"A Space To Use Your Voice" - Podcasting Lab Opens In May
Friday, April 28th, 2023
Your voice will be able to be heard well beyond Dalton when a new podcasting lab at the Mack Gaston Community Center opens in May. The new lab, housed in the center's computer area, features professional equipment that can be used free of charge to create programming for podcasts. All that's needed is your voice and a story you want to share with the world.
A podcast is similar to a radio broadcast, but the audio program is made available in a digital format that listeners can download over the internet and listen to at their convenience. In recent years, podcasts have expanded to include live podcasts and also video podcasts. The new lab at the Mack Gaston Center includes microphones and recording equipment and also a computer that can be used to capture and edit the podcasts and then place them online.
Caption: The new podcasting lab at the Mack Gaston Community Center features professional recording equipment and new artwork by local artist Paula Gregg
"It’s exciting for me because podcasting is a movement. It’s a way that a lot of people are learning different things and people are using their voice to speak about things that they are passionate about," said Audrey Simmons, the assistant manager of the Mack Gaston Community Center. "It’s just a really cool tool to be heard. And there are a lot of people that don’t have the equipment to use to do it in a professional way, so now we have a studio where they can come at any time and it gives them the opportunity to use their voice. And it doesn’t matter where you come from or who you are, we’ve created this space for you to use your voice to be heard. That’s what’s exciting to me."
There will be an open house at the podcasting lab on the evening of May 18th. Visitors will be able to tour the new facility as well as learn how to use the new equipment to create their programs and share them with the world. The lab will be available for use, however, beginning on May 1st. The podcasting facility must be reserved in advance by contacting the community center.
The creation of the new podcast lab got its start several years ago when Amanda Triplett, then a teacher at Dalton Middle School, brought the idea to create student podcasts back with her from a journalism conference.
"It started a few years ago out of a project at Syracuse University. It was a training that I went to as an English teacher moving into journalism. I met a journalist from NPR there who told me about their student podcast challenge. She encouraged me to have some of our students at Dalton Public Schools participate in the challenge," Triplett said. "We had four podcasts that we submitted in 2020 to the NPR podcast competition and then out of thousands of entries nationwide we had one student who placed in the top ten."
The students' success in the podcasting competition eventually led to the creation of a local competition for student podcasters called Speak Up Whitfield. In its first year, Speak Up Whitfield featured four middle schools in Dalton and Whitfield County. In its second year, the program expanded to ten schools and 82 different podcasts. By last year, the competition had grown to 14 schools participating and nearly 150 podcasts in both student and also teacher/staff categories.
Caption: Navah Jordan, Zariah Roy, and Jackie Killings used the new podcasting lab to record a new program recently.
"As it has grown and more schools even outside of our community are interested in participating, a community group involved with us has started a non-profit organization called The National Podcast Project so we could help other communities start up their own, like Speak Up Chattanooga or Speak Up Atlanta or Speak Up Wherever their area is to allow students and adults to have a voice through podcasting and hopefully help different groups of people connect and understand each other better," Triplett said.
The new podcast lab has been made possible in part through the generosity of the local business community and other donors. Shaw Industries donated carpet for the new space as well as a grant for the purchase of equipment. The local 4H Club also contributed an Apple MacBook Air Pro computer for use in the lab. And local artist Paula Gregg created a painting that adorns one of the walls in the new lab with inspirational messages and images of speakers sharing their voices.
"I think having it here at the Mack Gaston Community Center is a really good idea because Mack Gaston is sort of a nucleus of Dalton," Audrey Simmons said. "You’ve got people from all walks of life here and it’s just a very diverse place and I think that’s what makes it exciting too. It’s a great space, it’s a great place to have something like this just because of the culture of Mack Gaston and who we are to this city."
The new podcasting lab is the first of its kind in our area, but it will likely not be the last. Amanda Triplett is working with donors on plans to create a second podcasting lab that would be housed at the Dalton-Whitfield Public Library to give access to people who may not have transportation across the city to the community center. And Dalton State College plans to begin a podcasting class in the fall.
"I think our area could really be known for this," Triplett said. "I don’t think anywhere else is doing what we’re doing – yet."
Use of the new podcasting lab can be reserved by contacting the Mack Gaston Community Center during business hours at 706-278-8205. The facility will be available beginning Monday, May 1st. The open house on May 18th is scheduled from 5:30 pm until 7:30 pm.
