The Spark File with Susan Blackwell and Laura Camien
Susan Blackwell and Laura Camien
Your one stop shop for creative ideas and inspiration. Sign up for our newsletter HERE. Each week on The Spark File podcast, Susan Blackwell and Laura Camien reach into their spark files and share stories, ideas and fascinations to ignite your imagination. Obsessed with creativity, Blackwell and Camien also talk with artists and makers, movers and shakers who have taken the spark of inspiration and fanned it into a flame. Hear from inspiring creatives like Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sara Bareilles, Eric Stonestreet, Jonathan Groff, Julianne Moore and Bart Freundlich, Zachary Quinto, Leslie Odom Jr, Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Billy Eichner, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Karen Olivo, Sutton Foster, Michael R. Jackson and many more about their passions and their failures, their inspirations and their aspirations. Refill your creative fish pond with new ideas and fresh perspectives. Listen, then take it and make it! Learn more at thesparkfile.com.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 9, 2022 • 1h 20min
Creativity Sparks: The Art of the Con
Everywhere you look these days there is a con going down… Inventing Anna, The Tinder Swindler, The Dropout, The Puppermaster, Super Pumped, WeCrashed… Con artists are having a moment. Tune in this week to learn more about the hustle, and how you can avoid being a “sucker”, a “stooge”, or a “gull” – Better yet, turn the confidence game into an inspired spark! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 2, 2022 • 1h 6min
Creativity Sparks: Creatives + Money
Tired of the “starving artist” trope? Sick of the storyline that says “I’m creative and eccentric, I’m no good with numbers” Isn’t it time you felt a sense of personal agency over your finances? You are smart and capable. Tune in for some tips on how you can be even smarter and more capable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 23, 2022 • 1h 3min
Creativity Sparks: Does Our Inner Chatter Matter?
You know that voice in your head? The one that drives you crazy sometimes? The one that points out your flaws and re-plays your mistakes over and over? What is the point of that voice?Tune in this week as we gain an understanding of how to tame this voice, and put it to good use, thanks to Chatter: The Voice in our Head, Why it Matters, and how to Harness it by Ethan Kross. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 16, 2022 • 52min
Creativity Sparks: The Florida Highwaymen
Sit back and marvel at this true tale of limitations inspiring ART as a survival job in less than ideal circumstances.That’s right. The Florida Highwaymen turned to art to elevate themselves and their community out of poverty while reflecting the beauty of Florida landscapes.These master painters (some trained and some self-taught) captured the beauty they saw around them, and supported their community with the profits. Dive into the lives and the legacy they painted for themselves… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 9, 2022 • 1h 1min
Creativity Sparks: Fertile Wordle
Want to know what every single creative can learn from the development and launch of Wordle, the simple and most unexpected game of the century? Recorded riiiiiiiight before Wordle was sold to The New York Times, we can still learn how creating for an audience of one, making your work accessible and so much more relates to everything we hope to share with the world.Listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 2, 2022 • 52min
Creativity Sparks: The Unstoppable Voice of Martha Wash
You have undoubtedly heard her unforgettable voice on hits such as “Everybody, Everybody”, “It’s Raining Men” and so many more.But Martha Wash had to use her voice to fight to make sure you knew her name.Tune in to find out how Martha took the record labels to task for abusing the demo track system.Martha paved the way for all artists - to make sure they get paid, and get credit for the talents they contribute.Trust us, you’ll be singing HER praises once you hear how she put her voice to work for the powers of good. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 26, 2022 • 56min
Creativity Sparks: Rewilding Your Attention
If you’ve ever found yourself scrolling through your feeds or combing through google search results thinking “there must be something more out there”, well, this episode is for you!Laura and Susan dive into the concept of “Rewilding Your Attention” - the phrase was coined by Tom Critchlow, shared by CJ Eller and then expanded up on by Clive Thompson. And the bat signal was seen by @thesparkfile.Let us look for the small, weird things. And then let us pass them on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 19, 2022 • 52min
Creativity Sparks: Wintering
This week, snuggle up and join Susan and Laura as they delve into Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May.If you've ever wondered why we feel a pull to retreat indoors and slow down as the days get darker - look no further. It is not your imagination, and it is very much a necessity that we take time to quiet our minds and slow our rolls, so that we can look inward and heal, and maybe even learn to hope again.If you are struggling (any time of year), consider giving yourself the gift of wintering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 12, 2022 • 1h 12min
Creativity Sparks: Money Money Money
This week, Laura and Susan dig into this taboo topic and explore how and why shame keeps us from talking about money, and sometimes even doing anything about money. But valuing ourselves for the amount of money we have accrued has not always been the norm, in fact, it is a rather new framework. Listen in and imagine a time when we valued ourselves, our communities and the quality of our lives by a different standard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 5, 2022 • 56min
Creativity Sparks: Operation Paperclip
Sometimes a spark is so surprising, so complex and thought provoking it can stun you into silence. And so it was when Susan shared Operation Paperclip with Laura.As outlined in the book, Operation Paperclip by Annie Jacobsen, information on this secret United States intelligence program was recently de-classified and we are now all learning about the plan to bring Nazi Germany scientists to the US to harness their intellectual resources.Defenders of the decision to welcome the scientists here have argued that the combined knowledge of these rocket scientists and nuclear scientists could have ended up in the hands of the Soviets, if the US had taken no action. Others wonder what are the ethical and moral costs of allowing their unimaginable war crimes to go without punishment or accountability.This is a #dark spark. Listen in to try to make sense of it all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
