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Tamara: [00:00:00] Hey friends, it's Tamara Kissane here, the founder and CEO of Artist Soapbox. Happy 2022. This is the first episode of this year's season. I'm excited to catch you up on all the cool developments that were happening behind the scenes over the last five months. And let you know, what's in store for you for the remainder of 2022.

Stick around until the end of the episode. And you'll hear our new audio trailer kind of like a highlight reel of audio fiction clips from various projects. It makes me so happy and gives listeners a sense of the breadth and variety of work that we've been doing. All right. Here's the news flash-- Artist

Soapbox is evolving. We still have an interview podcast and we still produce scripted audio fiction, but we are tweaking the knobs on the who, what, when, where, and how of all of that, as you might imagine, I am having all of the feelings about the artist soapbox evolution. The overriding sensation for me is electric excitement.

I hope you'll feel that too, after this episode. I've divided our evolution into three categories of newness: new look, new content and new hosts. Let's start with new look. We have a new dynamic logo and branding materials. Oh my gosh. Artist Soapbox even has specific colors and. We have a beautiful new website that you can check out on artistsoapbox.org. Friends.

I have been bootstrapping all of this for the last five years with a little technological expertise and it has been such a gift to have professionals take the wheel and up-level the look of Artist Soapbox the new website and new logo coincided with switching to a new website, host and podcast host. I'm still [00:02:00] learning the ins and outs of all of these platforms.

So let me know if you experience any wobbles during this transition. However, I'm really happy with these choices and I can't wait to dig into their full functionality, including the opportunity to set up a podcast. If you're curious, I'm using Wordpress.org, Flywheel and CaptivateFM. When you're bopping around artistsoapbox.org, you will see lots of new text and a clarified mission, some videos and an overall reorganization of the site. But I wanted to draw a special attention to two items. First, the Artist Soapbox team bios and photos on the about us page. All of these lovely creatives have worked with me on multiple projects and have amassed development process and production experience making podcasts.

If you've been a long-term listener, you will definitely recognize them. I'm so grateful for the work we've done together and we'll continue to do in upcoming projects. Secondly, when you're on the website, please make sure to subscribe to our newsletter. Our old email list did not transfer when we transitioned to the new website host.

So if you want to make double sure that you get emails from Artist Soapbox, then drop your contact info into the subscribe box. I promise we will not spam you. And of course, subscribe to this podcast via your favorite podcast platform, because we are going to be churning out some amazing new, original, fresh audio.

Which brings me to new content. Artist Soapbox will run on a seasoned model rather than setting the expectation for our listeners or for my team that we can muster new weekly episodes every week for years on end. I haven't figured out the calendar boundaries of the season yet, [00:04:00] but I think we'll run new content from late spring through fall.

And then we'll go quiet, which will allow us to take a break and generate new episodes. In the realm of scripted audio fiction. First, up next week, you'll hear all three scripted audio fiction episodes from our Food for Thought Project. Food for Thought was our year long writer's lab for aspiring audio dramatists.

Our writers, Tori Grace Nichols, Shea Stanley and Ashley- Ruth Bernier each wrote a pilot episode for their scripted audio fiction season. Thanks to the support of the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, we were able to produce an excerpt of those original pilots. So you can hear what they might sound like as they move into fuller production.

And guess what? They sound awesome. If you'd like to learn more about the Food for Thought Project you can listen to episode 1 51 and read the four blog posts written by Katie Koop on the artist soap box website. I'll pop those links in the show notes. I'm sure. You've also been wondering about the first season of Jesus Pancake.

Yes. As of early April, we have recorded all nine episodes at Trailblazer studios in Raleigh, North Carolina. Now, we are in post-production and plan to release the whole season later this year. And I got to tell you, friends, it was so much fun to record Jesus Pancake. If you have the opportunity to make audio fiction, especially with wonderful and talented people, then do it or hire us.

And we will do it because it is awesome fun. And I love it. Special, thanks to Aurelia Belfield for producing, directing and making this project happen. Jesus Pancake was made possible by the generous support of our Indiegogo campaign supporters, Patreon supporters, and from a grant from the Manbites Dog Theater fund. I'm sending them massive gratitude right now.[00:06:00]

The other portion of Artist Soapbox new content is a whole slate of new guests being interviewed by... new hosts. Yes, we are featuring four incredible guest hosts on the podcast. This season, I may be dropping in occasionally with an episode, but this season I'm mostly very happy to hand over the reins to some of our Artist Soapbox favorites, Lormarev Jones, Griffin James Juliana Finch, and Mara Thomas.

If you've been a long time, Artist Soapbox fans, those names will all be familiar to you. Each guest host has determined an umbrella theme or focus for their episodes and has connected with new guests to interview. You'll hear more about that later this month, when we release their first pods, I am so excited to bring their voices to you and offer varied perspectives, observations, and inspirations that aren't generated

by me, but do align beautifully with the Artist Soapbox ethos. I am so grateful to Lormarev , Griffin, Juliana, and Mara for their willingness to jump in and share themselves with you. Alrighty, one more small category before I share the highlight reel and close out this episode, a couple of personal items to catch you up.

And this may give you additional insight into why there's been such a lull in Artist Soapbox content. Yes. In addition to everything I've talked about thus far. In the personal category, we moved to a new house in April, still in North Carolina, but no longer in Durham. I still have two kids, a spouse and two cats, but now I have chickens too! Whoo.

It is a transitional kind of year. Also, I'm excited to let you know that my new musical commissioned by Honest Pint Theater will be part of NC State's Theater Fest. This summer Honest Pint has gathered a group of very talented creatives to [00:08:00] workshop this new original musical inspired by the story of Kafka and the Traveling Doll.

I have written the book. Matthew Hager is the composer. Mia Self will be directing workshop portions of the piece the weekend of June 10th at NC State. Stay tuned for more information. Alrighty. Friends. There's more to come. So stay connected with us. Thank you so much for your attention and support. I hope you are feeling the excitement about what's to come on.

Artist Soapbox enjoy this highlight reel.

Artist Soapbox creates original scripted audio fiction with immersive sound design, from limited series to serials, anthologies, and shorts. We produce stories that speak to your heart and your brain through your ears. Listen up.

We didn't have a whole lot of anything, but we had love. He loved me ever since you left, I'm dying. Even with all the stupid attention, I never stopped thinking about. No one else can make that. Who around here has the, the, the, the, the, the vision, the talent, the imagination to make masterpieces.

For those of you just joining us late night and we're live. We're here with Sully, the hottest one name wonder in town.

Love how peaceful it sounds out here. I know, no city sounds just nature here. Let me fill you up. Soon. After the fate of destruction of the earth was projected. Let's zoom in to see how the earthlings do when [00:10:00] the faded moment arrived. What's happening, do not be afraid. Human. I am Gorp. Where am I? Who, what are you?

Today's our day Hildy and Sully two peas in a pod. Good morning, beef jerky?

That's not what I meant. You're making fun of it. I'm so tired of it. I'm so tired of it. My mother resents my existence. What do you think of my play? I could eat you up. You are my star. We're still rolling. What did you like? For example, anything else you liked? It's all part of my process. Tell me what you thought.

Look at you. Look at you.

Artist Soapbox is a podcast production studio based in North Carolina. Get on the soapbox at artistssoapbox.org.