Tribeca Turns 25 And Offers Its Most Expansive Podcast Lineup Yet
Bingeworthy sits down with Davy Gardner, Curator of Audio Storytelling at Tribeca, to dish on how he helped double the audio opportunities at this year's fest
This year marks the 25th year for Tribeca. To celebrate the big birthday, Tribeca’s Audio Storytelling Curator Davy Gardner wrangled a whole new audio category.
This year will mark the sixth year that audio has been part of the Tribeca festival, just over one-fifth of its total lifespan, and in one year alone, the audio slate has doubled. It’s a bit like when they New York City built curbed bike lanes….this avenue has grown into a boulevard.
For years I’ve been tracking the different shows that have been featured in Tribeca. This year alone I’ve showcased the Blood Memory, which won the laurels for nonfiction at Tribeca last year, and then there’s Creation Myth, which has also featured at Tribeca 2025 which has gone on to wide acclaim.
Davy does it again…
Gardner has made another bunch of selections this year that I will keep on my radar…which I’ve learned needs to be kept as an open tab. Just this year a come-from-behind Peabody win was awarded to Divine Intervention, a 2022 Tribeca selection.
This year the Official Selections program will feature new work from Alison Flowers, Sayre Quevedo, Sarah Illiatovitch-Goldman, Theo Blacomb, and Jessie Graham, alongside new work from some familiar faces, John Biewen and Chenjerai Kumanyika, who will premier their new season of Scene on Radio: The News.
Industry favourites here will also be there: CBC return with their new Personally series, Discount Dave (and the Fix), and the new CBC/Toronto Star investigation: The Most Wanted Olympian. ESPN will also bring their new season of 30 for 30, The Fastest Girl in Somalia.
The big news this year is that Tribeca has opened a new traffic lane, which is to offer a new section they’re calling The Showcase, for podcasts released in the last year. The timing for this June festival will help to elevate, or re-elevate their visibility. Gardner pushed for the festival to include already-published work after producers had been asking for years for ways to showcase work that’s already published. This year offers a great opportunity for smaller, more independent endeavours, like Signal Hill and Written in Air, to receive a wider audience reveal.
It’s also a place for unique shows that made it into this world but could sure use a little boost (like A Whole Other Country, The Vodou Project and Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal)…and then a reminder to spend a bit more time with Proxy, Ear Hustle and even listen to something in Spanish with La Ruta del Exilio or El Capitán y el Brazalete de Esmeraldas.
The Live events will feature industry darling Audio Flux, along with fan-fave Sound Exploder, the evermore Radiolab, the iconoclast Cannonball with Wesley Morris, the return of Death Sex and Money and Kara Swisher…also don’t miss Fashion Neurosis, a groundbreaking video podcast (the good kind).
There’s just so much you’ll have to discover the list yourself. And if you’re lucky enough to find yourself in New York City from June 3-14, go get yr tix here.
The following is a lightly edited transcript of a Zoom interview with Davy Gardner, Curator of Audio Storytelling for Tribeca.
Samantha Hodder: Heading into 25 years of Tribeca. Can you believe it?
Davy Gardner: We are. I can believe it because we’ve been working on the 25th anniversary for a year. I’m so excited…it’s going to be great.
SH: So you’ve made some big changes.
DG: Yes. It’s a huge growth year for podcasts at Tribeca. We are doubling the number of opportunities for independent creators, which is really exciting for me. We also made it inclusive to Spanish language podcasts this year for the first time ever, which is great. And we have the new category, The Showcase.
SH: Until this year, Tribeca has been a place where work that hasn’t yet made it into the marketplace gets a chance to shine. Now you have the [a new category]. Tell me why you did this,.
DG: For the last five years, producers have been begging to not have to premiere in order to submit. I resisted that because I wanted to show that podcast premieres work, and that they’re worth submitting to. And I think that people have seen that they work; our Official Selections program is one that I think will have the same, if not far more, discoverability potential for those new premieres.
The Showcase list is for works that have been made within the last 12 months. They’re still very new. And as you know, at every level of podcasting, discoverability remains a challenge. So I just think there was a space there that needed to be filled for certain independent creators. And why not provide it if we do have the infrastructure and had our biggest year yet!?
SH: Is it a one-off, or is this going to be folded into Tribeca going forward?
DG: We will fold it in going forward. The independent program for podcasts at Tribeca has been internally, and externally, recognized as something to be excited about and proud of. It’s going in a good direction.
We don’t just want the independent producers who show up at the festival to listen to each other’s work. We want those independent producers to be able to have huge audiences and really blow up their footprint in the way that Tribeca has for independent film in the past, independent TV, et cetera.
SH: Describe what the showcase will look like. Is it similar to what the selects look like? Paint a picture of what the room will be when you, when they’re shown to the audience.
DG: The room is a 250-seat theater. We have this new space in Spring Studios. We used to do them in a movie theater, and now we have this big, beautiful theater that is literally bigger, but it’s also an expansion of the whole official selection program.
They will be hosted by different leaders in the audio world. Each creator will be interviewed on stage and preview their work. Tribeca will be inviting, press and industry and people who might be interested in these previews.
It has the energy of upfronts, but it’s also very positive because people invite their friends, the creators invite their teams. They’re always good energy shows. Last year they sold out.
SH: I’ve felt a renewed optimism in this industry. We went through a dry spell, we went through a difficult time. And I feel now like we’re coming into an emergent time right that’s full of creativity.
DG: Yeah. A year or two ago, the community just got so upset. I understand why, but also in every media there are fluctuations, and I think podcasting is well on its way to a, a long and prosperous era in general.
SH: I was quite interested in your one-word descriptors that you use to describe the, the selections: Tempo, Texture, Timbre, Tone. Where did this idea came from?
DG: In the past we’ve done “Surprises and Reckonings.” That was fun in a more literal way. But I think giving a word like “texture” to a show, and then having, [Avery Trufelman’s Articles of Interest: Gear], you think about something. Or, having “Tempo” and Lauren Shippen’s, Two Thousand and Late, there’s a pacing to that show.
I don’t think that at those shows we’ll be discussing why they fit into the theme. It’s just sort of ways to categorize them. But hopefully it is also something that walking into the show, an audience member just go in with a little bit of a pre-thought of like, “What makes, what makes this musical?” “What’s the timbre to these podcasts?”
SH: Once again I notice you’re really making sure to help focus on and share light with some of the smaller, more independent people. I noticed Signal Hill is right in there. You’ve got Threshold Podcast. You’ve got Written in Air, which is, which is so cool that it found a way in. And then the more established podcasts, like Snap Judgment.
DG: While we are focused on the independent creator, I would say we’re most focused on the independent story. The atomic unit of Tribeca is story. Snap Judgment’s been around for a long time; A Tiny Plot has not. It’s still about discoverability,
The Showcase is an opportunity for discoverability; while the Official Selections have laurels, and that remains the focus of the overall independent program.
That’s the real answer to the whole Tribeca thing: The whole cohort, the fact that that it’s a grouping, is really the strength of the program.
SH: Years ago you started this WhatsApp group for people connected with Tribeca. And it’s really started to take on a life of its own. It’s gaining momentum now. Are you going to keep growing [this community]?
DG: Yes! Yeah. I think that what has happened in the last five years at Tribeca with podcasts has been, really exciting for an independent podcaster. [As a creator myself], I would love to apply to this program. Discoverability and getting your work out there and in front of people, having a moment to be recognized for it and celebrated for it…having it just be listened to.
I think for independent podcasts it can be depressing when you release something sort of into the void of the internet and you just don’t know.
If I can ease that load a little bit so that folks can pay more attention to, the creative and artistic process behind it, [that’s the goal]. So we’re not so dependent on shows that fit into the mold of advertising, or are a formula of shows that already exist.
A festival is what drives people to do things like Signal Hill, or something that might not be, you know, a great monetization opportunity necessarily, but has incredible value. And by having it at Tribeca, there might be more possibility to monetize it or support it, or at least just celebrate it.
SH: You’ve got a really interesting, lively mixture of live performances with, some heavyweights in there. Let’s, let’s hear a little bit about that.
DG: Yeah. There’s so many shows that I am really proud of and excited for, and it’s been a real collaborative year of working with these hosts, and thinking about how to translate their shows onto the stage in the most effective way possible.
Death Sex Death, Sex & Money and Fashion Neurosis. Also Kara Swisher with Marc Maron is just kind of a hilariously monumental moment for podcast nerds.
What else? There’s, there’s a lot.
Tribecafilm.com/audio.
Check them out. They’re individually ticketed events, so you can pick and choose. There’s also a lot of community events[surrounding all the programming.
Or just Google Tribeca Podcast tickets or something and you’ll find it.
SH: You’re doing awesome work over there, Davy. The industry totally appreciates you, and the community you’re cultivating, and the opportunities that you’re putting out there. And it continues to grow, which is so exciting to witness.
DG: You as well. Thank you for covering these shows. Thank you for interviewing these creators. That’s discoverability.
SH: It’s all part of the ecosystem, which we create.