LISTEN: A Seat at the Table Podcast
What happens when you gather family for food and fellowship?
In Charlotte, you get “A Seat At The Table,” a limited podcast series with a very definite sense of place from organizer Hannah Hasan, a poet and storyteller.
The six-episode series centers around one Black family in Charlotte — the community in which they have lived and worked for generations, how it has evolved, and the direction it is headed as the city experiences rapid changes and growth.
Recorded during a gathering over a meal prepared by Diedre Blake, the podcast features conversations with Charlotte artists, leaders, and visionaries, including local creative Mia Love Live (Mia McClure), who has traced her family back five generations in the Queen City in the Derita and Wilmore neighborhoods, among others.
“This series embraces the connecting power of stories and how they shape both our understanding of the past as well as our goals for the future,” organizer Hasan says.
Producer Colin J. Harden — also a native Charlottean — narrates the series, helping listeners navigate between life in Charlotte and pop culture audio references such as the late-1990s film “Soul Food.”
Among the topics covered during that dinner and the subsequent podcast: school/education; places and landmarks that are no more; being Black in Charlotte; what family is and means; hope for the future; and faith and traditions.
Photo Credit: Dionna Bright Photography
This project was made possible, in part, with funding from ASC and the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural & Cultural Resources, and is supported by Arts+.
