Ear Hustle: Creating Community Beyond Bars

Earlonne Woods was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. In 1997, he was sentenced to 31-years-to-life in prison. While incarcerated, he received his GED, attended Coastline Community College and completed many vocational trade programs. In November 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown commuted Earlonne’s sentence after 21 years of incarceration. Upon his release, Earlonne was hired by PRX as a full-time producer for Ear Hustle, and he continues to work on the show, contributing stories about re-entry.

Nigel Poor is a visual artist whose work explores the various ways people make a mark and leave behind evidence of their existence. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and can be found in various museum collections including the SFMOMA, the M.H. deYoung Museum, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. She is also a professor of photography at California State University, Sacramento. In 2011, Nigel got involved with San Quentin State Prison as a volunteer teacher for the Prison University Project.

Julie Shapiro (@jatomic) is the executive producer of Radiotopia from PRX – a curated network of extraordinary, story-driven podcasts. She is also the executive producer of Ear Hustle. From 2014–15, Julie was the executive producer of the ABC / Radio National's (RN) Creative Audio Unit. In 2000 she co-founded the Third Coast International Audio Festival, where as artistic director she shaped the Festival's creative trajectory and nurtured a robust international listening culture. Julie has taught radio to university students, presented at conferences all over the globe, and produced stories for the airwaves in the US and beyond.

Santilla Chingaipe's work explores migration, cultural identities and politics. She spent nearly a decade working for SBS World News which saw her report from across Africa and interview some of the continents most prominent leaders.

Chingaipe is a regular contributor to The Saturday Paper, and serves as a member of the Federal Government’s Advisory Group on Australia-Africa Relations (AGAAR). The recipient of a number of awards, she was recognised at the United Nations as one of the most influential people of African descent in the world in 2019. Her first book of non-fiction detailing the untold stories of convicts of African descent transported to the Australian penal colonies, is forthcoming with Picador in 2021.