Dedicated to highlighting podcasters and "the imaginative power of storytelling," it's a place where listeners can immerse themselves in stories, conversations and live recordings of popular artists.
What started out three years ago, on a single stage featuring only local podcasters, now spans across three different stages, showcasing 20 podcasters from across the country.
Podfort 2024 takes place at three locations including The Balcony, the Boise Centre and the Egyptian Theatre.
Alisha Graefe has been a part of the Treefort team for a decade and helped create Podfort when she realized something was missing from the festival. Now, as its director, she expects this year's Podfort to surpass all previous ones.
“It’s a really great fort to add some diversity and more talent because we usually think of Treefort as being a music-specific festival,” said Graefe. “I think this is our biggest year yet and it's definitely the most performers we’ve had so far.”
One podcast to note
The stories on Alexandra Rivera's podcast, “United Statesless,” focus on “what happens when immigrants go home.”
Originally a TV producer in New York, Rivera was passion-driven and took up the podcast independently. In a phone interview with Boise Weekly, Rivera, who has a Mexican-American background, shared her motivations in starting the podcast.
“I grew up in an area where there were a lot of people who were recent immigrants and refugees from Central America," she said, "and I felt like everyone was much more Latin than I was and we didn’t share similar experiences."
It was something she did not know much about but felt deeply connected to the immigrants' stories. "I was surprised by the similarities in identity struggles,” Rivera said.
Rivera’s primary motivation for launching the podcast was to foster connection with those in similar situations and to help them relate to one other through media. She also wanted to bring awareness to the reality and complexity of immigration identity issues.
Check out “United Statesless” live at Podfort or online at any podcast streaming service.
Podcasts for all
Graefe said there are podcasts on a variety of topics this year, including "music, food, drag queens and comedy."
Podfort runs Wednesday, March 20 to Saturday, March 23 and is open to all ages; tickets for exclusive shows start at $15: treefortmusicfest.com.
Want to check out Podfort without paying the price? Podfort has over 20 free events. Check out the full lineup and schedule at treefortmusicfest.com or download the app on the App Store.
