Resonate:Pangea 2025 Recap ...Optimism Is Back!
The audio conference gathering soulful vibing mashup festival is back, better than ever, even with some new money-focused industry elements included
The biggest risk one when they return to Resonate is that their current trip must compete with their previous one. I’ve been fortunate enough to go three times in a row. Year 1 in 2023 was a giddy reconnecting experience where everything felt post-pandemic-new. Year 2 in 2024 was an inspiring and engaging experience. How could Year 3 measure up…again?
Nearly everyone I’ve surveyed would agree that Resonate manages to capture lightning in a bottle—an effort not easily repeated. And yet. It did. Chioke I'Anson, PhD captured 10,000kW of energy inside one small, beautiful building. I cannot think of a single instance of something I’ve done three times in a row where all events measured up.
The convenient term to describe Resonate festival is a ‘conference,’ in that it does more than just screen and watch. It actions big ideas and convenes creativity. But this term does not do justice to the mood that it captures and the experiences it shares with attendees.
This year the single word that I would attribute to this gathering is almost trite and simple: happy. When I examine this more closely, I’ve got some facts to back it up. The jovial big-voice of OhItsBigRon Ronald Young Jr, who acted as as co-emcee with Chioke I’Anson this year, was definitely the narrator.
It seemed very clear that folks were happy to be gathering, connecting, networking and co-conspiring together, despite a succinct description of where they work, or what they are working on. I couldn’t help but notice that many people I spoke to referred to their work as ‘art,’ or ‘experimental’, and the idea that ‘they didn’t know where it was going,’ was okay too.
People felt the unapologetic encouragement to dream big and think outside the box. There was a palpable discussion about the importance of risk-taking, trying new things, and embracing the WTF-ing version of whatever they are working on, or hoping to begin to work on...which, btw, they had already begun even though there didn’t seem to be a super sensible business model attached. And yet, lurking in the corners, new business models are quietly getting underway.
Perhaps this is because there’s something very grounding about mingling with folks of all stages and ages who are at a similar place as you. It doesn’t matter if you’ve worked for the biggest and most solid corporate entities in this business (Wondery and This American Life as two standout examples)...they too have lost their jobs, been downsized or re-assigned. It’s likely this adds to the decidedly non-snooty vibe of this event. I’ve been to many festivals over the years where the power imbalance is acutely felt; Resonate is the exact opposite.
I should also point out the unobvious fact that I’ve watched multiple institutions and entities recently work hard to open their doors and embrace independents and their work (Resonate itself with Pitch Party podcast; Tribeca, Signal Awards, multiple open calls for pitches). And then I’ve also noticed all kinds of independent work that’s fermenting, fomenting, creating, making and doing….it now feels like a wide horizon when just a few months ago I reported: Wow, is it quiet out there.
No, it’s not some new profitable business model that a new genius has just figured out. It’s good old fashioned hard work. Either that has meant finding a way to fund projects with multiple side jobs and hustles and corporate gigs, or it’s a balance of the two. I got a sense that after a few years of disappointing messages and pink slips from the corporate world, this indie-minded industry has dusted itself off, picked up its bootstraps, and gone back to its roots. Art is a forever industry.
This might feel speculative and a bit distant, but the facts do line up to support this case. No, it’s not a blank cheque to take to the bank. Certainly it’s not enough to pay for health insurance and support a family. What I feel, and see, is that there’s sense of transition within this industry. And perhaps against all odds, it’s rather joyful.
“Optimism is back!” beamed Tamar Avishai, co-founder of the Hub and Spoke Audio Collective. She shared with me that their inboxes are busier than ever at the no-money-exchanged, no-monetary-model attached, not-IP-Seeking network of Hub and Spoke [I’ll share that interview in an upcoming feature soon].
Art is the space, art is setting the pace
The venue for Resonate—the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA)—is an art gallery, but that’s one that’s also big enough to act as a community centre and gathering place. It was a prescient design that’s nestled at the edge of where the beautiful campus of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) meets the border of the vibrant Arts District. The ICA clearly seems to function as the axis for events that are able to straddle the rich academic life of the institution and the growing vibe of Richmond. “I really like this city,” was a comment I heard often this weekend.
When a conference is hosted inside an art gallery that means if you need a quick breather between sessions, or have a latent 10 minutes between sessions and are feeling introverted, instead of pulling off to a corner and mindlessly scrolling, you can instead disappear behind a curtain into a gallery space to find immersive and engaging video projections, or stare at art on the wall to let your mind wander.
This was also possible on all three floors of the venue; a resource I tapped multiple times throughout the weekend. I met a new friend in the process of doing this, when my inside voice spilled out to say “this is exactly what I needed….” to which the reply came… , a”me too…” and then more conversation followed after we flopped on the bean bag chairs in the lobby.
Ahead of the conference, I was curious how it might adapt to the changes that were introduced this year. One day ahead of the festival, an industry-minded conference was organized through Dane Cardiel called Fast Forward Summit that brought together creatives with execs. And then, alongside the festival, there was The Growth Lounge, located a few blocks away at Common House, where creators were invited to sign up for one-to-one meetings with executives from different companies and networks who had agreed to take pitches, and start conversations (Sony’s The Binge, as well as ESPN 30-for-30, Slate and Pushkin).
Reviews from both events from folks that I spoke with was that these meetings were real, put conversations in motion, and didn’t take away from the creative vibe that was humming at the rest of the festival. It’s a tough note to strike. For me the key ingredient was that the two spaces were separated…and that the predominant values at the main venue were guided (and surrounded) by art.
“No one makes a podcast alone…and it doesn’t exist until it lands in the brain of the listener.”
This was how Eleanor MacDowell set the pace for the festival in her opening Keynote “Heartbeat.”
This message appropriately set the stage for what I observed all weekend:
The importance of community
The essence of collaboration
The desire to gather and convene IRL
The connection between audio-making and the ongoing work of decolonization and reframing of power and truth in narratives
The ability for audio to connect, transform, redirect and manage BIG societal change
The steadfast assertion that this industry isn’t going anywhere, despite all the changes it has endured in the last few years.
I heard these thoughts echoed in the work of Axel Kacoutié , when they compelled the audience to “lie with me.” The deeply moving story shared by James Dommek Jr with Isaac Kestenbaum from Alaska Is At The Center Of The Universe (from Audible). And the expansion, really a raising-of-the-bar for how to deliver a great live listening event, arrived with Talia Augustidis and In The Dark.
Speaking of: do you know how many times I heard a reference to a ”Live Listening Event?” This was not a coincidence….others noticed it as well. It’s clear this is something that’s a growth industry inside this niche of an industry. It mixes the act of listening with a community mindset.
This is not new
Laura Rojas Aponte spoke about the past fifteen years of Radio Ambulante. In many industries, reaching teenage years isn’t momentous. But in an industry whose fossil records only goes back about twenty-five years, the fact that Radio Ambulante is STILL making stories, mostly in Spanish, and talking about their plans of the future, is something to definitely celebrate and acknowledge.
Resonate itself is basically new…but the appetite to bring audio folks together to relish in the art and craft of their work is not. This fact hit me on Thursday afternoon when I found myself standing beside Johanna Zorn, co-founder of Third Coast. I asked her something mundane like: ‘So how is your festival going so far?’
But as soon as I asked this question, I realized that for her, perhaps of all people here, this was not an entry-level question. She looked at me, eyes dusted, and said…”It’s just…it’s just….wow…” as she waved her hand around. “It’s so…great…”
Right away I punched some quick numbers into my mental emotional calculator. She was obviously quite struck by this event: the size, the connections, the inspirations, the people.
My quick instinct was to offer this to her: “You know that all of us here are standing on your shoulders, don’t you? What you did, what you and Julie (Shapiro) built at Third Coast, all those years ago…this here wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t the framework, the prototype, for what it is supposed to look like. And this here, all this magic, owes a debt of gratitude to the decades that you put into that work.”
Humbly, she denied each of my assertions. There had also been a rather depressing email from Third Coast that week that acknowledged it’s now entirely volunteer run. Over the course of the next two days I quietly fact-checked my opinion. Everyone agreed.
Stand out session for me and many that I spoke to was from Aaron Edwards: Send me a voice memo. Edward’s ability to create a collective experiential moment brought everyone into a new orbit. Immediately I convened a new Voice Memo friendship with the woman sitting beside me, despite the fact that we had just met. After that session I had to take a walk through the sunny park to allow a moment for the new ideas that were unlodged during this session to wake from their deep slumber and present themselves to me.
Perhaps one of the biggest announcements is that Resonate is growing…in 2027 there will be a companion event in South Africa. This year a presentation from the talented folks at Radio Workshop helped to build that bridge between this continent and that of Africa.
Now back at home, I’m drawing on the energy bank I filled up at Resonate; I was able to put so much in there it feels like the battery can last for a while.
The closing moment came from Mitra Kaboli from the Third Floor of Common House. In what seemed to be a Shaker-inspired call-and-answer format, the voices in the room were collected into one common thread. For me this deeply underscored the theme of the weekend: that a collective experience can draw people together, into one voice.
And with that, the official programming note of the fest ended with a giant karaoke singalong to Madonna’s Like A Prayer.
When you call my name, it’s like a little prayer
I’m down on my knees, I wanna take you there…
You captured the festival so well. Exactly right. I love this.