The World of Podcasting: Erika Hess with I Like Your Work Podcast
“Six years ago, when I began, I was really interested in how I could create community within the arts. I was in Boston at the time, and I had just cofounded an art space called Moussa Collective - it was a group of 12 artists exhibiting their work, and I was spearheading it, doing all of the behind the scenes stuff. Through that experience, knowing that I was going to move, I had to stay connected to my art community that I love, so I was going to start an art space online. There was lot’s of art blogs, but I’m not that great of a writer, so what I decided to do was start a podcast because I knew I love being in studios and artists are my people. I’m going to talk to people who’s work I love, and need to be lifted up. So I just started interviewing artists who I thought were just making incredible work. And when I started there weren’t many women art podcasters. A lot of the art podcasts that I have been listening to were very academic and very dry. I wanted to know how people are living - how are artists living? And that was really how it started. Moving and wanting to create community and doubting my writing skills.”
“The first hurdle we all overcome is just beginning something. What do I need to get together in order to make it happen? The biggest hurdle for me is that I was actively moving. I was recording the first whole season of the podcast in my van. It was getting over that first roadblock. I didn’t have a professional podcast studio, so does that mean I’m not valid? Does that mean I’m not a podcaster? And I think we have to get past those things. There’s mental blocks and there’s just actually just taking the steps forward. I was starting it as a way to create community, and I was pretty naive in a good way because I didn’t have the thoughts of “what if I don’t get so many listeners” and that was actually positive for me.”
“It can be very easy for the world, or for family members to say ‘oh you can’t do that’- I wrote this article, because now I write, and I wrote about what’s in a studio and what makes a studio; and we all have this vision of the beautiful Tribeca studios out there, but the really is that that’s not always happening and that’s okay. Most of us have a kitchen table and that’s okay, we can make it work.”
“Many times we can have an idea of what somebody is going to be like, but most people are super receptive and want to work together.”
“Just keep following what lights you up, and to not get too serious at times where you get anxious or stressed out, keep it fun,”
“The things that you should know is that podcasting is incredibly flexible, but you really need to have a schedule. Set a schedule and really stick to it in terms of a release time. I have it on an academic calendar. It’s about thinking about what our lifestyle looks like. So for the first few years I did an episode every Friday, which was a little intense. You can also do a once a month episode; I know people that have done that”
“It doesn’t have to be really expensive to podcast, and that’s what I like. I know two guys who are art podcasters and I love talking to them and they are really into the equipment - like they got the top mike and and mixing programs. And that’s not what I’m like - I have a free program and a mike that I bought off of Amazon, but now I do have an editor which has helped. But in the beginning I did all the editing for like 2 years, and then I hit a point where I brought in an editor to do that which was such an incredible move for me. You also may start to over edit yourself. So that’s the other reason why it’s nice to have someone edit for me”
“To get started it’s 1: thinking about your schedule and what you want to do. 2: Getting Lipson 3: What recording software would you have to download, which is Audacity, that’s what I edited with. Other people have used Apple. Then also think about the format - do you want to do interviews? Would you rather do solo podcast where you’re giving and sharing information? Some people are better at solo and some are better at interviews. Think about your delivery, your tone. But don’t overthink about that at all. And just make sure you get a workflow so you’re not exhausted.”
“A lot of things that are really interesting and beautiful and wonderful aren’t always accepted by major mainstream places. Approaching your sponsors when trying to measure your success [by benchmarking downloads], what they do want to see are two things: what are your downloads and who is your audience.”two things: what are your downloads and who is your audience.”
