Listen up again! This month we’re talking to Holly Fraser, Editor-in-Chief at WeTransfer and WePresent.
Last year, we ran a series where we asked our artists to tell us about their favourite podcasts. It received a very positive response, so this year we’ve headed beyond the bounds of Breed and asked friends in the wider creative world to do the same thing.
WePresent describes itself as ‘unexpected stories about creativity’. It was started by WeTransfer to provide a showcase for art, photography, music and all other aspects of creativity from across the planet, to provide a window into the process of creating something from nothing. It also places particular emphasis on promoting diversity across communities of age, race, geography, gender or sexuality. And Holly has ambitions to take things much further – ‘We want to be the most representative creative site on the internet’.
So, over to Holly and her choices:
Firstly, Dolly Parton is a queen and that really should be reason enough for you to want to listen to this podcast! But if you still need convincing, these nine episodes cover, in intricate detail, every aspect of Dolly Parton’s life, the fascinating history of Appalachian music that is at the root of her sound and how different facets of Dolly’s persona intersect with almost every part of American culture and society. It’s fascinating stuff fronted by Radiolab’s Jad Abumrad.
When I was younger my grandmother was the personal nurse of Hurd Hatfield, the actor who played the titular role in the original The Picture of Dorian Gray film. His house was kind of like a museum to movie memorabilia and he’d have people like Paul Newman and Angela Lansbury round for tea to talk about the ‘good old days’. Ever since then I have been fascinated with old Hollywood, its legacy and its notoriety. This podcast, expertly crafted by historian Karina Longworth, delves into the often forgotten history of Hollywood’s first century, going behind the salacious headlines to paint a picture of an industry that would change entertainment forever. I highly recommend the Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon series.
If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that continuous learning and listening is vital in order to create a more progressive society. I think that a lot of creativity and artistry is often viewed through a Western and predominantly white gaze in the media, but Lou Mensah’s Shade podcast challenges that narrative. She hosts truly enlightening conversations with creatives and activists that have challenged notions of race and identity in their work.
Earlier this year we asked curator Jemima Burrill and the team at NOW Gallery to recommend their favourite podcasts. You can find their answers here.