Introducing Elevate for Podcasters With Support from Spotify

Image Description: The Spotify and Inevitable Foundation logos in black text against a blue background.

Today Inevitable Foundation is pleased to announce our newest partnership, Elevate for Podcasters. The program empowers disabled podcasters with $10,000 grants—which can be used for professional development, equipment, living expenses, accommodations, marketing and IP acquisition— as well as mentorship and community building opportunities. Elevate for Podcasters, the first program ever created to amplify the voices and advance the careers of disabled fiction podcasters, is launching with support from Spotify.

"Podcasting is one of the rare creative mediums that is easier to break into and allows for more self-sufficiency, which is one of the reasons some disabled people have found initial success in the industry. But despite disabled people making up over 15% of the global population, no programs exist to help disabled podcasters turn initial success into thriving careers,” said co-founders Richie Siegel and Marisa Torelli-Pedevska in a joint statement. “We are thrilled to partner with Spotify to launch Elevate for Podcasters and help support the next wave of leading disabled fiction podcasters.”  

“At Spotify, we’re constantly looking for ways to amplify diverse and underestimated voices through the power of audio,” said Dina Gabriel, Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at Spotify. “This partnership with the Inevitable Foundation offers a unique opportunity for us to utilize our platform to create pathways for disabled creators and provide them with tools and resources that will help them hone their craft and build their professional careers.” 

The program is also focused on making the podcasting industry more accessible for listeners and creators alike. Elevate for Podcasting Award recipients will be able to use their grants to improve the accessibility of both their shows and production processes, ensuring that their work can be enjoyed by disabled people around the globe.

Applications for Elevate for Podcasters are now open and professional disabled podcasters can learn more about the program and apply at https://inevitable.foundation/podcasters. The first round of recipients will be named in Spring 2023.  

Disabled people make up 15%+ of the global population but represent less than 1% of the workforce in the creative industries. The access, relationship and opportunity barriers holding the community back—for example, it’s 2x more likely for a disabled person to be unemployed and live in poverty—need to be broken down. Through Elevate Collective and our other artist development programs, Inevitable Foundation is helping disabled creatives unleash their full commercial and creative potential.