About Stance

Stance is an independent award-winning arts and culture podcast run by journalist and curator Chrystal Genesis.

“Consistently Smart”- The Financial Times

“Stance Podcast are a great source of creative sustenance“- Charlene Prempeh, British Vogue

“Razor Sharp Series” - Refinery29

Stance Won Bronze for Best Current Affairs at British Podcast Awards after The Guardian and The Economist

“It’s really adding to my cultural landscape and I’m finding out about so many interesting artists, musicians, theatre makers and authors from all around the world.” - Reni Eddo-Lodge, The Guardian

Stance Won Best Arts & Culture Show and Rising Star 2018 Mixcloud Online Radio Awards

Top 9 Arts Podcasts - The Royal Academy of Arts

“Stance relays different stories to the prevailing ones we hear repeated over and over.” - Miranda Sawyer, The Observer

Guests so far include musicians Questlove, Four Tet, Jamila Woods, Tricky, Chassol, Róisín Murphy, Amber Mark, Caribou, Ebo Taylor, Ibeyi, Kaytranada, Jessie Ware, Ghostpoet, ESG, Carroll Thompson, Sinkane, Zakir Hussain & Nao, authors Yaa Gyasi, Elif Shafak, Saidiya Hartman, Sayaka Murata, Maaza Mengiste & Valeria Luiselli, lawyer & campaigner Gina Miller, politician Bobi Wine, poets Fatimah Asghar, John Cooper Clarke, Linton Kwesi Johnson & Kae Tempest, actors Zazie Beetz, Adjoa Andoh, Desiree Akhavan, Claire Danes, CCH Pounder, Steve Buscemi, Jennifer Esposito & Riz Ahmed, Me Too founder Tarana Burke, writer and activist Janet Mock, choreographers Akram Khan, Deborah Colker, Last Yearz Interesting Negro and Hofesh Shechter, Performance Artists Scottee & Travis Alabanza, fashion designer Duro Olowu, Philosophers Kwame Anthony Appiah & Angie Hobbs, and visual artists Nari Ward, Shirin Neshat, Jasleen Kaur, Larry Achiampong, Antony Gormley, The Singh Twins, Hassan Hajjaj, JR & Juliana Huxtable.

Topics covered include The New Paris, Nightclubs: Counterculture & Resistance, Black in the Time of Corona, Sport & Revolution, Manchesters LGBTQ+ Story, Politics: Failing Upwards, The Class Ceiling in the Arts, Modern Mumbai, Sex, The Female Prison Experience, Revolutionary Mothering, The Future of Drugs, Kids In Cults, Demystifying Yoga & Donald Glover’s Atlanta. Stance loves to explore and has visited locations including Mumbai in India, Colombo in Sri Lanka, Bergen in Norway, Kingston in Jamaica, Paris in France and New York, LA, SF & Philadelphia in the US in search of original stories and fresh perspectives.

Chrystal is a host, editor and arts & culture consultant from London now living in New York City. She runs and hosts Stance and has presented on BBC Podcast Radio Hour & BBC Front Row. She works as a Director for Narrative Partnerships & Production at Lemonada Media. Formally working at Sony Podcasts, HuffPost and at BBC crafting multi-platform arts, news and current affairs content for shows on Radio 4, as well as BBC London, 6 Music, BBC 1, The World Affairs Unit, The Political Unit and BBC World in London and Washington DC.

She previously worked curating and running the youth department for young people aged 15-30 at Southbank Centre, the UK's largest arts centre, and executive produced its youth podcast Violet Nights. Previously Chrystal worked in curation for the organisation’s Performance, Dance, Podcast & Comedy, and Contemporary Music teams.

Stance Studios offers content creation and creative, strategic consultancy across the arts, education and media sectors. We provide quality insight and content for brands and charities and curate and chair talks, training courses, and performance programmes. Clients include; BBC, The British Film Institute, Lambeth Council, Clarks, Tate, Adidas, National Theatre, Lambeth Council, Columbia Sportswear, A New Direction, Somerset House, The European Cultural Foundation, and University of the Arts London. More information here.

Stance Podcast is a Tate Exchange Associate, regularly contributing to wide-ranging and forward-thinking programming, delivering cultural events at Tate Modern.

Stance is produced by Chrystal Genesis, Saskia Sewell & Zara Martin. Music by Rikette Genesis, Stance branding by Edward Vince, website design by Sky Williams and photography by Grace Gelder.

Stance Podcast was launched in January 2017 with San Francisco-based host Heta Fell.