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The latest Trinbagonian culture podcast is T&T Unpacked, produced and hosted by Rochelle Amour and Justin Collymore. The pair started the podcast in July 2016.

Collymore said the original idea was to do fake prank calls or skits, but Amour suggested doing a regular talk-show format.

She said “we decided to narrow it down to local culture because we thought it would be universal. There are so many Trinis and Caribbean people around the world who want to stay in touch with what’s happening at home, they want something they can relate to. We wanted to do something where you could have a conversation about an event or the local Film Festival or whatever, and draw in people.”

Collymore said “we felt cultural issues in T&T only get a limited amount of attention and there isn’t an insight into them for the general public. I just feel like the things that people are aware of in Trinidad are very limited. Anybody could tell you what party is going on or where to go and buy a hotdog, but not much else about the culture. Nowadays everything is very quick, very shallow, and a lot of entertainment is just to distract you, but not to really to give you any real value, apart from a quick laugh. It’s definitely challenging using podcasts as the medium, because it’s so long and it’s an investment of time but I think that if people actually tune in, they’ll realize that this is actually adding value to my life.”
Amour agreed, saying that people don’t know enough about their culturally rich country. “And people are either too afraid or too lazy or too busy to ask these questions, so podcasts are this medium where you can basically ask and talk about whatever you want on the topic. We try to get people who are reliable and then we spend a lot of time scripting and editing, making sure that we ask good questions. It’s a process that requires a lot of work and thought but the outcome is something so relaxed and enjoyable that it’s entertainment at the end of the day, and I think that’s the key. It’s entertaining enough to keep people interested but also very educational, people get insight when they listen to it and from the feedback we’ve gotten, they understand things better. We’ve been on iTunes for a while and people are listening. Many of our listeners are from the UK, New York, Toronto, as well as T&T, so I like that it’s accessible for people all around the world.”
Amour said her experience representing T&T at the Edinburgh Arts Festival in August this year also expanded her appreciation of the culture of T&T and how it relates to the world. She was given a bursary as a non-performing artist by international organizations ACPCultures+, World Cultures Connect and Visiting Arts, who ran workshops, webinars and a year-long mentoring program for 18 to 20 Arts organizations in T&T beginning in October 2015 in association with the T&T Division of Culture. The Division agreed to fund Amour’s airfare in return for which she wrote daily blog posts, gave a full report and acted as an on-the-ground correspondent during her time there.
“The training was amazing and I made many great connections. Even though I didn’t think I would have much of a place as a writer, the opposite happened, because the performing artists reached out to me for my perspective and to tell their stories. Writers are needed because someone needs to tell the performer’s story, because if they don’t, no-one knows they’re there.”
Amour also represented T&T and the Culture Division on a panel at the Visiting Arts International Producers Breakfast, a huge event that brings together all the producers, directors, festival buyers, practitioners and administrative people that attend the Festival.
“The question was “Why do small countries like T&T need to do international work and collaboration?” and I spoke about the fact that there are so many different Carnivals internationally, Berlin, Miami, Amsterdam, LA, Toronto, London, but T&T traditional mas characters, for example, are not represented. There’s much more we could do as a country to promote ourselves and to really educate people about our culture if we were more a part of Carnivals like that, and I said that’s why we need international collaboration, because that’s happening and we’re not a part of it, and that can take any direction and any form and people are not going to know what real Carnival is about.”
Amour said “There was no way that I could not have benefited from that experience. I honestly wish that everyone who did the workshop could have gone, because I can see a place for every single person. I think just the way that they work, communicate, constantly network and support each other and take advantage of each others skills and use that to make something new, I don’t think we’re there yet.”
For more on the T&T Unpacked podcast, go to unpackedmedia.com, find T&T Unpacked on Facebook and iTunes or email info@unpackedmedia.com.