NPR and Futuro Studios Partner on Upcoming Dual-Language Podcast

Washington, D.C. and New York, NY (August 24, 2022) — NPR and Futuro Studios are proud to announce an upcoming collaboration on a new, dual language podcast hosted by NPR’s Jasmine Garsd. The show, which will use soccer to explore themes of identity, capitalism, immigration, class, and race, will launch later this fall, in anticipation of the FIFA World Cup. Episodes will be published in both English and Spanish.

^{NPR National Correspondent Jasmine Garsd in Brooklyn, NY. (Photo credit: Alana Casanova-Burgess/Courtesy of Jasmine Garsd)}

This production partnership brings together two organizations transforming the podcast industry. NPR is one of the top podcast publishers per the Podtrac ranking, with 5 shows in the top 20 Podtrac list, and Futuro Studios, the original creative division of Futuro Media, has produced breakout series including Pulitzer Award-winning Suave, Anything for Selena, with WBUR, La Brega, with WNYC, and LOUD: A History of Reggaeton, with Spotify.

Jasmine Garsd has worked across desks at NPR and in some of public radio’s most prestigious shows like PRI’s The World, where she was the lead reporter for a global initiative documenting women’s lives and in APM’s Marketplace. Throughout her career she has covered a range of critical issues, including immigration, poverty and race; currently she is a criminal justice correspondent for the NPR National desk based in NYC. Along with Felix Contreras, she was a founding host of the Alt.Latino podcast in 2010. She is as passionate about soccer as she is about Latin music.

“Jasmine is one of the industry’s best-kept secrets. She’s a brilliant, funny, whip-smart writer and reporter who is going to blow audiences away,” says Marlon Bishop, VP for Podcasts at Futuro Studios as well as a writer/producer on The Last Cup. “Futuro is a leader in the podcast space and brings the sensibility to support her, as well as expertise in dual-language productions. NPR is still the gold standard in audio journalism. The show that’s coming together out of this collaboration is exciting, informative, heartfelt and often hilarious.”

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Futuro Studios, whose award-winning podcasts we’ve long admired, on this significant project,” said Yolanda Sangweni, Vice President of Programming and New Content Development. “The Last Cup represents exactly what we hope to bring listeners: distinctive, nuanced storytelling from diverse creators.”

“Soccer unites the Latin American diaspora far and wide, making the World Cup the perfect subject for our first dual language podcast,” said Lauren Gonzalez, Senior Manager of Content Development. “Working closely with Futuro, we have assembled a dream team of journalists who share in the lived experience and the fandom. I’m eager for listeners to hear what we’ve come up with.”

“The Last Cup has all of the ingredients we look for and love in a podcast: a dynamic host with a fresh, relatable connection to the story she’s telling, a gripping narrative and the ability to tell us something profound about society,” said Maria Garcia, Executive Editor at Futuro Studios. “This isn’t a podcast just about soccer. This is a podcast about a universal longing for home.

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About NPR

NPR’s rigorous reporting and unsurpassed storytelling that connects with millions of Americans every day —on the air, online, and in-person. NPR strives to create a more informed public— one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas, and cultures. With a nationwide network of award-winning journalists and 17 international bureaus, NPR and its Member Stations are never far from where a story is unfolding. Listeners can find NPR by tuning in to their local Member stations (npr.org/stations), and now it’s easy to listen to our stories on smart speaker devices. Ask your smart speaker to, “Play NPR,” and you’ll be tuned into your local Member station’s live stream. Your speaker can also access NPR podcasts, NPR One, NPR News Now, and the Visual Newscast is available for screened speakers. Get more information at npr.org/about and by following NPR Extra on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About Futuro Studios

Futuro Studios is the podcast and original programming division of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Futuro Media Group, an independent nonprofit organization producing multimedia journalism that explores and gives a critical voice to the diversity of the American experience. Based in Harlem and founded in 2010 by award-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa, Futuro Media is committed to telling stories often overlooked by mainstream media. Since 2019, Futuro Studios has developed a slate of critically acclaimed podcast series, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Suave with PRX, La Brega with WNYC Studios, Anything For Selena with WBUR, Norco 80 for LAist Studios, LOUD: The History of Reggaeton with Spotify Studios, The Battle of 187, a co-production with the Los Angeles Times, Radical Imagination hosted by Angela Glover Backwell in partnership with PolicyLink, and Con Todo: Brown Love in collaboration with Netflix. Futuro Media also produces the Peabody Award-winning show Latino USA, the In The Thick political podcast, the pioneering digital news outlet Latino Rebels and Hinojosa’s newest investigative journalism and special projects unit. More at futurostudios.org.