064: Creative Expressions of Community and the Individual

Catalyst: A Creative Industries Podcast

Catalyst is a Creative Industries podcast, from Chapman University. Each episode features Chapman students who have completed a Podcasting course through the Center for Creative and Cultural Industries at the university. Students who had no podcasting experience or technical ability in the genre before taking the course were able to contribute all the segments to Catalyst this season with the goal being that they will take this ‘hands-on’ experience and carry it over to the launching of their very own series. Each episode of Season 8 will feature one to two different interviews conducted by CCI students, exploring different aspects of the Creative and Cultural Industries.

In this first segment Lily McNamara interviews Whitney Pitman, the community manager at an apparel company located in Costa Mesa, CA called RVCA. We learn about Whitney’s main goal in her position which is working with creatives that encompass the mission of RVCA of defying the status quo, fostering creativity, and building culture. Listeners will learn how RVCA defies the trends and status quo of the fashion industry by living true to their mission of “the balance of opposites.” Whitney also highlights the Artist Network Program (ANP) which showcases the talent of accomplished and unknown artists that push the boundaries of creativity by providing a different insight into culture.

Not to be outdone, in our second segment this week we hear a conversation with Sydney Sheets, a Austin resident that talks with Megan Campbell. The two discuss what it is like for Sydney to be the owner of her own tattoo shop, The Vault, as well as her other artistic yet financially profitable outlets such as selling products on Etsy as a side business. Sydney delves into inspirations behind designing tattoos and what it's like to work within the field of the creative and cultural industries, as well as touching on the social and cultural aspects of tattoos, in regard to stigma surrounding tattoos and how it should be treated as a form of art or expression like any other identifying piece.