Chapel St: Jam Factory to host inaugural Melbourne Podcast Festival

A string of stars are set to jump on the mic and give one of Melbourne’s biggest shopping strips a shot of life in a brand new festival. Here are the details.

Mushroom Group’s Matt Gudinski with podcast host Meshel Laurie and Melbourne Podcast Festival curator Courtney Carthy at the Village Theatre at the Jam Factory. Picture: Tony Gough

A new festival is set to bring big name podcasters to an ailing landmark on one of Melbourne’s most famous shopping strips.

The inaugural Melbourne Podcast Festival will be held at the Jam Factory’s Village Cinemas on Chapel St from July 30 to August 1, and is being promoted by new Mushroom Group and Frontier Touring boss Matt Gudinski.

The three-day festival will allow fans to attend live recordings of more than 25 podcasts on news, true crime, comedy, sport and other genres.

The line-up includes The Chaser, reality star Abbie Chatfield, comedians Dave O’Neil, Glenn Robbins and Kitty Flannigan, Andrew Denton and Ruby Jones.

The Chaser will record a live podcast as part of the inaugural Melbourne Podcast Festival in July and August. Picture: Supplied.

The festival is one of Gudinski’s first big initiatives since he took over from his father and industry legend Michael, who died in March.

“We’re thrilled to be launching a new annual event from the Mushroom family showcasing some amazing podcasters,” he said.

“We believe this festival will become a mainstay in the Melbourne events calendar moving forward.”

The festival’s creative director, Courtney Carthy, said the festival was designed to “weave podcasting into the fabric of the local live event landscape”.

“Live podcasts have been huge in the UK and North America for some time now, but are still emerging in Australia,” he said.

“We’re looking forward to kicking off next month, and hope Melburnians enjoy the opportunity to watch some of their favourite podcasts come to life on stage.”

The Jam Factory has been likened to a ghost town in recent times as it awaits a grand $1.4 billion overhaul by owners Newmark Capital.

Chapel Street Precinct general manager Chrissie Maus said the precinct was excited about the potential of the exclusive event and the flow-on benefits to strip traders.

“Chapel Street has always been proudly progressive and this festival is the perfect fit for our innovative and entrepreneurial community,” she said.