Free Center (Rich and Zoe of the CO:LAB team) has partnered with Futuro Media and Kamora’s Cultural Corner on the Hartford Community Podcast Lab.
A project of Futuro Media, the Community Podcast Lab was piloted in Boston in the fall of 2018. Partnering with local arts and community groups and WBUR, the local public radio station, Futuro created a three-month course focused on elevating the stories and skills of people of color from Boston. The Lab was hosted out of the PRX Podcast Garage and trained six people of color on how to create a powerful voice through podcasting. Futuro is excited to bring this program to Hartford to help capture the untold stories from the neighborhoods of the city.
In keeping with its mission of fostering new and diverse journalistic talent, Futuro Media’s Hartford Community Podcast Lab is dedicated to developing, piloting, producing, and distributing new audio projects by emerging POC storytellers.
The Podcast Lab stands apart from other incubators in the depth of tutorials, information and skills acquired, duration of the course, the engagement of dedicated personnel and community organizations, and its competitive attendance-based stipend for participants to ensure our course is accessible to all. People with little to no prior experience in media from the diverse and underrepresented neighborhoods of the Hartford area have the opportunity to apply. Participants will be given the access, skills, and tools necessary to produce and broadcast their own stories and to contribute meaningful pieces of history and culture from the perspective of people of color to the rich narrative of Hartford life. The program will take place at Free Center from April to June.