Home Podcasts The Creative Process · Arts, Culture & Society: Books, Film, Music, TV, Art, Writing, Creativity, Education, Environment, Th
The Creative Process · Arts, Culture & Society: Books, Film, Music, TV, Art, Writing, Creativity, Education, Environment, Th

The Creative Process · Arts, Culture & Society: Books, Film, Music, TV, Art, Writing, Creativity, Education, Environment, Th

Mia Funk 1254 Episodes Sep 16, 2026

The Creative Process explores the minds of creative people through conversations with writers, artists, and thinkers across the arts and STEM. Guests include Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Pulitzer, and Nobel Prize winners, as well as leaders from organizations like the Smithsonian, UNESCO, and Greenpeace. Hosted by Mia Funk, the interviews delve into their life, work, and artistic practice, offering valuable insights. The podcast also features participation from students and universities worldwide.

Episodes

WONDER: Childhood, Memory, Listening to the Earth
WONDER: Childhood, Memory, Listening to the Earth Sep 16, 2026 1244 “It's my past selves that I feel are so intertwined with the experience of moving home and of childhood, that they're inside of us, that they're with us.”Those past selves that the poet Ada Limón speaks of aren't ghosts, they are part of our present. Before we had the words to explain the world, we understood it through the warmth of sunlight, the scent of rain, and the sound of a mother’s voice.
ADA LIMÓN on Interconnectedness, Startlement & The Power of Poetry
ADA LIMÓN on Interconnectedness, Startlement & The Power of Poetry Aug 27, 2026 4167 My guest today is Ada Limón. She served two historic terms as the 24th poet laureate in the United States. She has brought poetry to public parks across the US, and her words have traveled through deep space, engraved on NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft. In over 20 years of writing in celebrated collections like Bright Dead Things and The Carrying and her new book, Startlement: New and Selected Po
24th US Poet Laureate ADA LIMÓN on Memory, Wonder & Listening to the Living World - Highlights
24th US Poet Laureate ADA LIMÓN on Memory, Wonder & Listening to the Living World - Highlights Aug 27, 2026 2148 “It’s always very interesting that we have to make a case for art because we don’t have to make a case for fast food. Like, we don’t have to make a case for all of these sort of things in our lives that we do not need, and yet we have to make a case for beauty? We have to make a case for the soul? We have to make a case for humanity? We have to make a case for singing back the wounded world? That
LINCOLN CENTER: Celebrating the Performing Arts & the Human Spirit with SHANTA THAKE
LINCOLN CENTER: Celebrating the Performing Arts & the Human Spirit with SHANTA THAKE Aug 19, 2026 3477 “Lincoln Center is multiple stages. I think probably over three dozen stages across 16 acres. It is a vast canvas in and of itself. And then we have this beautiful plaza that leads to this beautiful campus, and that’s the visual I think that most people have when they think of Lincoln Center is this beautiful fountain in the center and these three gorgeous buildings.It’s New York’s biggest plaza,
Life and Art at LINCOLN CENTER: Chief Artistic Officer SHANTA THAKE on the Power of the Arts - Highlights
Life and Art at LINCOLN CENTER: Chief Artistic Officer SHANTA THAKE on the Power of the Arts - Highlights Aug 14, 2026 1134 "I really do believe that the arts are critical to how we move forward together, and live performance in particular, I think, is a way of us practicing how to move across our ideological boundaries and find one another and imagine these new worlds together and create together."Shanta Thake is the Chief Artistic Officer at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts—the nation's largest performing arts
The Yellow Vests & the Battle for Democracy with IDA SUSSER, Author, Anthropologist
The Yellow Vests & the Battle for Democracy with IDA SUSSER, Author, Anthropologist Jul 23, 2026 2566 “In Paris, when these same people, who had friends who were their police, came to Paris and found themselves tear gassed and shot with LBDs and losing their eyes and feet, and coming back with red all down their faces and blood everywhere, and they began to understand that the violence is beyond legal. And so they began to understand what was happening in areas, what we might call the ghettos or t
Harm & Punishment: Incarcerated Writers on Violence & the US Prison w/ ELIZABETH HINTON & ELSA JULIEN LORA
Harm & Punishment: Incarcerated Writers on Violence & the US Prison w/ ELIZABETH HINTON & ELSA JULIEN LORA Jul 20, 2026 3162 “When we look at police brutality, when we look at violent conditions, you can't break a cycle of violence with more violence. And the prison is, if not the most profound and devastating state sanctioned and institutional expression of violence, it is a violence incubator.”In this episode of the Speaking Out of Place podcast, Professor David Palumbo-Liu talks with Elizabeth Hinton and Elsa Julien
Literature is an Antidote to Propaganda - Grief, Memory & Humanity w/ G. GOSPODINOV & A. RODEL - Highlights
Literature is an Antidote to Propaganda - Grief, Memory & Humanity w/ G. GOSPODINOV & A. RODEL - Highlights Aug 3, 2026 1578 Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern E
Time, Memory & the Art of Translation with GEORGI GOSPODINOV & ANGELA RODEL
Time, Memory & the Art of Translation with GEORGI GOSPODINOV & ANGELA RODEL Aug 5, 2026 5421 “We are in the middle of a labyrinth which suggests to us many fake corridors. What's the superpower of literature? Literature is like an antidote against propaganda. Propaganda explains the world easily in a two-dimensional way.  Literature gives you a more complex explanation. Literature tells personal stories.”Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of hu
What is the role of the artist? - Artists on Creativity, Improvisation & the Search for Meaning
What is the role of the artist? - Artists on Creativity, Improvisation & the Search for Meaning Jul 25, 2026 1833 Our creative lives are shaped by those who come before us. But where does creativity come from? Today, we hear from voices across the arts and sciences. The visual artists exploring emotions through imagery: Eric Fischl, Donald Sultan, Anthony White, Lee Jaffe, and Gloria Pacis. Director Benh Zeitlin, cinematographer Chayse Irvin, and actor, director, and art historian Peter Weller discuss the bea
Surviving the AI Hype Cycle Without Losing Your Mind (or Your Job) w/ NACHO DE GREGORIO - Highlights
Surviving the AI Hype Cycle Without Losing Your Mind (or Your Job) w/ NACHO DE GREGORIO - Highlights Jul 22, 2026 1055  "I'm a believer in this technology. I believe that the cheaper it is, the more people will use it. So, even if we assume that models will get smaller for the same level of intelligence, the demand to actually have more compute is going to be enormous. And the reason why you want to have the compute close to you is not only in terms of performance. As a national security threat, I'm not saying thi
The $7.5 Trillion Gamble on AI Domination & The Future of Humanity w/ NACHO DE GREGORIO
The $7.5 Trillion Gamble on AI Domination & The Future of Humanity w/ NACHO DE GREGORIO Jul 21, 2026 6207 For over a decade, technology has promised to make life easier. Social media was meant to connect us, we were told smartphones would simplify our lives, and now artificial intelligence promises to lift even more daily burdens. Yet these advances also raise an important question: when do tools enhance human creativity, and when do they replace the very experiences that give life meaning? While AI h

Recommended