Introducing Re-Creative, a podcast about creativity and the art that inspires it

After years of threatening, I’ve finally started a podcast: Re-Creative.

Actually, that’s not really true. My co-host, Joe Mahoney, is really the one to credit with starting the new enterprise, because I had determined that it was just too much work. There was just no way I was ever going to begin such a huge process on my own. So, when Joe wrote me, really out of the blue, and suggested we come up with a podcast, I was quite excited.

You see, not only is Joe an affable and amusing fellow, a fellow writer of the Canadian science fiction persuasion, he is wiz with audio. He’s been working for the CBC for most of his career, helping their radio programs sound great.

Nonsense and Drivel

Agreeing to start was easy. Coming up with an original concept and the name was a bigger challenge. The opening name was “going to be Nonsense and Drivel. This was inspired by Joe’s website, which is called “Assorted Nonsense” and my standard bio, which ends with: “He pens short stories, squibs and other drivel. (Some pure, and some quite tainted with meaning.)”

But that wasn’t really what the podcast was about. We wanted it to be lighthearted, but we didn’t want it to be lightweight.

That’s when we hit on the notion of getting creative people to talk about their inspiration. But in a specific way.

Think: Show and Tell for Artists

Once we figured out that the podcast should be about the creativity that inspires artists, we started zeroing in on the title. Both us know lots of other writers, so there was definitely going to be tons of literary conversations. But we wanted more. They wanted all the arts to be represented. Media too.

At first, we thought we might call it The Macguffin, because we thought the gimmick was a little bit like that literary device. Alas, the name was taken. But that was for the best!

As we opened it up to creatives of all stripes, and we also thought they should also be able to talk about art that wasn’t necessarily in the same field.

And then we thought, ah, there’s the name. It’s about re-creating the moment that people were inspired. It’s a love memo, re: creative.

Based on the conversations we’ve had so far (21 at the time of writing), I feel like we are onto something really fun, exciting, and engaging. We’ve had creators talk about paintings, movies, novels, environmental theatre, cartoons, comedians, sonatas, ballets, and even maps. (Yes, you read that correctly. Cartography.)

Re-Creative: A New Hope and The Mermaid’s Tale

For the first two episodes, Joe interviewed me and then I interviewed him. This week we’ll have on our first guest. Here’s the feed:

Please join us on a weekly basis! You can find the podcast website for Re-Creative here. Or just subscribe to Re-Creative wherever you get your podcast feeds!

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