Unapologetically Creative

Every design choice reflects an assumption about who is seen, included, and served. Omari Souza, designer, researcher, educator, and author of Design Against Racism: Creating Work That Transforms Communities , explores how design can reinforce inequity or become a tool for repair. He discusses the State of Black Design conference, his research into Black visual culture, and the importance of teach...

Designer, educator, and play provocateur Cas Holman explores why play is essential to creativity, learning, and personal growth at every age. From designing open-ended toys and interactive environments to challenging traditional ideas of success, Holman shares how curiosity, experimentation, and a willingness to fail can unlock new possibilities. The conversation also examines the role of play in...

Composer, arranger, and music director Miguel Atwood-Ferguson discusses how curiosity, collaboration, and moving beyond perfectionism shape his creative practice. He reflects on leading without controlling, helping students develop their own artistic voices, and making music that excites him while trusting his audience to find him. TIMESTAMPS: 00:25 Introduction to Miguel Atwood-Ferguson 01:38 Gro...

Award-winning filmmaker and VCFA alum Marq Evans shares the realities of independent documentary filmmaking, from finding and financing the right stories to navigating distribution and building an audience. He also reflects on treating the business side of art as a creative practice, using new tools like AI, and why persistence is one of the most important parts of sustaining a creative life. Time...

Children’s book author and animation writer Callie C. Miller discusses how play, curiosity, and persistence have shaped her creative life. She reflects on finding her voice as a writer, breaking into animation, building a career through relationships and intentional practice, and why making space for joy can lead to stronger, more meaningful creative work. TIMESTAMPS: 01:05 Meet Callie C. Miller 0...

Award-winning essayist, and educator Clifford Thompson discusses the essay as a form of inquiry—an argument with the self that can reveal unexpected meaning in lived experience. He reflects on how his collection, Jazz June: A Self-Portrait in Essays , came together as a mosaic rather than a conventional memoir, and how decades of listening to jazz shaped his sense of rhythm, sentence-making, and c...

Award-winning costume designer Debra McGuire discusses how clothing helps shape character, comedy and the visual language of a story. She reflects on her journey from painter and jewelry designer to costume designer, the demanding pace of creating wardrobes for Friends, and her more than 30-year creative partnership with Jennifer Aniston. Debra also shares the collaborative process behind Jim Carr...

Tomás Gómez Bustillo, an award winning filmmaker, screenwriter, and Vermont College of Fine Arts faculty member, explores the creative philosophy behind his acclaimed feature Chronicles of a Wandering Saint and why meaningful storytelling begins with embracing uncertainty. Drawing from his experience blending myth, memory, and visual poetry, he reflects on finding beauty in ordinary moments, devel...

Natalia Ilyin, writer, educator, and critic, explores how the stories and assumptions we inherit shape the way we think, create, and understand the world. She discusses the intersection of writing and design, the importance of questioning established narratives, and how critical thinking can lead to more thoughtful and meaningful creative work. Timstamps: 01:36 Looking Beyond the Surface 04:27 Fin...

Lauren Bartone, visual artist, researcher, educator, and Ph. D. candidate in Italian Studies at UC Berkeley, discusses how archival research, mapping, botanical histories, and material culture shape her creative practice. From studying migration, textiles, and colonial histories to creating artwork with hand-dyed pigments and community-engaged mapping projects, Bartone explores how art can uncover...

Sam Feder, Peabody Award-nominated filmmaker and director of Disclosure and Heightened Scrutiny, discusses the power of representation, the responsibility of storytelling, and the role media plays in shaping public perception. Drawing from decades of work at the intersection of documentary filmmaking and advocacy, Sam reflects on trans visibility, media criticism, and the ways stories influence cu...

Mark Kirkland, Emmy Award winning animation director and one of the most prolific directors in The Simpsons history, joins Andrew Ramsammy for a conversation about storytelling, artistic growth, and the creative process behind one of television’s most influential animated series. From making silent films as a teenager with his father to studying animation at CalArts and directing 84 episodes of Th...

Adam McOmber, co chair of the VCFA MFA in Writing program, joins Erin LaRosa, author and romance workshop leader, and Spiro Skentzos, screenwriter and producer, to discuss the next chapter of the VCFA Writers’ Conference as it moves to CalArts in Los Angeles. The conversation explores creative community, the evolution of romance and screenwriting, storytelling in the age of AI, artistic risk takin...

Suné Woods explores intimacy, collaboration, nonlinear storytelling, and the balance between feeling and thinking in artistic practice. Through reflections on water, ancestry, collective care, and multisensory installation work, Woods discusses how art can create spaces for connection, sanctuary, and deeper emotional presence in an increasingly overwhelming world. The conversation also examines op...

Sue William Silverman, award-winning author and co-chair of the MFA in Writing program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, joins Unapologetically Creative to explore the craft and courage behind creative nonfiction. From uncovering deeper meaning through metaphor and revision to writing through vulnerability and emotional risk, Silverman shares how storytelling becomes a path to self-discovery. S...

Shruti Swamy, author of A House is a Body and The Archer, explores how imagination, cultural inheritance, and intuition shape her work. Drawing from Hindu mythology and her experience growing up between cultures, she reflects on the flexibility that comes from a bicultural perspective and how it informs the way she sees and tells stories. In this conversation, Shruti challenges traditional rules o...

Brendan Constantine, poet and educator, explores how creativity evolves over time and why great work comes from moving forward rather than repeating what once worked. In this conversation, he reflects on poetry as a “language within a language,” one that allows us to express what everyday speech cannot. He shares how teaching and working with individuals experiencing aphasia and brain injuries res...

Artist Karla Diaz discusses how personal experiences, including caring for her mother and navigating loss, have shaped her creative work. She reflects on the ways art can serve as a space for processing grief, memory, and transformation, and how those experiences continue to inform the themes and direction of her practice. The conversation also explores the role of intuition in the creative proces...

Ashley Hunt discusses how research and lived experience shape his creative work. Beginning with his evacuation during the Los Angeles wildfire, the conversation expands into his long engagement with mass incarceration and the systems that structure punishment in the United States. He reflects on art as a way to examine power, the importance of historical context, and the responsibility artists car...

Poet, performer, and educator edwin bodney joins Unapologetically Creative for a deeply honest conversation about writing closer to the nerve, transforming grief into a landscape for discovery, and creating work rooted in truth, vulnerability, and connection. Edwin reflects on their journey from early open mic nights at the Poetry Lounge to becoming a powerful voice in contemporary spoken word, ex...

Brooke Champagne, award winning author of Nola Face: A Latina’s Life in the Big Easy, joins Unapologetically Creative for a conversation about writing from the most personal places and finding humor inside life’s contradictions. Growing up biracial in New Orleans shaped her voice, teaching her to hold darkness and joy in the same frame and to explore the complicated emotions that drive honest stor...

Damon Davis reflects on how stories shape meaning, memory, and responsibility. Working across film, music, visual art, and public installation, Davis explains why he lets the story dictate the medium and how creative practice begins with close attention to place, history, and lived experience. Throughout the conversation, Davis discusses subjectivity and fairness in storytelling, the implications...

Filmmaker Charles Burnett reflects on a career shaped by community, history, and a deep sense of responsibility to tell stories often left unseen. Growing up in Watts and coming of age during a pivotal moment in American history, Burnett shares how lived experience, observation, and empathy became central to his approach to filmmaking. In this conversation, Burnett discusses why he has always view...

Daniel Nayeri explores how specific details in a story can reveal something universal. He reflects on his fascination with “welcome,” from inviting strangers into his home for dinner to the moment characters meet around a fire, and discusses the role of food in his life and how being a pastry chef shaped his sense of pleasure, honesty, and craft. Daniel also shares what readers have taught him abo...

Linda Sue Park, Newbery Medalist and author of A Single Shard and A Long Walk to Water, reflects on growing up without stories that reflected her Korean identity, the importance of representation in books, and how reading helps young people develop deep thinking skills. She also shares the real-world impact of A Long Walk to Water, which inspired students to raise millions for clean water projects...