FoP is the first podcasting event built from the ground up to be inclusive, accessible, and supportive of the artists who help make big podcasting events possible in the first place.
The event is split into two sections: panels and live shows.
Panels will take place on Saturday, June 23rd, all of which will be organized according to guidelines based on the Equality in Audio Pact created by Broccoli Audio. One will not be able to find any panels in which four mildly successful white dudes who’ve never left trending on Apple Podcasts talk about how the industry is a meritocracy. We don’t hold truck with that.
The film industry has a big problem of enshrining cis white men who saw success in their their 20s as auteurs and not, in fact, the result of privilege and luck. Podcasting need not follow that path.
Speaking of forging new paths: all panelists will be paid an honorarium for their time.
The size of the honorarium will fluctuate depending on how much sponsorship and crowdfunding the Festival can raise, but even if it’s a dollar (it won’t be) it’ll be more direct support than what the biggest events in the industry provide. Using mainstream industry invents from both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic as examples, here are some things The Festival will not have:
- A pizza party the day speakers fly into town (on their own dime).
- A slight discount on (already expensive) hotel rooms.
- Massages (subsidized by the badge cost for attendees).
Instead, the Festival is electing to keep everyone safe from the ongoing pandemic and simply give cash in exchange for speakers’ time spent prepping and performing panels.
Panels will take place both on the Twitch “main stage.” Every panel will be live-captioned, recorded, and then transcribed by hand for a free podcast feed that will be released in the back half of 2022. Everything done and said at the Festival will be open for the podcasting public to enjoy.
To learn more about the Festival of Podcasts, check out our Requirements for panelists and learn how this will be funded.
The Festival of Podcasts 