Role
Producer
Co-director
Concept creator
Researcher
Co-writer
Character creator
Ava’s Adventures with Abuelo was the result of Ready To Learn Podcast Accelerator from PRX. The program supported by the US Department of Education, PBS Kids, and CPB.
The program aimed to prepare low-income families’ kids for the future workforce and show them careers and the importance to develop social skills.
Six teams were selected through a national search and represent many exciting genres within children’s podcasts.
Since the initial proposal, Ava’s podcast was an intergenerational and cultural product, where a Hispanic family is the center of this fictional narrative.
The podcast explores fictional situations that replicate daily situations at home, school, or the area where the Hispanic family lives. At the same time, the educational content has an important role in each episode.
Not only fictional format and education are the mix in the podcast, but also audio games and mental challenges for listeners are there.
Ava and her Hispanic grandfather, whose storytelling takes them on a fantastical voyage to discover important life skills for success in the future.
Ava
is an independent and intuitive 6-year-old bilingual Hispanic girl growing up in the US, who is beguiled and bewildered in equal measure with the social and cultural differences between her home and school life.
Abuelo
is more than just a grandpa. Warm and endearing, he’s a moral compass and caring caregiver for Ava and her 4-year-old younger brother, Juanito. Coming from a Hispanic culture with a passion for storytelling that also acts as a learning tool, he wants to continue that heritage with his grandkids. As a Mexican immigrant, Abuelo’s native tongue is Spanish, yet he is constantly improving his English skills through a great intergenerational learning bond he has with Ava, as they both learn from each other.