🔴 Meet Davy Gardner of Tribeca Festival’s audio storytelling

• The essentials: Kimu is an audio journalist and independent producer based in Brooklyn, NY. Primarily, Kimu focuses on telling stories on the intersection of identity and culture. 

• Previous work: Kimu has worked on award-winning projects including Renegades: Born in the USA, Resistance, Wind of Change, Stolen, LOUD, The Journal, Dope Labs, Science Vs, and The Messenger. 

• At Tribeca: Currently, Kimu is a Creative Producer at the Sonic Union network. One of the podcasts he worked on: Perreo 101 is being taped live at the festival. It’s a reggaeton cultural podcast, and the live will feature a conversation and performance from Cuban artists Beatriz Luengo and Youtel.

Shreya Sharma (SS): Tell us about your relationship with audio. 

Davy Gardner (DG): My relationship with audio started when I was a writer for the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, the comedy theater in New York. A producer from Radiotopia thought that one of my pieces would adapt well for audio from the stage, and that was my entry point into audio. The show is an audio drama anthology called The Truth.

Through it, I saw this wild side of audio that I didn’t know existed; I hadn’t encountered audio drama before then. From there, I worked at some other audio companies and in other genres, and it’s been very exciting to see all the different kinds of jobs that I can have in the field of audio.

SS: What do you enjoy most about curating the Tribeca Audio Storytelling festival? 

DG: My favorite thing about the festival is definitely working with the creators. I love that aspect of the program. The program includes the live events and the competition.

Sidenote: I’ve been working to integrate the two so that we have more live events for the official selections. We currently have two panels: emerging audio artist panel and an established audio artist panel. Of course, there’s also the award ceremony to make sure that those new projects kind of like get their shine.

SS:  How do your team and you ensure a balance between established and emerging artists in the festival lineup?

DG:  Tribeca’s always been a champion for independent producers. That’s something we’ve really made sure to focus on. If our program had core values, they would be – audio-forward, independent creator-first, and independent producer-first.

So, throughout the year, we’re curating new work and giving laurels to new work. I think laurels do (emphasis mine) play a very interesting role in the audio space. Having laurels on podcast artwork is a novel approach to getting listeners to click on your podcast, without having to buy space on a billboard in Times Square that most independent producers cannot afford.

At the festival especially, we’ve got these two live events that is a great way to hear from the creators directly, while giving audiences a cool way to discover their next listen. Plus, setting them side by side with big shows and established shows with big listeners is something that the independent creators appreciate. It exposes their work to this massive audience that they might not otherwise reach. So in some ways, the established creator part of the festival is crucial in bringing together the independent and established creators. And that’s true for the festival overall.

SS: What is the role that community plays in the growth of independent creators?

DG: I think that that potentially speaks to one of the things that I’m most proud of about the program – it’s fun and audio-forward. We don’t have panels on the industry. While those are great, our focus is putting the work first. We’re trying to showcase and display the audio work. So to the independent creator I’d say – yes, come to Tribeca and have fun and meet people and whatever. However, as an independent audio writer and creator myself, I think that the best resource that independent producers have is each other. The community is a strength of the medium that’s different than other art forms. 

I’ve seen so many of my peers grow together, rise together, and the audio community is truly unique in that way. I can get on a call with almost anyone who makes audio, and I know that they’re gonna be nice. It matters that this is a community of supportive people. It makes my job very easy because bringing them all together; everyone’s going to be supportive and excited. If you’re coming to the Tribeca Festival, try engaging with other independent producers as much as possible.

Note: for the latest updates on the Tribeca Festival follow @Tribeca and #Tribeca2023 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

This was just a sneak peek. Davy and I talked about our favorite audio genres, how Tribeca’s programs support independent creators, and in the end, he turned it around to ask me a few questions! We’ll be releasing the complete interview on the Audio Currents podcast, next Friday.

Davy can’t play favorites when it comes to this year’s festival line-up, for obvious reasons. But, I can. While I am excited for pretty much ALL the audio stories, here are the ones that have got me buzzing: 

• These Were Humans: Set in the distant future, the comedy podcast looks back at the history of humanity. It’s giving Cunk on Earth meets Love, Death, and Robots and I loved the first episode. 

• Magic on a Winter’s Night: The Irish music documentary is set to premiere at Tribeca. It highlights the music of the Wexford Festival Opera, and the role the festival played in re-introducing the magic of operatic music to audiences. 

• Free From Desire: The documentary-style podcast follows the story of Aline Laurent-Mayard. Aline shares their journey of growing up asexual in Paris. 

• Aisha: The political thriller tells the tale of Aisha, a Palestinian girl in Gaza City, who dreams of escape without sacrificing her cultural identity.