New season = new opportunities for MI!

Tân'si nitôtêmak! After a summer of semi-silence—not counting our seasonal collection of compilations—we’re admittedly off to a bit of a late start on all-new MEDIA INDIGENA episodes, but, in my defense, I did just recover from COVID-19! (Yes, after somehow evading it for much of the pandemic, I finally succumbed.)

Now sufficiently rested and recovered, I wanted to quickly fill you in on where we hope to go over these next 8 months. Mindful of the central theme of my last MI update—overwork and burnout—I'm optimistic our revised array of content not only sets up a better work/life balance on the production side—baking in some more room for joy and fun to boot—it also facilitates deeper engagement with + between our supporters. Here’s a quick sketch of what that all will look and sound like. 

Still outputting three episodes every month, our mix of content will change for 2022/23 as follows: 

• as before, most months will lead off with one of our familiar deep dive episodes, conversations with regular MI roundtablers and/or special guests;
  
• our second monthly episode tries something new for this season, live, talkback-style episodes, where patrons at/above the USD $10/month level have the opportunity to follow up directly with those deep divers;
  
• and rounding out the month, our third episode will be one of two (possibly alternating) show formats: either a MINI INDIGENA rapid roundtable, or, new for 2022/23, a loose and lively games-based episode! (details to follow on the latter)

But the experimentation won’t stop there: for those latter two episodes—which draw on varying degrees of audience participation—the plan is to record them from right inside our new, patron-only Discord, the group text/voice/video chat app we’ve adapted to foster greater connection amongst our supporters.

Also in the works, opportunities to connect and communicate via Twitter's ever-growing capacities in live audio (i.e. Spaces) and interconnection (i.e. Communities). If you don't already, be sure to follow us there @mediaINDIGENA.

That's the super-lean version of what's to come this season, changes we think will bolster creator/supporter interaction while ensuring content is created at a pace that’s both manageable day-to-day and sustainable long-term. 

And while it was initially my thinking to survey patrons about all the changes at MI over the past year or so, it dawned on me: wouldn’t such feedback best happen inside our brand-spanking-new Discord? We eagerly await your thoughts.

Rick

P.S.: Unsure how to connect your Patreon account to Discord? This guide should help walk you through that.