Reaching a diverse and historically underrepresented group with voices in front of and behind the cameras and microphones is an important goal for 21st century media. Training these voices remains an important goal for academia. A new initiative backed by the Spotify Creator Equity Fund called NextGen has partnered with Spellman University as his first HBCU to offer programming to students this semester to improve their skills in podcasting technology.
The program was created in collaboration with the Spellman faculty, including Dr. Michelle Haidt, and Spotify’s SoundUp team. Dr. Haidt is also the director of Spellman’s honors program. In this interview, City Lights host Lois Reitzes discusses the partnership between Heidt, Spellman and Spotify.
“One of the things I had to do was make sure students understood that, unlike other social media platforms, this platform isn’t tied to visuals,” Haidt said.
Learn more about the Spotify NextGen partnership with Spelman College here.