Google is Once Again Looking for Podcasters and Creators of Color for 2019

The Google Podcasts Creator Program, run by PRX, is back and is looking for its next round of participants. The program provides 20 weeks of training and mentorship as well as seed funding to promising podcasters with the aim of promoting underrepresented voices throughout the industry and around the world.

Catalina May and Martín Cruz, the team behind Las Raras (The Outsiders), are independent podcasters based in Santiago, Chile. They are one of the six teams participating in the first round of the program. Their training began in January 2019 with a week-long intensive bootcamp at the PRX Podcast Garage in Boston, and will culminate in a final showcase on June 19.

“At the PRX Podcast Garage, we met amazing trainers and the five other teams in the program,” stated the Las Raras team. “It was a dream to talk about podcasting for 12 hours a day with a diverse group of people who share our passion.”

Other podcasts accepted into the program included AfroQueer, a podcast that sets out to raise awareness about LGBTQ+ people’s lives in a place where homosexuality is illegal, Long Distance which tells stories from the Filipino diaspora; The Colored Girl Beautiful which reflects on modern beauty standards; Timestorm introduces children to Puerto Rican history, and “Who Taught You How to Drive?!”, a [odcast that talks about car culture and road rage.

“Las Raras,” was inspired by the first season of Serial. As a journalist and a sound engineer, the team understood the influence that podcasts could have on their culture. “This intimate medium is perfect for telling stories of people who are frequently overlooked, stories of people challenging norms, and stories of people defying the status quo.”

The Google Podcasts creator program has sense assisted all of the teams in bringing their goals to fruition by helping to increase the diversity of voices in the podcasting industry.

Applications for the next round are currently open and will be accepted until 11:59pm ET, Sunday, April 14.