On Q May 2014
The Computer History Museum Presents A conversation about creativity Ed Catmull
at the University of Utah and eventually forged a partnership with George Lucas — an alliance that led, indirectly, to his founding Pixar Animation Studios with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter in 1986. Nine years later, Pixar released Toy Story,
— G E ORG E LU CAS
Ed Catmull joins Computer History Museum CEO John Hollar to discuss building a sustained creative culture, nurturing both the technical and artistic “poles of creativity.” Listen to the conversation Thursday, May 22, at 8pm on KQED Public Radio.
KQED Public Television
“ Many have attempted to formulate and categorize inspiration and creativity. What Ed Catmull shares instead is his astute experience that creativity isn’t strictly a well of ideas, but an alchemy of people.”
the first feature-length film created entirely on computers. It changed animation forever. Pixar has since gone on to win 27 Academy Awards for animated filmmaking. When the Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 billion, Catmull became the president and CEO of the combined Walt Disney Animation Studios. Thus, through his chosen route of physics, mathematics and computing, Ed Catmull realized his dream to be a Disney animator. The environment that Catmull and his colleagues built at Pixar, and continue at Disney, is based on philosophies that honor the creative process, strike a delicate balance between artistic story-telling and skilled engineering, and defy convention. In his new book, Creativity, Inc., Catmull reveals some of the secrets of Pixar’s success and describes his own approach to inspiring excellence in a very large organization over the long term.
KQED Public Radio
As a young man, Ed Catmull had a dream: to be an animator and an artist. When he learned that he lacked the natural talent for hand-drawn animation, he turned to his other passion: physics, and then computing. He nurtured that dream as a Ph.D. student
Radio Specials and Highlights
Security Versus Freedom Thursday, May 29, 8pm and Friday, May 30, 2am How Presidents Make Decisions Thursday, June 26, 8pm and Friday, June 27, 2am Intelligence Squared U.S. Does Affirmative Action on Campuses Do More Harm Than Good? Saturday, May 3, 2pm and Wednesday, May 7, 8pm
State of the Re:Union with Al Letson Hawaii: The Legacy of Sugar Wednesday, May 14, 8pm and Saturday, May 17, 2pm America Abroad TBA Thursday, May 18, 8pm The Really Big Questions Why Does Music Move Us? (Program 3 of 5) Wednesday, May 21, 8pm and Saturday, May 24, 2pm The Computer History Museum Presents: Creativity, Inc: Author Ed Catmull in Conversation with Museum CEO John Hollar Thursday, May 22, 8pm Invisible Americans: Stories from the New Immigrants Wednesday, May 28, 8pm and Saturday, May 31, 2pm
Selected Shorts Saturdays, 8pm 5/3 Rites of Passage “The Grid,” by Rick Moody, performed by Josh Radnor; “Anaconda,” by Martha McPhee, performed by Lindsay Crouse. 5/10, 5/17, 5/24 & 5/31 TBA. City Arts & Lectures Sundays, 1pm, Tuesdays, 8pm and Wednesdays, 2am 5/4, 5/6 & 5/7 Dani Shapiro, author, and Ayelet Waldman, novelist and essayist. 5/11, 5/13 & 5/14 John Hodgman, author, actor and humorist, and Adam Savage, industrial design and special effects designer/ fabricator, actor, educator, and co-host of the television series MythBusters and Unchained Reaction. 5/18, 5/20 & 5/21 Heidi Cullen, interim CEO and lead correspondent for Climate Central. 5/25, 5/27 & 5/28 Former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).
KQED.org
Photos: (l. to r.) © Disney Pixar; courtesy Deborah Coleman.
The Leon Panetta 2014 Lecture Series: Learning the Lessons of History — Is the Past Prologue to the Future? Role of Government Thursday, May 1, 8pm and Friday, May 2, 2am
Climate One — From the Commonwealth Club Beyond Plastic Thursday, May 8, 8pm and Saturday, May 10, 2pm
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Check, Please! Bay Area Sundays, 6:30pm Pre-empts Cambridge Forum
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