The PRX Podcast Garage: One Year In
“The internet promised to connect us, but it has us hunkering in our chosen silos. Interview your neighbors, and look them in the eye. Maybe, where you live, you can introduce people to one another, calm one person’s fear, enlarge the civic space by inviting everyone to participate.” — Jay Allison from “Five Sermons”
The Origin Story
Two years ago, we got a phone call from Gustavo Quiroga. Gustavo works for Graffito, an urban place-making firm, and he asked us if PRX wanted to host an audio storytelling pop up in Allston. After 30 minutes of conversation, our CEO Kerri Hoffman asked, “What if we open a long-term space together instead?”
Working with Harvard, Graffito was excited to make PRX the anchor tenant of Zone 3, an initiative to further activate and energize Western Avenue in Allston with creative programs, events, and retail.
Over many months, we transformed a former Jiffy Lube into the PRX Podcast Garage. PRX felt uniquely suited to take on this new opportunity from years of experience working closely with independent producers and getting to know the challenges they face. Our goals from the start were to provide access to affordable, high-quality equipment; create a space where makers could work, gather and collaborate; identify and support new talent; and spark opportunities where audio makers could learn skills and share their inspiring work.
We saw the Podcast Garage as an extension of PRX’s mission, one that would start on a hyper-local scale and, with hope, grow nationally.
One Year Later
Since the Garage’s opening on August 3, 2016, PRX has:
- Organized over 80 workshops and classes.
- Hosted 2,100+ attendees and students.
- Helped launch 17 new shows, all created at the Podcast Garage.
- Featured three exhibits of local visual artists.
- Run a 20-week podcast training program for public radio stations called Catapult, anchored at the Garage, which uses design-thinking at its core.
- Worked with close to 20 members recording local shows including The Courage to Listen, The Editorial, Teaching While White, Caught Up, and Soonish.
- Offered free community hours to select, mission-driven groups such as Live from the Spectrum — three mothers of children on the autism spectrum who make their podcast for other parents as part of a Boston Medical Center program.
- Partnered and worked collaboratively with local arts and media organizations such as AIR, WGBH, Boston University’s Power of Narrative, Type Bar, Essential Partners, Industry Labs, Harvard University’s Film Study Center, Tufts University’s Museum Studies Program, MIT, Gardner Pilot Academy, the Boston Trustees of Reservations, and the Sonic Soiree.
- Attracted support from national funders such as CPB and NEA.
SBIL’s (Small But Important Learnings)
Over the course of the year, we’ve also made mistakes and learned so much. Some Small But Important Learnings:
- Invest in a solid, sound isolating, stand-alone recording studio. We recommend Wenger.
- Don’t buy flammable foam by accident. Just don’t do it!
- Encourage your staff members to pursue their own creative endeavors.
- Get to know the people who live and work around you. It created endless opportunities.
- Don’t make assumptions about your community. Ask your members what they want, what they need, and what they want to learn, over and over again. And make sure you’re really listening.
- Sometimes people don’t know what questions to ask or where to start. Helping navigate the questions can be even more valuable than providing answers.
- Did we mention listening? Listen to all of the shows being made around you. Ask audio makers about their goals, and think like a coach to help them get accomplished.
- A colorful, bright space lures people in and contributes to creativity. (Keep a beagle around for positive vibes.)
- Documentarians and storytellers come from all mediums and have existing, thriving communities. Reach out to them, give them a space and opportunities to meet one another.
- Be nice. Make tea.
What’s Next?
At PRX, we like to peer into the future and focus on innovative work, yet the Podcast Garage is in many ways an “old school” brick-and-mortar operation. We’re trying to continue the work that public radio and community media organizations have been doing for many years.
We’re excited to build on this legacy and push the boundaries of podcasting to be more diverse, accessible, and innovative. This fall, we will roll out skill-building workshops for the Boston community with a grant from the NEA. The trainings, which offer scholarships, will cover topics like critical listening, audio drama, sound design, marketing and digital strategy, and audio editing. In the coming month, we’ll also host Transom’s Traveling Workshop, host participants in KCRW’s 24-Hour Radio Race, and partner with local audio and film groups for a biannual performance/potluck.
We’re very proud of the work that we have done over the last year. We feel so thankful to those who have joined us: whether you’ve offered expertise, given a talk, shared your work, attended one of our events, volunteered your time, or booked our studio — thank you for contributing to this community.
It’s exciting to see what our second year will bring. What new shows will be created? What new stories will we hear? We hope you’ll send us an email at info@podcastgarge.org with your ideas and join us at the Garage to find out.
Please join us tonight, Wednesday, July 26, from 5–8 p.m., for our birthday celebration!
Audrey Mardavich, PRX Director of Special Projects
Alex Braunstein, PRX Podcast Garage Community Manager
