About this episode

Cindy Shearer discusses sustaining creativity and the artistic process with Emlyn Guiney.

With rejection and intense commitment being such integral parts of any artist’s life, many struggle to stay with the creative process. Author and CIIS Faculty in the Interdisciplinary Arts program, Cindy Shearer has spent decades helping artists stay with their craft. In her book, Stay with Writing, Cindy encourages writers to understand themselves as artists, and for artists across all mediums to learn about themselves from writing. She offers practices for artists across mediums to help sustain and live a creative life. * In this episode Cindy is joined by theater artist Emlyn Guiney. Together they dive into the nature of artistic practice, meaning-making, failure, and ways to reconnect with yourself, your art and your process. * This episode was recorded during an in-person and live streamed event at California Institute of Integral Studies on March 5th 2026. You can also watch it on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube channel. A transcript is available at ciis.edu/podcast. To find out more about CIIS and public programs like this one, visit our website ciis.edu and connect with us on Instagram @ciispubprograms. * Some podcast apps may not display links from our show notes…

People in this episode

Guests: Cindy Shearer, Emlyn Guiney

Topics covered

• creative process
• artistic practice
• failure
• self-discovery
• writing
• sustaining creativity

Keywords

• creativity
• art
• writing
• failure
• self-discovery
• artistic practice
• Cindy Shearer

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: California Institute of Integral Studies

Books & works: Stay with Writing

More episodes of CIIS Public Programs

• Dr. Christine Brooks and Dr. Elizabeth Markle: Centering Connection and Creativity for Health and Wellbeing · July 16, 2026 · 1h 3m
• Dr. Justin Garcia: On the Intimate Animal · July 2, 2026 · 1h 6m

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