Youth Corps Experience the Live Taping of For Colored Nerds
By Angela, Phase II
Youth Corps works on a final project every semester, and this summer we are creating podcasts! In 1937, an experimental radio play was broadcast nationally from the Armory called “The Fall of the City”, starring Orson Welles. We are using this radio play as inspiration to explore how sound is an art form that can evoke emotion and allow for multiple interpretations – in a modern way, by creating podcasts.
Because of that, we have been listening to a lot of podcasts lately, and one of our assignments was to listen to For Colored Nerds. FCN is a podcast hosted by two best friends, Eric and Brittany, where they talk about “the uncool topic of their choice” while also “testing their outer limits of their friendship” (as they say on their website).
As part of our research, we also went to see a live taping of FCN in July. Seeing a podcast live for the first time was really exciting and intriguing, especially since the hosts talked about everything from social issues all the way to the humorous and beautiful parts of life. You can listen to the taping we went to see in this episode of FCN.
Listening to their podcast first, and then actually seeing them on stage, was a completely different experience. I personally do not like listening to podcasts mainly because I have trouble focusing to voices in my headphones, but when I saw FCN live, I loved every minute of it. Half of the summer Youth Corps went, and it all made sense once we saw Brittany and Eric’s personalities shine on stage.
I asked a few of the Youth Corps who went to see FCN live: “What is one word you would use to describe the live podcast of FCN and why?”
Amadou (Phase II): “Outgoing, because I felt their personalities. We were able to see their personalities shine, and it didn’t feel like they were faking it.”
Logan (Phase II): “Eye-opening, because it exposed me to a new area of art, which is black art. I hadn’t thought about the impact it has had before we went to the taping.”
Saran (Phase I): “Relatable. There were two women in the taping, the host, Brittany, and a guest, Ashley Ford, and one of them had natural hair. They talked about movies that had an impact on them, and hearing their views of those movies, I definitely gained a lot more knowledge because of their point of view.”
Keshawn (Phase II): “Comforting. It’s good to see the black community come together and have a conversation about recent events happening in society.”
We all had different words to describe this experience, but in the end, it connects back to how FCN is a work of art. Everyone has different interpretations of art in general, but as long as you leave with a feeling, the artists did something right.
We are very excited that, after some Twitter conversations, we will get to meet Brittany and Eric later this month when they visit us here at the Armory! We will be sure to write about the experience here!
