CHANGING THE NARRATIVE

Spotify and Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY Partner to Produce Scripted and Unscripted Podcasts

January 21, 2021

Award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay is best known for hard-hitting biopic, documentary, and fiction movies and TV series like Selma, 13th, and Queen Sugar. Starting today, DuVernay will also be bringing important stories to a different format—audio—in a new, multiyear partnership with Spotify. Together, Spotify and DuVernay will produce exclusive scripted and unscripted original audio programming through ARRAY, DuVernay’s multiplatform arts and social impact collective dedicated to narrative change.

“Recognizing the undeniable power of voice and sound, I’m thrilled to extend ARRAY’s storytelling into the realm of podcasts,” shared DuVernay. “The opportunity to work with Lydia Polgreen and her passionate team drew us to Spotify as a home for our audio narratives, and we couldn’t be more excited to begin this new creative journey.”

Under the exclusive partnership, ARRAY will bring new stories to Spotify’s global 144 million Premium subscribers and more than 320 million monthly active users around the world, amplifying a variety of voices and perspectives through podcasting. 

“Spotify’s partnership with ARRAY continues our commitment to bringing the world’s most powerful and creative voices into podcasting,” says Spotify Chief Content and Advertising Business Officer Dawn Ostroff. “Ava DuVernay and her team at ARRAY will offer a singular perspective on audio storytelling. We look forward to Spotify listeners hearing from the exceptional creators that she will be elevating by leveraging our global platform.”

ARRAY will partner with Spotify’s Gimlet studio on a number of scripted and unscripted narrative podcasts overseen by ARRAY Filmworks President Sarah Bremner.  

“Ava DuVernay and her team at ARRAY are at the forefront of telling powerful stories about the most pressing issues of our time,” says Lydia Polgreen, Managing Director of Gimlet. “We’re so excited to bring their passion for lifting up forgotten and neglected voices to life in audio.” 

Stay tuned for the upcoming exclusive ARRAY-Spotify podcast titles, which will be available for free on Spotify.