‘Downtown DNA,’ a new podcast celebrating the vibrant urban community of downtown Los Angeles, launches its first season
Seven DTLA influentials discuss how DTLA has helped to shape their diverse backgrounds in the arts, community activism, design, education and entertainment
LOS ANGELES | August 27, 2020 – The vibrancy of one of America’s most culturally and ethnically diverse communities – downtown Los Angeles (aka DTLA) – is captured in a new podcast, “Downtown DNA,” which officially launched this week. The podcast is a program of DTLA Film Festival, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization celebrating multi-cultural diversity.
“DTLA is such an incredibly creative community that we wanted to provide our audiences a snapshot of what makes it unique,” said DTLA Film Festival programming director Karolyne Sosa. “While we’re an organization primarily dedicated to showcasing diverse talent through film and the digital medium, the opportunity to hear from the DTLA community in the intimate setting of a podcast seemed to be the right format for us.”
The first season line-up offers interviews with:
- Colleen Williams Alleyne– chief education office, Inner City Arts
- Zach Brooks – general manager, Smorgasburg LA
- Patty Delgado – founder and designer of fashion brand Hija de tu Madre
- Akusa Hisa – director of learning and engagement, Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles
- Melody C. Miller – film director, “California’s Forgotten Children”
- Dan Naiman – vice president of external affairs, Para Los Ninos
- Brigham Yen – real estate professional and host of popular blog DTLA Rising
“The neighborhoods of DTLA are the most racially diverse in the country! Traditionally home to a significant population of ethnic diversities and immigrants. At the same time the last decade has defined DTLA at the forefront of Los Angeles’ bold cultural movement. It’s a historic time in the community’s history and we strive to capture that creative & innovative energy in our podcast,” says Angela McCrae, a producer and one of the hosts of Downtown DNA.
DTLA Film Festival was established in 2008. The 12th annual edition of the festival, scheduled for October, was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the festival has focused its energy and resources on an international screenplay contest in which the winning entry will receive a virtual live table read later this year. (More: https://filmfreeway.com/DTLAFF)
“As a concentrated urban area, DTLA has been hit hard by the pandemic. Restaurants, lounges, cafes, galleries, museums, creative retail – the very fabric of this creative community – have been shuttered for the last six months. However, we have no doubt that DTLA will reemerge soon again as the nexus of the Creative Capital of the World, and when it does we’ll be there to capture its imaginative spirit,” says DTLA Film Festival director Greg Ptacek.
“Downtown DNA” is hosted by Angela McCrae, Greg Ptacek and Karolyne Sosa, who along with Simon Minton, also produce the podcast.
Listen to the first season of “Downtown DNA” wherever you get our podcasts, including:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/downtown-dna/id1511587143
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/downtown-dna-downtown-los-angeles–WE4FBqxm6X/
https://open.spotify.com/show/6tjFDFfhDFK2gCNCpZHTUX
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About DTLA Film Festival
Founded in 2008 as a nonprofit (501)(c)(3) arts organization, DTLA Film Festival is dedicated to showcasing films by and about groups underrepresented by Hollywood in the historic center of the Creative Capital of the World. The festival also strives to reflect in its programming the unique cultural and ethnic diversity of the neighborhoods of downtown Los Angeles and its surrounding communities.
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Press Contact:
Greg Ptacek
greg@dtlaff.com
323-841-8002 | mobile