Hear Now Festival

The HEAR Now Festival is the audio equivalent of a film festival for contemporary audio story-telling in all its forms: live and scripted solo performances, multi-voiced, classic radio drama, experimental narrative, and much more. This four-day Festival will offer a multi-faceted program showcasing the many forms of audio fiction and sound art storytelling in theaters and other “listening” venues. The Festival will present audio fiction programs that exemplify traditions of craftsmanship, as well as aesthetic and technological innovation. 

Each June the HEAR Now Festival is a gathering place where the work of master storytellers is celebrated and shared. In addition, the Festival exposes its audiences to recent developments in audio preservation by showcasing newly restored and archived award-winning audio dramas. The Festival offers live and recorded programming at local theaters and other venues in Kansas City. HEAR Now also presents moderated discussions and panels for conversations and the exchange of new ideas. HEAR Now is an immersive experience in all aspects of the art and craft of audio fiction and sound art story-telling.

Audio drama, audiobooks, recorded, and live story-telling -- sketches, poetry, spoken word -- alongside academic papers, juried competitions, and presentations on the physics of sound, as well as performance workshops, will round out this intensive listening event for the Hear Now Festival. 

Click here for more information.

Hear Talk Livestreams

Hear Talk is a pretty much monthly series of live, 90-minute, Zoom events that engages leading audio artists, from emerging artists to long-established talents, working in audiobooks, audio fiction, and various forms of audio art in probing discussions of their artistic vision and works. Hear Talk explores the history that formed the artist’s vision, the projects that developed it, and some of the basic tenets of the artist’s approach.

Hear Talk is hosted by Lia Hagen, a student of digital storytelling at New York University, and produced by Larry the O, Executive Director of NATF. Discussion between Hagen and her guests is supplemented by audience questions, and often followed by socially interactive activities that foster community amongst all those who attend.

NOW ONLINE
THE NINTH ANNUAL
Hear Now Audio Fiction
and Arts Festival
June 24-27, 2021