Press Archive
HEAR NOW featured in Radio World!
Thursday, August 23, 2013
HEAR NOW: THE AUDIO FICTION & ARTS FESTIVAL PICKS UP STEAM WITH THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF A GRANT BY THE MISSOURI ARTS COUNCIL OF APPROXIMATELY $10,000 TO NATF.
New “Audio Fiction and Culture Forum” to blend audio fiction and story-telling with other disciplines in a four-day immersive experience in
the arts.
The National Audio Theatre Festivals (NATF) is launching HEAR Now: The Audio Fiction and Arts Festival from June 20th – 23rd, 2013, in Kansas City, MO with the generous support of the Missouri Arts Council.
“This will be the first festival of its kind in the U.S. dedicated to celebrating the art of recorded and live audio story-telling in all its many genres and forms, and we are very excited to be working with the Missouri Arts Council,” says NATF Executive Director Andrew Davis. “The Council’s grant will help fund HEAR Now: The Audio Fiction and Arts Festival, in 2013.”
The Missouri Arts Council is widely recognized as a significant contributor to the Kansas City arts community. With the Missouri Arts Council’s recent grant of close to $10,000, HEAR Now: The Audio Fiction & Arts Festival will take a big step towards realizing its goal of becoming an important and unique contribution to the international audio drama scene, as the U.S. premiere “Audio Fiction and Culture Forum,” in North America. The HEAR Now: The Audio Fiction & Arts Festival aims to present audio drama that breaks new ground while celebrating the art and craft of sound art story-telling.
HEAR Now will be the audio equivalent of a film festival for contemporary audio drama and sonic story-telling. This four-day Festival will offer a multi-faceted program showcasing the many forms of audio fiction and sound art story-telling. The Festival will present audio fiction programs that exemplify traditions of craftsmanship as well as of aesthetic and technological innovation. The Festival intends to have an annual focus where the work of master storytellers are celebrated. In addition, the Festival intends to educate its audiences about recent developments in audio preservation and by showcasing newly restored / archived award-winning audio drama. The Festival will offer live and recorded programming at local theaters and other venues in Kansas City. There will also be moderated panels where conversations and the exchange of new ideas will offer an immersive experience in all aspects of the art and craft of audio fiction and sound art story-telling.
HEAR Now is additionally supported by the Kansas City Art Institute; Tom Mardikes, Chair of the University of Missouri Kansas City’s Theatre Department and Professor of Sound Design (UMKC is home to the Marr Sound Archives); KKFI-Radio; along with private, state, national, and other corporate funding sources.
The Festival enjoys the full support of the City of Kansas City, MO, which has granted wide-ranging access to its cultural and historic venues. HEAR Now will collaborate with AudioFile Magazine, to present the “Golden Voices” listening sessions, as well as with professionals in associated industries such as, audiobooks, sound design, and web casting.
“Kansas City, MO is the perfect location for an audio fiction and arts festival because of the City’s commitment to expanding and enhancing its artistic character and cultural diversity,” remarks Sue Zizza, President of NATF. “Kansas City is not only one of the most beautiful cities of the Midwest -- the Paris of the Plains -- with a history of artistic achievement and unique cuisine, it is also the dynamic home of many renowned universities and a number of significant festivals.”
Kansas City’s celebration of the arts helps contribute to making the City a very youthful one, but also, it helps preserve the City’s incredible historic and artistic heritage. The HEAR Now Festival intends to work with local as well as international institutions to provide a broad platform for the Festival to grow and complement the City’s support of the arts.
the arts.
The National Audio Theatre Festivals (NATF) is launching HEAR Now: The Audio Fiction and Arts Festival from June 20th – 23rd, 2013, in Kansas City, MO with the generous support of the Missouri Arts Council.
“This will be the first festival of its kind in the U.S. dedicated to celebrating the art of recorded and live audio story-telling in all its many genres and forms, and we are very excited to be working with the Missouri Arts Council,” says NATF Executive Director Andrew Davis. “The Council’s grant will help fund HEAR Now: The Audio Fiction and Arts Festival, in 2013.”
The Missouri Arts Council is widely recognized as a significant contributor to the Kansas City arts community. With the Missouri Arts Council’s recent grant of close to $10,000, HEAR Now: The Audio Fiction & Arts Festival will take a big step towards realizing its goal of becoming an important and unique contribution to the international audio drama scene, as the U.S. premiere “Audio Fiction and Culture Forum,” in North America. The HEAR Now: The Audio Fiction & Arts Festival aims to present audio drama that breaks new ground while celebrating the art and craft of sound art story-telling.
HEAR Now will be the audio equivalent of a film festival for contemporary audio drama and sonic story-telling. This four-day Festival will offer a multi-faceted program showcasing the many forms of audio fiction and sound art story-telling. The Festival will present audio fiction programs that exemplify traditions of craftsmanship as well as of aesthetic and technological innovation. The Festival intends to have an annual focus where the work of master storytellers are celebrated. In addition, the Festival intends to educate its audiences about recent developments in audio preservation and by showcasing newly restored / archived award-winning audio drama. The Festival will offer live and recorded programming at local theaters and other venues in Kansas City. There will also be moderated panels where conversations and the exchange of new ideas will offer an immersive experience in all aspects of the art and craft of audio fiction and sound art story-telling.
HEAR Now is additionally supported by the Kansas City Art Institute; Tom Mardikes, Chair of the University of Missouri Kansas City’s Theatre Department and Professor of Sound Design (UMKC is home to the Marr Sound Archives); KKFI-Radio; along with private, state, national, and other corporate funding sources.
The Festival enjoys the full support of the City of Kansas City, MO, which has granted wide-ranging access to its cultural and historic venues. HEAR Now will collaborate with AudioFile Magazine, to present the “Golden Voices” listening sessions, as well as with professionals in associated industries such as, audiobooks, sound design, and web casting.
“Kansas City, MO is the perfect location for an audio fiction and arts festival because of the City’s commitment to expanding and enhancing its artistic character and cultural diversity,” remarks Sue Zizza, President of NATF. “Kansas City is not only one of the most beautiful cities of the Midwest -- the Paris of the Plains -- with a history of artistic achievement and unique cuisine, it is also the dynamic home of many renowned universities and a number of significant festivals.”
Kansas City’s celebration of the arts helps contribute to making the City a very youthful one, but also, it helps preserve the City’s incredible historic and artistic heritage. The HEAR Now Festival intends to work with local as well as international institutions to provide a broad platform for the Festival to grow and complement the City’s support of the arts.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Hear Now/NATF Celebrates Charlie Potter

Charlie Potter teaching at an NATF Workshop
Sunday, October 16, 2011
12:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Location: TACT Studios
900 Broadway
9th Floor
New York City, NY
As the National Audio Theatre Festivals (NATF) moved forward to launch HEAR NOW: The Audio Fiction and Arts Festival in June 2013, co-hosts Simon Jones and Tim Jerome were the MC's for a rousing afternoon of fun, and fundraising, as we took Charles Potter on a gently-humorous journey back through his 30+ year career as one of America’s leading producers of audio drama and audiobooks.
12:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Location: TACT Studios
900 Broadway
9th Floor
New York City, NY
As the National Audio Theatre Festivals (NATF) moved forward to launch HEAR NOW: The Audio Fiction and Arts Festival in June 2013, co-hosts Simon Jones and Tim Jerome were the MC's for a rousing afternoon of fun, and fundraising, as we took Charles Potter on a gently-humorous journey back through his 30+ year career as one of America’s leading producers of audio drama and audiobooks.
An eminent audio impresario, Charles Potter, has produced and directed audiobooks for Random House, Harper, Simon and Schuster, and Warner Home Audio including dramatizations of X-Men, Ninja Turtles and Super Mario Brothers comics, dozens of one-hour dramatizations of Louis L’Amour short stories, and many celebrity recordings including Maya Angelou, Allen Ginsberg, John Glenn, Sandra Day O’Connor and Colin Powell. He has had audio installation work running uptown and downtown in New York (The Jewish Museum and Ellis Island), as well as in Chicago and Austin. In addition, Charlie has both adapted and directed audio drama on the Sci-Fi Channel’s Seeing Ear Theater. Charlie has won numerous industry awards including a CPB, Armstrong and Ohio State Awards, several Audies, and awards from the Houston and Chicago Film Festivals. He has produced three Grammy Award-winning recordings in the Spoken Word category.
But his first love is teaching. As an Adjunct Professor of Film and Television at New York University’s Department of Film and Television and Professor of History and Communications at the Institute for American Universities in Aix en Provence, France, Charles has taught sound and audio drama production at universities and in workshops in the US, Europe and Africa. |
In 1979, Charles, along with a few friends from the “sound world,” helped to launch The Midwest Radio Theater Workshop at radio station KOPN. Over thirty years later, those efforts have grown into the National Audio Theatre Festivals now launching a sound only festival for audio drama and audio fiction arts to begin in June 2013.
Co-hosts Simon Jones and Tim Jerome, along with many other guest speakers, shared studio memories and more, of working with and learning from Charles Potter at this celebratory event.
Co-hosts Simon Jones and Tim Jerome, along with many other guest speakers, shared studio memories and more, of working with and learning from Charles Potter at this celebratory event.
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Took a look at our 2011 NATF workshop. |