'Selma' Director Ava DuVernay Strikes A Podcast Partnership With Spotify
Ava DuVernay directed the powerful drama about the famed march led by Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, the eye-opening documentary 13th about the history of racial inequality in our prison system, and the harrowing story of five teens from Harlem falsely accused of a brutal attack in When They See Us. The filmmaker is also making huge waves in building diversity behind the camera through her her nonprofit company ARRAY Alliance. Now she's expanding into the world of audio storytelling with a new podcast partnership at Spotify.
Spotify has announced a multi-year partnership with Ava DuVernay that will see the Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning filmmaker producing exclusive scripted and unscripted original audio programming through her multi-platform arts and social impact collective ARRAY.
Though there aren't any specific projects mentioned along with the announcement of the podcast partnership, DuVernay expressed her general excitement about a new outlet to amplify a variety of voices in storytelling. The filmmaker said:
"Recognizing the undeniable power of voice and sound, I'm thrilled to extend ARRAY's storytelling into the realm of podcasts. he opportunity to work with Lydia Polgreen and her passionate team drew us to Spotify as a home for our audio narratives and we couldn't be more excited to begin this new creative journey."
Spotify touted their massive audience of 144 million Premium subscribers and more than 320 million monthly active users around the world to illustrate just how far DuVernay's reach can be through podcasts. They basically patted themselves on the back, but that's understandable when you start working with such a forward-thinking, socially conscious, and gifted storyteller like Ava DuVernay. Spotify Chief Content and Advertising Business Officer, Dawn Ostroff added in the press release:
"Spotify's partnership with ARRAY continues our commitment to bringing the world's most powerful and creative voices into podcasting. We look forward to Spotify listeners hearing from the exceptional creators that ARRAY will be bringing to our global platform."
Hopefully we'll be hearing more about the audio programming Ava DuVernay will be working on sooner than later. But the good news is that all of the podcasts available on Spotify are free, including those that will come from this exclusive deal.
Don't forget, Spotify also has upcoming titles from DC Comics in the works, such as Batman: Unburied, written and executive produced by Batman Begins and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice scribe David S. Goyer. You can see everything else they offer in the podcast arena right here.