Podcast Documenting the COVID-19 Epidemic / Shutdown in NYC

We are pleased to announce that the Seedtime Fund and Lauren Cramer have awarded The Gotham Center funding to create a podcast documenting the experience of New York City in the COVID-19 epidemic and shutdown.

The program will be a sister to “The Big Shut-In: Stories from Quarantine,” a weekly storytelling podcast that has been documenting the personal experience of the crisis, introduced by Racecar Radio on March 16th. Unlike its brother, which takes a national scope, this companion series will focus exclusively on New York, the city hit worst by the pandemic. Specifically, it will look at the experience of individuals and families within the public university system (“CUNY”), as perhaps New York City’s most representative institution — with over 250,000 students, faculty, and staff at twenty-five campuses spread across the five boroughs, hailing from every walk of life, teaching every imaginable discipline and profession, and providing enormous administrative support. Extra focus will be given to communities whose preexisting vulnerabilities have made this outbreak and depression an unprecedented calamity.

In addition to producer David Hoffman and CitizenRacecar, the team behind Racecar Radio, The Gotham Center will be partnering with other CUNY institutions to gather stories, and has recruited Char Adams, the Digital Editor of SUM, as the project’s co-producer. A seasoned writer, reporter, and editor whose journalism has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Vox, Vice, Mic, OprahMag, Zora, Entertainment Weekly, Health Magazine, and Uproxx, Ms. Adams is an expert in personal interview and storytelling.

For more information, write to: GothamCenter@GC.CUNY.EDU