Spark & Fire: Fuel Your Creativity
Every creative work you’ve ever loved has a hero’s journey behind it. On Spark & Fire, you'll hear creators tell the story of bringing one beloved work to life.
Iconic creatives — like Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz, Pixar director Domee Shi, comedian Patton Oswald, musician Wynton Marsalis, and novelist Isabel Allende — share the endless iterations, the inevitable setbacks, and the breakthrough ideas along the epic process of creation. But this isn’t an interview show. It’s a story — told entirely in the artist's own words.
With host June Cohen, co-founder of WaitWhat and the former executive producer of TED Talks.
Transcripts and images for every episode are available at sparkandfire.com
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Our Editor's Take
Spark & Fire: Fuel Your Creativity has a simple mission-to inspire creativity. Each week, the podcast interviews artists and creators to help inspire its listeners.
The host of Spark & Fire: Fuel Your Creativity is a creative force herself. June Cohen is the cocreator of media company WaitWhat. Before that, she was an executive at TED, home of the famous TED Talks. Cohen's creative outlet of choice is entrepreneurship. But she is also passionate about the arts. That passion comes through in this podcast.
Each episode of Spark & Fire: Fuel Your Creativity is a close look at one piece of art. June starts the podcast with a casual conversation with a creator. They discuss the context and the process that led to the work they're highlighting. With this format, Cohen is able to get details about the wisdom and the act of creating. In each episode, there are two key moments in each interview. First, they discuss the spark-or how an idea came to be. Second, they reveal the fire-or what it took to turn the spark into something bigger.
In one episode, David Cross, who plays David Fünke in Arrested Development, reveals the importance of trust in making comedy. In her episode, author Susan Orlean describes how forward momentum helps overcome uncertainty. Composer Stephen Schwartz talks about adaptation, readaptation, and distillation in search of truth. Artistic Director Felix Barrett shares how small details lead to the big picture.
Every few weeks, Spark & Fire: Fuel Your Creativity focuses on practical advice, too. In those episodes, Cohen talks about strategy instead of interviewing. For example, she'll share five strategies to start something new or to get unstuck. In another, she talks about five strategies to overcome failure. These episodes provide practical advice for creators that face familiar challenges.
The premise of the podcast is that everyone is a creator. For Cohen, it's just a matter of taking that spark and using it to make a fire. People who find motivation in stories may find Spark & Fire: Fuel Your Creativity to be a powerful inspiration. Episodes release once a week.
Episodes