The Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) has allocated $300,000 to 12 projects via its Podcasting Program and announced a new partnership with podcast company Acast.

The program is backed by a Google.org grant and supports the development and creation of podcasts by screen-based and audio storytellers. It was first announced last year as part of ISO’s growth strategy for digital, interactive and immersive content by Indigenous creators

Stockholm-headquartered company Acast will provide information sessions and access to services, including hosting, for the lifetime of each completed podcast, said a news release.

Four of the podcasts hail from British Columbia, three from Manitoba, three from Ontario, and one each from Alberta and Quebec.

The B.C.-based projects include Actors and Ancestors, created by Joel Montgrand (Cree), which examines industry stereotypes and celebrates Indigenous actors; and Kwu Sneqsilxw, by the kwu sneqsilxw Collective, made up of Jesse Martin, Levi Bent, Trenton Manossa-Gabriel (Okanagan), which explores what it means to be sqilx’w (Okanagan indigenous) and what the future of nsyilxcen language and culture might look like.

The Tales From The Rez Podcast, created by Colin Ahnahktsipiitaa Van Loon (Siksika/Blackfoot) and produced by Tales From The Rez Productions, and the music podcast Indigi-Demo-Itis, created by Kristi Lane Sinclair (Haida / Cree) and produced by Gaayangaay Productions, round out the B.C.-based projects. Van Loon produced Tales From The Rez as an anthology horror series for APTN lumi, which premiered on Oct. 20, 2023. The writer and director of the series, Trevor Solway, told Playback Daily the podcast will be “an alternative form of Tales From The Rez that focuses on Blackfoot ghost stories in the oral storytelling format.”

Indigi-Demo-Itis looks at the career of Indigenous musicians, right from their first demo.

Projects from Manitoba-based creators include Cynthia Murdock’s (Cree) Creepy Teepee, a 10 x 30 minute podcast which brings “folks together in the spirit of storytelling and spookiness” and also looks at traditional teachings; Truth Before Reconciliation, by Tammy Wolfe (Cree [Ininiw]); and Native Origin Stories, created by Aretha Greatrix and produced by Ready Up Productions.

The Aunties Dandelion, by Ontario-based Kahstoserakwathe Paulette Moore, (Kanyen’kehà:ka), looks at stories of land, language and relationships.

The two other projects from Ontario include Enweying Our Sound, by Monty McGahey II (Anishnaabe), which centres on an Anishinaabe household teaching Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language) to their children, and The Future is Indigenous – Matriarch Movement Season 4 by Shayla Oulette Stonechild (Cree/Métis), which focuses on themes such as matriarchy, sustainability, Indigenous fashion and Indigenous futurism.

Rounding out the list is the Quebec-based Alex au pays de Gaby, created by Kim O’Bomsawin (Abenaki) and produced by Terre Innue; and Alberta-based Ancestral Science from Kori Czuy (Métis).

The narrative educational podcast Alex au pays de Gaby is aimed at eight- to 12-year-olds and explores the perspectives of First Peoples, their languages and realities. The podcast will feature actors from the movie Jules au pays d’Asha.

Ancestral Science, meanwhile, explores the “depth of scientific knowledge within stories that humans have been gifted from the Star, Land, and Animal Ancestors for thousands of years.”

“The response to the program launch and the quality of the projects demonstrate the need and enthusiasm for this initiative,” said ISO CEO Kerry Swanson in a statement.

Image courtesy of the Indigenous Screen Office