What We’ve Been Up To
Hello friends!
First of all, we’re so excited to announce that registration has opened for our Spring 2023 Podcasting Intensive Workshop series, in partnership with SHURE, PodFest Berlin, and noisy Rooms! We will be guiding students through the process of developing, scripting, recording, editing and publishing their own audio projects. Students can take part in the workshop series online or in person, and you can learn more about it on our registration page.
Thanks to the generous support of PodFest Berlin, we have three FULL SCHOLARSHIPS for students who would like to take part. You’ll find the Typeform application on the workshop registration page. We’re looking forward to seeing you!
We released another episode of URSA, this time featuring a wonderful story about trees by Julia Joubert and a piece on decolonizing from EU Scream. We also discussed the latest European news headlines on the rescue of the last ‘restaurant bear’ in Albania, and how the Orthodox Church in Ukraine is allowing parishoners to decide when they celebrate Christmas. We also discussed Europe’s climate NIMBYism and how a revived local river in Madrid has brought back visitors, both human and animal, to the area.
We welcomed a new URSA food correspondent, Will Maidment, who told us about all things German food with us – and dare we say – got us excited to get our hands on the next schnitzel we see! Jonny Tiernan of Lola Magazine chatted to us about the Transmediale festival, upcoming music gigs, and much more!
Our project with the Africa Policy Research Institute kicked off last month, and it’s been great working with the team. The first episode features a fascinating panel discussion on whether African countries can hold big tech companies accountable. The episode will be out in the next months, so keep an eye out!
We’re excited to welcome Denisa Harbuz to the team as our Spring 2023 intern! You’ll be seeing a lot more of her once she starts on February 6th.
Talk to you soon!
Jill & Julia
Jill’s Podcast Recommendation: My Mother Made Me – Jason Reynolds
For last month’s newsletter, I interviewed Julie Shapiro of Novel Podcasts, who told me about her favorite project of 2022: My Mother Made Me. On her recommendation, I listened to this podcast and it is breathtakingly poignant, emotional and intimate. When Julie’s team at Radiotopia discussed producing a show with Jason, he immediately said that he wanted to produce a love letter of sorts to his mother. It’s so fun to listen to Jason and his mother, Isabell, discussing his upbringing, their relationship, and so much more. Their conversations are frank and often hilarious, and the series presents such an interesting insight into intergenerational connections and how we relate to each other.
Julia’s Podcast Recommendation: Hot Money: Who Rules Porn?
Ever wondered who controls the biggest porn company in the world and what their deal is!? Hot Money began when Financial Times reporter Patricia Nilsson started digging into the porn industry. And she made a shocking discovery: Nobody knew who this person was! Through some pretty impressive investigative journalism and some jaw-dropping conversations with industry players, sex workers, performers and more, Nilsson and her editor, Alex Barker, uncover the shadowy power structure that includes billionaires, tech geniuses and the most powerful finance companies in the world.