RIAS Berlin alumni invited to submit audio pieces for Goethe Institut “Big Ponder” series

RIAS Berlin alumni invited to submit audio pieces for Goethe Institut “Big Ponder” series

The RIAS Berlin Commission would like to draw your attention to a call for story/podcast proposals from Goethe Institut for a new podcast called THE BIG PONDER. Many RIAS Berlin Commission alumni contributed audio pieces in 2018 that were part of the successful “Deutschlandjahr in the USA” series:

In cooperation with radio stations and independent radio producers in the US and Germany the Goethe-Institut is launching a new podcast called THE BIG PONDER. The series will consist of 30 half-hour episodes in English that will be published every other week on Goethe.de, partners’ websites, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. The Goethe-Institut also teamed up with the Public Radio Exchange (PRX) to make episodes available to all radio stations for broadcast in the USA, Canada, and Germany. The project will kick off in December 2020 and run through the end of 2021. The Goethe-Institut is now accepting proposals for audio pieces that will be published in 2021 and invites RIAS alumni and members of the broader RIAS community to contribute to the series.

Producers will explore their topics through the lens of transatlantic relations: do the US and Germany share the same values? What divides us? What unites us? In these times with much uncertainty, pondering abstract ideas reveals new aspects of society and allows us to create new connotations. We suddenly reflect on once clearly-drawn social lines in new and different ways. Possible topics for THE BIG PONDER range from silence, independence, happiness, the early days of television, the South, romance, being 16, and flaneurs. The common thread that runs through the entire series is the transatlantic perspective through which these topics are viewed.

If you are interested in participating, please send an e-mail to Savannah Beck (Savannah.Beck@goethe.de) with a link to one of your radio/podcast pieces and ideas for possible topics by December 31, 2020. We will review the submissions and respond to applicants individually. Feel free to contact Savannah Beck with any questions or concerns regarding THE BIG PONDER.

Here are links to the Big Pond podcasts in 2018.