Short Is Beautiful
Talia Augustidis shares what makes her In The Dark events successful…plus don’t miss three short audio opportunities at the end of the post...
It’s an open question if our attention spans are shrinking, or disappearing altogether. When I watch shows like Apple Cider Vinegar, I’m reminded just how much our brains have been re-wired based on the volume of digital dopamine responses we’re fed. We are, already, captive to our own devices. Psychologists are busy investigating how digital technology affects children, our ability to focus, and our expanding issues with poor memory.
When I sit down to read a book now, it’s an intentional act. My phone in the other room, or powered down so that its beeps and chirps and haptic buzzing can’t interfere with my flow.
I want to read. I love reading. It’s just that I’m less good at it than I used to be.
So how does this reduced attention span relate to listening habits?
Most of the shows that I listen to for Bingeworthy are long
Very long; most series clock in between 6-10 hours of listening time. They are designed to make you fall into them, get hooked and get lost. This is something that I live for, the reason why I launched Bingeworthy, and what keeps me coming back.
Some of these series (to my mind the best ones), justify their length. But others feel like they are stretching things out to make more advertising spots available, or to complete the fulfillment clause in their contract, which is then linked to the ad buy from the studio or parent company. Many could be 1-2 hours, or 1-2 episodes shorter, and would be better for it.
It’s hard to pinpoint when or where, but I began to notice more attention going into short audio pieces; some new/old shows, residencies, timed competitions, awards, and listening events….and of course, Audio Flux (see Circuit 5 update at the end of the newsletter).
It’s like the Utah Hair craze was wrapping up and we were going back to the Short Bob, all over again.
This observation was at odds with the reality of the marketplace. One of the beloved homes for innovative and groundbreaking short audio pieces was cancelled this year; RIP BBC Shortcuts…you will be missed, by fans and producers alike.
But at the same time, somewhat in the wake of major longform show cancellations (Stolen, Invisibilia, Heavyweight), I’ve heard more rumblings and seen evidence of new independent shows begin to emerge. Maybe it’s a wtf attitude that comes from a shrinking marketplace. Or maybe it’s like what Nichole Hill recently said on Sound School about her indie-released series Our Ancestors Were Messy… “Because this is my dream and I’m only doing it for love.”
Welcome (back?) to the era of the passion project. May it bring a new era of experimentation, new art, and new forms, but this time on a scaleable level. And may we not go broke in the process.
One of these new fearless, innovative shows—that also features short audio—is from
, who launched her show, Unreality, in December. It’s an independently produced series that curates a range of short audio pieces under a theme.You might recognize her name alongside a live listening series that she took over in 2022. In The Dark | A Celebration of Stories Told Through Sound was founded in London in 2010 by Nina Garthwaite.
We sat down a few months ago to talk about live listening events. What makes them good? What is the ingredient list to make them work? And how short is too long?
After I listened to Unreality, I realized that the series captures some of the magic that happens in the room at the In The Dark live. In fact, I remembered that I heard some of these pieces live (especially the memorable, adorable, episode Breakfast On Tiffany).
Enjoy Unreality, but don’t let it be a replacement for attending a live listening event. There’s something very analog, and completely wonderful about sitting in a room full of people with their eyes closed, listening to the same piece of audio that’s usually listened to alone, with headphones on.
What Makes Live Events Tick?
The following is a Q+A with Talia Augustidis. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
[Samantha Hodder]: Can you give me some background for what In The Dark is?
[Talia Augustidis]: It was founded by Nina Garthwaite in 2010 because she was seeing interesting things happening in audio. I think she was seeing people complain that the audio was dying, or the radio was dying, or that interesting things weren't happening. And she was like, yes, they are. You're just not listening to them. You just can't find them. This was back in the day when nothing was online.
She had things on…cds? Or I don't I don't even know because I'm too young to understand how she had these things! They were on her computer and in order to send them around…I don't even know…it was hard!
[SH]: When did you get involved?
[TA]: I got involved in 2022 when I graduated from university. Nina Garthwaite was my tutor. She stopped In The Dark in 2020, just before the pandemic, because she was tired of doing this work for 10 years for free.
I had fallen in love with audio during the pandemic and I felt quite isolated and siloed. When I graduated, the world was opening up, in 2021, but it wasn't, you know, fully recovered. Starting out in audio, even without a global pandemic, is lonely. But that made it extra lonely. And I just kept saying [to her]: Where can I meet people? Where can I find inspiration? And she just kept saying, ‘You would have loved In the Dark.’
And then I gently pestered her for one year. And finally, she just turned around and said: ‘You do it then.’
[SH]: Walk me through what an In The Dark event looks like.
[TA]: Well, I took it on and I'd never been to an [actual] In The Dark event. I think it's really interesting trying to emulate something you can't truly understand because you haven't been to [the original]. But I knew Nina really well and I'm so grateful that she trusted me.
They are essentially communal listening events in a space. Often a different curator will choose audio around a theme, and sometimes there'll be live audio, or live elements, like music, a live performances, live storytelling, or audience participation. But at its heart, it's just sharing audio, often short audio, or segments, to a room full of people.
[SH]: I think that lots of people are looking at new revenue models, new marketing models, new community models…what do you think of live audio, as a concept, where does it fit into the ecosystem?
[TA]: Ooh, it's interesting, because I don't think of it from that perspective….we've got this successful podcast….let's make a live audio show… I think that's a different thing.
[Nina] has an encyclopedic knowledge of audio, consumes a lot, and knows a lot. She’s also an amazing teacher and source of knowledge in audio.
[When she] started In The Dark, she chose people who she respected and asked them, what's audio that you like? It wasn't themed. It was as simple as them saying, I heard this, I like that. It didn't grow from: how can we make more money from this thing that already exists? It grew from trying to show people new audio. It used to all be free; the venues used to be free. They never used to make money.
[When they began to charge entry fees], they only [did that] because people don't come if you don't charge anything!
All of the money they used to make, the gave out in grants. Nina ran In The Dark for 10 years and didn't make any money from it. It was all volunteer-run.
[SH]: What I see surviving through all this tumult is things that have that ethos…that open, welcome, caring, not trying to be commercialized ideal.
[TA]: Not selling authenticity either. I think sometimes people try and work backward…People like intimate, authentic things, let's try and emulate that. But you have to live that, to actually be that.
[SH]: So how many events do you do each year?
[TA]: Probably it's around 10 a year…that’s just the London ones. I've also done events at Tribeca this year, one at Resonate and one in Florence in December.
[SH]: So what makes a good event? Which pieces have to fall into place? What makes them work?
[TA]: This has definitely been a learning curve. I think at the very beginning, I thought: “You can play anything and people will be excited about it.” That is not true. And I think as I've grown and learned, I'm really conscious of people's time and energy. The tickets are [inexepnsive], but people are giving us two hours of their lives.
I really am a proponent of short audio and segments. I don't want to cater towards people's attention spans dying, and I don't want to just do short things. I want to be brave and sometimes do longer things. But I think you also have to respect that you have to have a diverse range of tastes, [and with short pieces], everyone will take something from it. And if you don't enjoy it, you have to sit in it for max 10 minutes and then it's over. And then hopefully the next thing will be different and you'll enjoy that.
Even if you try to have a range of tastes from the perspective of your taste, you still will have a lens on it. But I still try and do things things that I love, things I think will appeal to someone…there were a couple of pieces in mind that don’t resonate with me, but I know they will resonate with others.
[SH]: What’s the ideal length of the event, in total?
[TA]: I like an hour and a half of [listening to] audio, total. That’s one hour and 15 minutes of audio, with interludes and speaking. When you add a break in the middle, you get two hours, in total [at the venue].
I think anything longer than that is too much. And then within that, I don't really advocate for pieces longer than 15 minutes, unless it's one towards the end that is 30 minutes. One time we did a performance piece that was an hour, and it was amazing. I'm so glad we did that. But it was a risk. I will not do that often because if people don't like, it's like sitting in a bad play for an hour. And you don’t enjoy that!
So I’m very careful about making people sit in discomfort for too long. Maybe other people are braver and it pays off. It's a risk/reward thing.
[SH]: Discovery for short pieces is hard. What’s your method to find the pieces you curate?
[TA]: I started a Google Sheets of every piece I liked…it's my pride and joy. If there was a digital fire, it’s what I would take with me.
My memory is genuinely really bad. So if I listen to a piece, I remember the emotions, but I'll forget the name, I'll forget the maker, I’ll forget where I found it. So I tag them [in the Google Sheet], with all the details.
The only way I can listen is in my living room with a puzzle, and a tea. I can't listen on walks. I can't listen on the tube. I can't listen anywhere else apart from in a room in the dark and on a puzzle. It's very inconvenient.
THREE MORE THINGS:
1. THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S PODCAST AWARDS are back!
The International Women’s Podcast Awards recognise moments of brilliance in podcasting and the women that produce them.
They’re looking for just 10 minutes of audio brilliance.
The link to enter is here.
You must read the list of categories before you decide…they are truly original.
Deadline Monday 17th March, 2025
Entry Fee: 30 GBP for indies / 65 GPB for those supported by production companies.
There’s also a Bursary available. Short form to fill in and the entrants will receive a code to use at checkout. No questions asked. Find the form here.
2. SPEAKING OF IN THE DARK…there’s a London event coming up soon.
7:00pm, February 19, 2025. Camden Open Air Gallery. INFO here
Taqwa Sadiq has curated stories about both the momentous and the minute, when time flies and when it stands still. Look forward to unearthed voicemails, rule-breaking, clock doctors and time zone rebellions.
Taqwa is a multi-award-winning freelance audio producer and presenter in London, she is best known for her BBC Audio Lab podcast, Sacred Money.
3. Audio Flux is back! Circuit 5
Submissions open on February 14 and close on April 1, 2025.
Join Co-Founders Julie Shapiro and The Reverend John DeLore on Feb 13th at 4p ET for another Ask Us Anything!
Event co-hosted with AIR (Association of Independents in Radio)
AUA is free and open to everyone.
RSVP to attend: https://ow.ly/L8j250UQkQ6
Get a jump on all of the details a day early. In the Zoom they’ll share the theme, the prompts, and the creative partner. Questions welcome.