We invite you to join us for an exuberant night of live audio storytelling that explores the city’s recent proliferation of corner smoke shops. You might have noticed this vibrant, but not-quite-legal phenomenon whose future is being thrown into question by the recent launch of NYC’s first regulated cannabis storefronts. We’ve been working with the 12 intrepid members of UnionDocs podcasting laboratory, the Pod Pod, to map the contours of what seems to be a historic hinge point for legal weed, assembling a patchwork of neighborhood testimonies to sketch an ecosystem in flux. Join us for the world premiere of five different stories, entry points that attempt understand this current moment, addressing some burning and sticky questions like:

What happens when your apartment is accidentally put on the map as a dispensary? Or what is the recommended daily dose for a member at a smoke lounge? What do the neighbors think?? And perhaps most importantly, how is that governmental promise that those harmed by the war on drugs would be the first to benefit from the budding industry actually coming along? Plus some fun games and a chance to join the conversation.

You may be asking, “Who’s the Pod Pod anyway?” In April, we invited twelve audio makers to come together in partnership with Gilded Audio, to create a supportive space to do some deep listening and creative podcasting with some support from some amazing folks from the wider audio community. This work happened alongside weekly group listening sessions, with generous and constructive feedback, BBQs, happy hours, and a roster of inspiring guests with much expertise provided by the incredible POd Mentor, Neena Pathak. Each participant is pursuing their own exciting independent podcast project. Collectively, they have researched and explored this local phenomenon for this one-time only event. on stories within this theme.

Come on out to listen to the stories they have found. We’ll have groovy vibes provided by Toronto’s own DJ Stewart Innes to keep the night moving through and some special surprises. The event will also be livestreamed for those whose interest is piqued outside NYC. You can register to stream over on our Member’s channel.

Doors open at 7:00, show starts ~7:30 with celebratory festivities and music ‘til late.

Adrian Wood creates soundscapes, videos, transmissions, and live works that emerge from sonic collisions of identity and landscape. Their works have disinterred queer histories, investigated environmental injustices, and carved out spaces for sonic intimacy. In their role as Producer with the University of Virginia’s Repair Lab, they founded the podcast Wading Between Two Titans. Their work has been exhibited internationally, including at Hundred Years Gallery (London) and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Adrian’s work centers the ear, drawing listeners in using sounds of water and wind, howls, whispers, seismic vibrations, and archival audio to explore invisible forces and histories that shape our social, ecological world.

Danni Stewart is an audio documentary maker based on Gadigal Land. Danni’s work has been featured on ABC Radio National, FBi Radio and the National Features and Documentary Series. They’re currently working on a new series with UTS Impact Studios and previously they were Production Manager of national storytelling program All The Best which features a unique blend of documentary, personal essay, poetry and fiction. Having benefited greatly from the kindness and encouragement of others, Danni is passionate about supporting emerging audio makers and is a mentor for the CMTO’s Audio Ability Program as well as a tutor in podcasting at Sydney University.

Ava Ahmadbeigi is a freelance audio producer and story editor. Most recently she produced a weekly history show called They Did That for Somethin’ Else/Sony. She’s also the story editor on season 2 of Tight Lipped. In the past, Ava’s produced for StoryCorps, Lantigua Williams & Co, Stanford University and Columbia University. In her free time, Ava produces independent pieces, which often center her experience as an Iranian immigrant. When she’s not listening to or making audio, Ava loves to host dinner parties, read a good book, and go see some art! Ava’s a graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies.

Charlotte Morlie is a writer and audio producer based in Brooklyn. She currently works as a producer for Moso Haus, and has previously worked with Campside Media and You Had Meat Black. She graduated from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Studies in 2022, whereshe designed a concentration in Journalism, Oral History and Religious Studies. Charlotte’s independent project for the Pod-Pod is a series about islands and the many roles they play in our lives and in our minds.

Jake Harper is a freelance journalist and producer in New York. At WFYI in Indianapolis, he made two seasons of the podcast Sick, which was named one of the best shows of the year by The Atlantic, and his reporting on prisons, Medicaid and addiction has appeared on NPR, Kaiser Health News, Latino USA and the Washington Post.

His Pod Pod residency project is called Apology Tour, a show about saying sorry.

Mandy Nguyen is a producer and reporter at Unexplainable, Vox’s award winning science podcast. Prior to that, she was at KQED and KTOO in Juneau, Alaska, where she fell in love with making audio stories about the environment, science, and history. When not fiddling around on a Google Doc script, you can find her foraging, dancing, or hopping on a plane. She is also the proud daughter of Vietnamese refugees.

Meral Agish is an oral historian, educator, and the community coordinator of the Queens Memory Project, a participatory archiving program and oral history collection of Queens Public Library and Queens College CUNY, where she leads training and outreach, conducts interviews, and collaborates with volunteers, colleagues, academic classes, and community partners. She hosted the second season of the Queens Memory Podcast, “The Borough We Became,” and has been on the production team for the third and upcoming fourth seasons. She previously worked as a reporter and producer at Retro Report, where her work received two News Emmy nominations. First-generation, born and raised in Queens, NY, she is now raising her own family in her home borough.

Yasaman Mansoori is a writer and audio-maker based in Toronto. She is the creator ofThatIntimate Feeling, an audio art project that airs weekly on CJRU in Toronto. She is a 2023 HotDocs Podcast Development Lab Fellow where she’ll be making a nonfiction series aboutdouble-lives calledMy Greedy Heart.Her Pod-Pod independent project is about theGolha(“Flowers”) radio programs in Iran-anodyssey through time, space, and voices almost lost to the ether

Nora Ritchie is an audio producer based in Brooklyn. She is currently an EP at Stitcher Studios where she works with shows like Vibe Check, The Sporkful, and How to Be Fine. In the past, Nora led production on the award-winning podcast Unladylike. She’s also produced the Katie Couric podcast, Fake the Nation hosted by Negin Farsad, By the Book, and American Diagnosis (previously In Sickness & In Health) hosted by Dr. Celine Gounder.

In a past life, she worked at William Morris as an agent assistant, spent years as a professional musician (she sings!) and worked as a research assistant in environmental law at Columbia University.

She got her start at the Transom Story Workshop in Woods Hole, MA and at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.

Nora is most interested in telling stories about mental health, psychology, class and criminal justice. Her downtime is dedicated to listening to therapy podcasts, taking long unplanned walks, dreaming of a cabin upstate. and sipping on coffee.

My name is Taylor Cook and I am an independent audio producer living in Brooklyn, New York. Currently, I work as an associate audio producer at Kaiser Health News on the podcasts Epidemic and American Diagnosis. My work has also appeared on the BRIC Arts Media podcast Brooklyn, USA and the Brooklyn Public Library podcast Borrowed. In 2021, I was an AIR New Voices Scholar and in 2022, I was a Renaissance Journalism Launchpad Fellow. I am particularly interested in telling stories about disability justice, queer and trans liberation, and social movement histories. In my free time, I enjoy visiting New York City’s public pools and beaches, attending comedy shows, and listening to podcasts.

Rachel Yang is an independent writer and audio producer based in Brooklyn. She’s worked as a producer on shows with Campside Media, Pushkin Industries, and NBC News, including the 2021 Peabody Award-winning series “Southlake.” Before that, she made radio at MPR and KFAI in her hometown of Minneapolis. Rachel also has a background in narrative arts programming with the Loft Literary Center and the Third Coast International Audio Festival. She loves community media, oral histories, and landlines, and she wants to hear from you.

Lyndal Rowlands is a journalist and audio maker. She reports on Australian stories for the Critical Frequency podcasts Drilled and Damages. She has been a producer for Life Matters on ABC Radio National in Australia and a reporter for the Audible podcast First Eat. Her writing can also be found in The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, SBS, Jacobin, 7am and Inter Press Service, where she was a UN correspondent. She has received a UN Correspondents Association prize for coverage of climate change and a UN Foundation press fellowship. She is a member of the Science Journalist Association of Australia, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, and the Society of Environmental Journalists. Lyndal was born in Traralgon on Gunai-Kirnai country and lives in Melbourne on the lands of the Kulin nation.