The Third Coast International Audio Festival (TCF) was created by Chicago Public Radio in 2000 to support producers and other artists creating audio documentary, to feature work of all styles, and to bring this fresh and vital work to audiences throughout the world. The TCF includes seven separate, yet complementary, elements that take place throughout the year: an annual conference, competition, national broadcast of the winners, and public audio challenge; a weekly radio program (Re:sound) heard on WBEZ in Chicago; a web site featuring a new documentary twice a month; and a series of public events and workshops in Chicago and throughout the country.

Third Coast Festival Executive Director Johanna Zorn has worked for Chicago Public Radio for nearly three decades, beginning fresh out of college as an intern. She has produced and directed numerous programs and spent 10 years as the executive producer of CPR's acclaimed public affairs series Chicago Matters. Zorn realized the need for a festival that supported the field of documentary audio during those years. She and colleague Julie Shapiro founded the Third Coast International Audio Festival in 2000 and have led it since then.

Third Coast Festival Managing Director Julie Shapiro has been with the festival since its inaugural year. Before moving to Chicago, she worked at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and produced Storylines Southeast, a public radio series about literature from that region. Shapiro makes audio art for public presentation and can occasionally be heard on the public radio airwaves.

Want to get even more involved? Check out these opportunities:

Tell Us A Story Contest
Deadline: Thu, Feb 12
digitalunion.osu.edu/contest
Have something to say? Pull out your videocameras, crank up your audio recorders, and create a 2-minute piece for the Digital Union's Tell Us A Story contest. Open to faculty, staff, students, kids, community members, seniors, out-of-towners, and more--this is your opportunity to create a short and snappy piece about anything you'd like. Each submitted project must:
1. Be less than 2 minutes long
2. Include the sound of water
3. Include the phrase, "In the last 4 years I never"
No experience or equipment necessary. Stop by the Digital Union to learn how you can check out video and audio recorders for this project. Winning pieces will be aired online and at the Wexner Center for the Arts on February 18. All pieces must be submitted to the Digital Union by 5 PM on Thursday, February 12. E-mail digitalunion@osu.edu with questions.

Audio Documentary Workshop
with Third Coast International Audio Festival
Thu, Feb 19 | 9-11:30 AM
Digital Union, Science & Engineering Library, 3rd Fl

Interested in playing your audio work for a small group of sympathetic yet discriminating fellow producers? Would you like to hone your critical listening skills in a group context? Here's a chance to do both. Third Coast Audio Festival directors Johanna Zorn and Julie Shapiro lead the way as a group of 10 audio producers (amateurs welcome!) listen to each other's work and get feedback from the experts. Participants may bring completed audio projects, drafts of work in progress, or share ideas for a future piece.