Iowa Podcasts Connect Artists and Others
Many artists work alone, holed up in their studios for hours at a time. So connecting with other artists can be difficult, especially in small towns.
But new technology offers a solution. Podcasts, which are digital audio files that can be easily shared online, enable people with all sorts of interests to find each other and interact in an almost conversational way.
And they’re catching on. One in five Americans at least 12 years old has listened to a podcast in the past month, according to a 2016 study from Edison Research, and monthly podcast listening patterns have increased 75 percent since 2013.
Here in Iowa, some of the most interesting homegrown podcasts are produced by and for artists and writers — or, really, for anyone who wants to listen in. Many of the conversations focus on the creative process, from the search for inspiration and the fear of failure to the satisfaction of a job well done.
The Iowa City writer Rachel Yoder, for example, produces a podcast called “The Fail Safe,” in which she interviews creative people about what they learn from failure. It’s similar to a literary journal she edits called “draft,” which publishes various writers’ first and final drafts to show how the works evolved.
“One of the biggest takeaways from listening to ‘The Fail Safe’ is that failure is common and necessary to make art,” said listener Veronica O’Hern, a Carlisle artist and Iowa Arts Council artist programs manager. “Sometimes you feel like you’re always failing, but that’s okay. Succeeding is not necessarily the point. The point is to be creating all the time.”
Each episode of “The Fail Safe” begins with an upbeat, off-to-the-races trumpet, muffled by the sounds of ripping paper. Then Yoder gets straight to the point, asking guests to describe how they’ve failed at one point or another and what it taught them. The conversations are often candid, and they can take surprising turns.
The concept for the show emerged from Yoder’s worries about her writing and what to her seemed like lackluster inspiration. She invited other writers to discuss their own insecurities in a constructive way.
“I think writers are hungry to talk about it,” said Yoder, an Iowa Artist Fellow.
She hopes the podcast helps listeners understand that writing isn’t easy for anyone, even some of the established writers she brings to the show.
Another Iowa podcast, called “The Gallery Gap,” focuses on under-represented populations in art galleries worldwide. It’s produced by WVIK-FM, the National Public Radio affiliate in the Quad Cities, with help from the Figge Art Museum in Davenport and the Augustana College Teaching Museum of Art, across the river in Rock Island, Ill.
Co-hosts Claire Kovacs and Melissa Mohr discuss what specific types of artwork, such as the Figge’s collection of Haitian art, can reveal about the people and cultures that produced them.
The podcast was inspired by a social-media campaign that challenged people to post photos of artwork by five women of their choice, with the hashtag #5womenartists. The campaign promoted equality in the art world, which for centuries has been dominated by men.
Gradually, the podcast’s focus on gender equality expanded to include artists of different races and backgrounds.
As Mohr put it, “All we can hope is that every day is better than the last, that every generation is better than the rest.”
— Missy Farni, Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs
