São Paulo – Google has picked Lebanese professionals for its Podcast creator program. A 20-week-long training program will be made available to the creators of Lebanon’s Her Stage program, which will air in Arabic. Google Podcasts partner company PRX, which specializes in audio media, announced the six winning shows, including Brazil’s 37 graus.
The Google Podcasts program is an intensive course in creation, acceleration and development. Apart from training offered by the PRX team in Boston, USA and development of target listereners and production skills, trainees also get seed funding for their podcasts. The producers will go into training in late July. This will be the second edition of the program. Pictured above are the trainees from the first edition.
The Lebanese podcast currently in development was created by storyteller Rhea Chedid and journalist and former The Daily Show producer Afeef Nessouli. Her Stage will use documentary-style language to portray the underground life of Beirut, ‘a hidden world where differences are celebrated, activism is brewing, and the feminine is being set free.’
Rhea Chedid is already the producer of local podcast Who Run the World, which sees her interview with female leaders. “The Arab world is full of beautiful feminine change makers, and it has been my life’s work to create space for the world to see it,” Afeef Nessouli tweeted in celebration.
The Brazilian project hails from São Paulo and is about science. The first season of 37 Graus is available, featuring presenters Sarah Azoubel Lima and Bia Guimarães. The new phase of the podcast is currently in development. Creators from 100 countries applied. Those selected are six independent production teams from Spain, Lebanon, Colombia, Brazil, India and New York.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
