixed law, but as a design discipline that can be reimagined to align with the physical realities of our planet. Drawing on science, systems thinking, and lessons from nature, the book offers a grounded, practical framework for moving beyond both climate doom and empty optimism—and toward real, regenerative solutions. Today’s conversation is about what Tom calls the 4Cs: Capital, Compassion, Climate, and Community—but also about agency, responsibility, and what becomes possible when we stop treating the future as something that happens to us and start designing it deliberately. 0:00) Build Integrity: Choosing Builders Over Talkers Why prioritizing those who physically create solutions over those who merely debate them is essential for systemic change (1:21) Overcoming Powerlessness Through Creativity, Critical Thinking, Community Compassion Utilizing a specific framework of portable skills to move from climate anxiety into meaningful, iterative action (2:22) Capital Misallocation: Taxing What We Want to See A critique of current tax structures that burden labor while under-taxing capital and failing to serve societal needs (3:47) The Volatility Gap: Why Average Temperatures Mislead Understanding why increasing climate volatility—rather than just average temperature rise—is the true driver of human distress (6:19) Economics As Design: Redesigning The Global Engine Moving beyond "physics envy" in economics to treat the global market as a discipline that can be redesigned for better outcomes (9:11) Depth Over Breadth: Reforming Education Through Experience (13:30) Local Resilience: How Cities Can Lead The Transformation Practical, block-by-block strategies for urban adaptation, from expanding tree canopies to improving household efficiency (16:33) AI and Robotics in Agriculture (19:12) Human-Centric AI: Flipping The Priority Of Automation (20:18) Thinking In Pictures: A Language Beyond Words Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    22 min
  3. Listening to the Living World: Ami Vitale, Yann Martel, Carl Safina, David George Haskell & Others on Climate Change & The Rights of Nature

    Apr 1

    Listening to the Living World: Ami Vitale, Yann Martel, Carl Safina, David George Haskell & Others on Climate Change & The Rights of Nature

    Today, we hear from writers Yann Martel, Carl Safina and David George Haskell on the practice of listening to the living world. Tom Chi discusses the dangerous volatility of a one-degree shift. Clayton Aldern explores how climate change alters brain health and behavior, while Ami Vitale,Osprey Orielle Lake and Martín Von Hildebrand remind us of the kinship we share with nature. Fred Pearce discusses 40 years as a journalist reporting on climate from around the world, while Richard Black of the environmental think tank Ember and Paula Pinho, European Commission’s Chief Spokesperson, talk about policy, hope and the radical empathy required to protect the planet for future generations. (0:00) Clayton Page Aldern – Finding awe and beauty in the world (0:40) David George Haskell – On consequences of humans tuning out the sounds of the living world (2:11) Yann Martel – How animals ask us to step out of our humanity (3:12) Carl Safina – The interior lives of non-human animals (5:08) Ami Vitale – Environmental collapse and human conflict (6:37) Martín von Hildebrand – Indigenous views of nature (8:00) Richard Black – Transition to clean energy vs. massive fossil fuel subsidies (10:01) Tom Chi – Climate destabilization (11:07) Paula Pinho – Europe’s vision for energy independence (14:04) Osprey Orielle Lake – Māori concept of "I am the river and the river is me” (16:08) Bill Hare – On limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees (17:19) Fred Pearce – Finding hope in nature’s resilience To hear more from each guest, listen to their full interviews. Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod @creativeprocesspodcast

    20 min
  4. Palestine & Generational Trauma: CHERIEN DABIS on Directing All That's Left of You

    Mar 19

    Palestine & Generational Trauma: CHERIEN DABIS on Directing All That's Left of You

    Two weeks away from filming her most ambitious film to date, Cherien Dabis and her crew were forced to evacuate Palestine as the devastating events of October 2023 began. Instead of abandoning the project, they adapted, filming across Cyprus, Jordan, and Greece, creating a cinematic love letter to the resilience, joy, and humanity of the Palestinian people. My guest today is Cherien Dabis. She’s a filmmaker and actress who has spent much of her career trying to fill the silences in the American narrative. In 2022, she became the first Palestinian to receive an Emmy nomination. She has worked on everything from The L Word to Ozark, Only Murders in the Building to the hit Netflix series Mo, always with an eye toward breaking the one-dimensional mold that has historically defined Arab representation in the West. But her latest project is perhaps her most ambitious yet. It’s a film called All That’s Left of You. It follows one Palestinian family across three generations, beginning in 1948 and ending in 2022. It is a story of exile and memory, and it’s Jordan’s official submission for this year’s Academy Awards. (0:00) The Inheritance of TraumaCherien Dabis discusses how collective trauma is passed down and the importance of showing Palestinian resilience and humanity (1:50) Inherited Trauma: Identity And History The passage of trauma requires a multi-generational lens to truly understand how history and political events shape people (2:37) The Bakri Acting Dynasty: Collaborative Lineage Collaborating with four generations of the Bakri Family brought immense authenticity to the screen (4:02) Filming The Nakba: Art Imitating Crisis Evacuating Palestine weeks before shooting forced the crew to adapt amidst devastating, ongoing events (7:09) The Moment Of Activation: Racism In Ohio Experiencing severe racism during the first Gulf War ignited a lifelong drive to challenge dangerous media stereotypes (9:34) Psychological Violence: Impact Of Humiliation The film explores how non-physical harassment and humiliation leave devastating, long-term relational scars (10:48) Broken Distribution: Industry Gatekeepers Navigating systemic fear and gatekeeping in Hollywood distribution remains a profound challenge for Palestinian cinema (11:37) Previous Films, Television And Craft Directing television hones the craft and expands the creative capacity needed for ambitious feature films (12:28) Truth Seekers: The Next Generation Hope lies with young people who refuse to accept the broken systems and hidden truths of previous generations Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    14 min
  5. Game Over: Metrics, Big Data & Why We Need to Stop Keeping Score w/ C. THI NGUYEN - Highlights

    Mar 13

    Game Over: Metrics, Big Data & Why We Need to Stop Keeping Score w/ C. THI NGUYEN - Highlights

    "To be in the process of making things, to be in the process of talking to people about what things mean. The creative process is actually, I think, the most meaningful part of life, but it's very hard to measure. When we get shoved towards a world that demands easy measurables, it's very hard to optimize away from the creative process and optimize towards things that are more static." On this episode of The Creative Process, philosopher C. Thi Nguyen joins us to discuss his new book, The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game. He unpacks the profound concept of "value capture"—the moment we stop caring about the rich, subtle experiences of life and start obsessing over simplified, external metrics like grades, likes, and screen time. Beyond the trap of quantification, C. Thi Nguyen explores the liberating power of games and art. We discuss how true play requires us to step lightly between different rule sets, the difference between art and craft, and how reclaiming our creative process might just be the ultimate meaning of life. (0:00) THE TRAP OF VALUE CAPTURE How external metrics and scoring systems hijack our personal values and creativity (7:09) THE LOGIC OF QUANTIFICATION Why simple numbers travel well but strip away vital human context, from screen time to grades (11:58) THE MAGIC CIRCLE OF PLAY Understanding the difference between a gamified life and the true, disattached beauty of struggle (14:57) ART, CRAFT, AND METRICS Why taking the hard way leads to genuine creative expression, and how to spot value-laden systems (19:34) THE POLITICS OF MEASUREMENT Questioning the assumption that complex human traits, like IQ or consciousness, can be quantified on a single scale (21:31) THE SPIRIT OF PLAY Using constraints to boost collaborative storytelling and learning to step lightly between different rule worlds Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

  6. The Art of Fiction, Democracy & Truth with AL KENNEDY

    Mar 3

    The Art of Fiction, Democracy & Truth with AL KENNEDY

    "The thing that puzzled him was why people don't agree to be fully expressed while they're alive. Why does it only happen in their last moment? Why wouldn't you live being fully expressed?" My guest today is AL Kennedy. She is one of Britain’s most acclaimed and versatile literary voices, a writer who can inhabit the internal life of a soldier in a POW camp, as she did in her Costa Book Award-winning novel Day, as easily as she can navigate the "professional lying" of a modern civil servant. Her latest novel, Alive in the Merciful Country, takes place during the 2020 lockdown. It tells the story of a primary school teacher who receives a confession from an undercover police officer who infiltrated her life decades earlier. It’s a provocative investigation into state power, the "Spy Cops" scandal and the search for mercy in an age of surveillance. It’s a book about the breakdown of trust. We talk about her life, her activism, and why she believes fiction is the only way to tell the truth when the facts are forbidden and how she balances the truth of her novels with the relief of stand-up comedy. (0:00) Finding Your Voice On the Alfred Wolfsohn voice method and the power of being fully expressed (2:30) Reading from Alive in the Merciful Country Kennedy shares a passage from her latest novel, exploring hope and resilience in dark times. (4:43) The Myth of Shrinking Attention Spans Challenging the narrative that modern audiences cannot focus, and the importance of engaging storytelling. (6:22) Education and the Foundation of Democracy The dangers of dismantling education and how critical thinking protects us from fascism. (10:26) The Spy Cop Scandal and State Surveillance Unpacking the reality of undercover police infiltrating peaceful protests and intimate lives. (13:59) Lockdown: A Global Pause and the Inrush of Empathy The fleeting moment of unified humanity during the pandemic and how it was ultimately betrayed. (17:34) Writing Without Theft: The Ethics of Character Creation Kennedy explains her imaginative process and why she refuses to steal details from real people's lives. (28:16) AI, Digital Slop, and the Loss of Trust Reflections on artificial intelligence as an unstable plagiarism machine and its impact on truth. (30:03) Nature, Spirituality, and the Merciful Country Finding healing in the natural world and navigating the future with love and awareness. Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    34 min
  7. SIRI HUSTVEDT on Love, Grief & Her Late Husband PAUL AUSTER - Highlights

    Feb 23

    SIRI HUSTVEDT on Love, Grief & Her Late Husband PAUL AUSTER - Highlights

    “Grief is a particular kind of unrequited love. It wasn't unrequited in the past. Usually, we think of unrequited love as you never got to do it, you never had it for yourself. But, in fact, there can be requited love, which is then unrequited love in the paroxysms of grief.” Today, we are honored to welcome a writer whose work has long explored the intimate landscapes of the mind, memory and the heart. Siri Hustvedt’s writing moves between the personal and the philosophical, the literary and the deeply human. Her work bridges collections of essays, non-fiction, poetry, and seven novels, including the international bestsellers What I Loved and The Summer Without Men. Recipient of the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature and the Gabarron Prize for Thought, her work has been translated into over thirty languages. Her new memoir, Ghost Stories, is a reflection on forty-three years shared with her late husband, the writer and filmmaker Paul Auster. In its pages, we encounter not only love and loss, but the quiet persistence of presence, memory, and language itself. (0:00) “We were hugely important to the drama of becoming in our own lives” (2:04) Grief as Unrequited Love Siri explores the emotional reality of living without Paul Auster, noting that grief occurs because love does not stop when a person dies. (3:19) The Shared Space of a 43-year Marriage (4:36) Reading from Ghost Stories Siri reads the opening passage of her memoir, detailing how the loss of her husband deranged her sense of time and bodily rhythms. (7:02) How Loss Changes Our Sense of Time (11:24)  How Powerful Emotions and a Person's Life Can Play a Role in Illness (13:04) Believing in a Reality that Transcends the Individual (20:06) Physical Love in Marriage On the importance of physical intimacy in long-term marriages, a reality often left out of grief memoirs. Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    26 min
5
out of 5
18 Ratings

About

Ten minute highlights of the popular The Creative Process & One Planet podcasts. Exploring the fascinating minds of creative people. Conversations with writers, artists & creative thinkers across the Arts & STEM. We discuss their life, work & artistic practice. Winners of Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Pulitzer, leaders & public figures share real experiences & offer valuable insights. Notable guests and participating museums and organizations include: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Neil Patrick Harris, Smithsonian, Roxane Gay, Musée Picasso, EARTHDAY-ORG, Neil Gaiman, UNESCO, Joyce Carol Oates, Mark Seliger, Acropolis Museum, Hilary Mantel, Songwriters Hall of Fame, George Saunders, The New Museum, Lemony Snicket, Pritzker Architecture Prize, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Galleries, Joe Mantegna, PETA, Greenpeace, EPA, Morgan Library & Museum, and many others. The interviews are hosted by founder and creative educator Mia Funk with the participation of students, universities, and collaborators from around the world. These conversations are also part of our traveling exhibition.
 www.creativeprocess.info For full episodes, follow The Creative Process - Arts Culture & Society.

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