Welcome!
Thank you so much for your interest in supporting Seen and Not Heard!
Seen and Not Heard is an indie audio drama created by Caroline Mincks (the "me" and "I" you'll see referred to on here), a deaf podcaster who wanted to see if a story about deafness could be told in a strictly audio medium. It turned out that yes, it could. And not only that, there was more story to tell after season one.
SANH follows Bet Kline, a young woman determined to figure out how to navigate life under these new, challenging circumstances after suddenly losing over half her hearing. It's a slice-of-life story, one that focuses on familial relationships and unhealed wounds, on grief and denial, on the difficulties of moving forward and the need for support, and, occasionally, on kale salad and bagels.
Season one brought forth opportunities, acclaim, and awards I could never have anticipated. SANH has been written about in publications including The Atlantic, The Bello Collective, Discover Pods, The New York Times, and most recently, Podbam. We received further recognition with awards for Best Writing for a New Audio Play from the Audio Verse Awards and Best Series Premise (Fiction Podcast) from the New Jersey Web Fest. Among these honors came a flurry of kind and thoughtful write-ups from independent bloggers, reviewers, and buzz on social media. I can't begin to explain how incredible it was to receive so much support for this show. I wasn't even sure if it would work, let alone be loved - but it did, it was, and after a lot of consideration, we are moving forward and creating one more season!
But, as you may have guessed when you clicked the link, we need your help!
Who We Are
Introducing the cast and creative team for Seen and Not Heard, season two!
FEATURED CAST
Bet - Caroline Mincks
David - Sean Lenhart
Van - Ishani Kanetkar
Sarah - Leslie Gideon
Sammy - Madi Opincaru
Wes - Sami Chen
Polina - Khalila Roney
Elaine - Sena Bryer
Joe - Steven Goldman
Alma - Danielle Bryn
Leon - Tim Winters
Gemma - Holly Brierley
Logan - Riley CJ Kenway
Nicole - Rikki Poynter
Little Bet - Bella Meyer
Ivy - Daisy Guevara
ENSEMBLE
Johnny Ryals
Mystic Waterz
Alice Kyra
David Woo
Diana Bolivar
Emma Laslett
Kirsty Woolven
Kris Allison
Nikko Goldstein
Rae Witte
Tomas Villamizar
Kevin Paculan
Vanessa Benoit
John Doyle
SOUND DESIGN
Tal Minear
MUSIC
Gavin Crockett
UMNIA
SCRIPT AND SENSITIVITY CONSULTANTS
Evan Tess Murray
Riley CJ Kenway
Bob Raymonda
What We Need & What You Get
I'll be frank: we're asking for a lot of money.
Season two is much bigger than the first season. It features the return of most of the original cast and creative team, plus a large number of brand-new voices, consultants, and musicians. Those people must be compensated fairly for their work, plain and simple. Seen and Not Heard is an emotional story, and it demands a lot of everyone involved. We take great pride in the performances, sound design, score - every last part of the process is vital and requires a ton of work to pull off. Everyone involved deserves to be compensated appropriately for their contributions.
Season one was supposed to have a fundraiser, but then the world shut down. As a result, it was funded entirely from my pocket. I was happy to do this, because at the end of the day what mattered most to me was that the story was told, but it meant that I took a significant financial hit and it took a much longer time to actually produce the show than I had wanted to spend. By helping us reach our fundraising goals, you can ensure that everyone involved is paid a decent wage, that the season can be produced in a much more efficient fashion, and that I can make rent!
In exchange for your generosity, we have a range of great perks! Rewards from bonus episodes all the way through season sponsorship credits are available, so there's something fantastic for any budget. Higher levels receive all previous perks!
ILY ($5): an image to display to show that you supported Seen and Not Heard!
KISSFIST ($10): five playlists created specially for the season!
258 ($20): annotated transcripts of every episode of SANH, chock-full of cool behind the scenes information, resources, and more!
PEHPEH ($50): the "Unhinged Charades" game from season two!
VEE ($100): Bet's notebook full of her recipes, ideas, and menus!
TRUEBIZ ($250): early access to season two episodes!
W-O-W ($500): thanks in the show notes and credits of an episode as an episode sponsor!
CHAMP ($1,000): thanks in the show notes and credits for every episode as a season sponsor!
To illustrate just where all this money is going, a handy pie chart!
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The Impact of Deaf Art
The success of season one of Seen and Not Heard was overwhelming in the best possible way. I could never have anticipated how many people would reach out and say they felt...well...seen. And heard. Whether it was seeing parallels in Bet's relationship to her mother in their own lives or the representation of David's struggles with OCD feeling refreshingly familiar or being able to point to the dinner scene in episode one and say "this is what the world sounds like to me", the feedback was almost universally some flavor of "I feel understood by this story". I cannot overstate how moving that was and continues to be. It's clear that SANH has reached far beyond the anticipated audience and has touched upon something true, every storyteller's dream.
In addition, SANH has given me the opportunity to serve as a disability advocate and accessibility consultant on a wide range of projects, as well as chances to speak publicly on other podcasts, in interviews, and at conventions on the topic of deaf representation in podcasting. It's so important that stories by and about disabled people continue to be told in all mediums, not just because our contributions to art should be acknowledged, but because our existence in the world should be acknowledged. By supporting our stories whenever you can, you remind everyone that we are here, we have voices, and we have so much to offer.
Risks & Challenges
No reason to pretend otherwise: times are hard. Asking for money is hard. Contributing money is hard. This is the part of creating art that really, really sucks. That's why I want to be transparent with you about what will happen if we don't reach our goals.
First and foremost, my team gets paid first. It's the opposite of the oxygen mask thing. If we don't reach our goal, I don't get compensated for my own work. It's not the end of the world, but every friend in the audio drama sphere will shout at me about not paying myself, so avoiding that would save everyone a little effort. Anyway, because of that policy of mine, it would mean paying out of pocket again, which would slow down our production significantly.
Seen and Not Heard will have its second season one way or another, but it will only happen in a smooth, timely, overdraft fee-free way with your help!
Other Ways You Can Help
If IGG isn't your thing, if money is tight, or if the timeline of this fundraiser doesn't work for you, there are several other ways you can contribute!
Spread the word! Share the show, share the fundraiser, leave a review, get the word out. In fact, we have a campaign just for that right here! Whenever we reach a pledge milestone, we'll share some cool bonus content, so don't forget to sign up! If you want to copy and paste the following message to make sharing even easier, please feel free: "Seen and Not Heard is a critically-acclaimed fiction podcast that tells the story of a young woman navigating life after the sudden loss of most of her hearing - and it's coming back for a second season! Check out their fundraiser for more information."
Shop for merch! That's right, SANH finally has a merch store. Profits go directly into funding season two, so now is a great time to treat yourself to a little special something. Plus, displaying our merch is another way to tell people about the show!
Donate on ko-fi! Maybe you want to make a smaller, one-time donation, or maybe you want to contribute but can't until after this campaign has ended, or maybe you just don't want to deal with perks. Whatever the reason, this ko-fi account also goes directly toward compensating the team for season two until the very last episode is released!
