Arkansas makes podcasts, from the Ozarks to the Delta. Come find your people. Arkansas Podcast Collaborative: monthly meetups, genre pods, the Podshelf directory, and the ARKAST festival.
For the people who make podcasts in Arkansas, the people who listen to them, and the businesses that want to reach them.
Just want to come once? The next meetup date is posted below.
WHO WE ARE
BUILT BY PODCASTERS, FOR PODCASTERS.
The Arkansas Podcast Collaborative is a nonprofit for podcasters and the people who love podcasts. Monthly meetups in Central and Northwest Arkansas, ten genre pods, the annual ARKAST festival, and the programs that keep shows on the air.
ARKAST started in 2022 because Arkansas podcasters had no event of their own. There was no stage for the work and no awards for it, so the first festival built both.
That work now runs through Podcaster Meetups in Central and Northwest Arkansas every month, plus the annual Arkansas Podcast Festival, ARKAST, heading into its fifth year on Friday, October 16, 2026.
The momentum built after ARKAST 1.0 evolved into the creation of the Arkansas Podcast Collaborative in the Spring of 2023, the first nonprofit organization for podcasters in the United States.
We continue to expand our focus into other parts of Arkansas and the surrounding states, getting podcasters connected with other creators, prospective guests, and most importantly, the listeners who help grow their shows.
Meet the board
THE ARKANSAS PODCAST FESTIVAL // FOUNDED 2022
ARKAST RETURNS.
YEAR FIVE · OCT 16, 2026Five years in, ARKAST is the annual gathering where Arkansas podcasters meet, swap notes, and put the best of the state's audio on a stage. Year five is one evening at the E.O. Manees House in Argenta, North Little Rock: dinner, the rollout of the new membership packages, the ARKAST Awards, and networking until around 10, while the meetups and pods keep running all year.
HOW TO JOIN
WHAT TO EXPECT.
You do not need a network deal or a studio. You need a show, a plan to start one, or an interest in the ones made here. Here is how membership works in three steps.
Show Up
Come to a monthly meetup or a pod night in Central or Northwest Arkansas. Podcasters, listeners, and local businesses are welcome, and the first visit is free.
Join
Membership funds the meetups, classes, and pods. One membership covers every program, whether you make podcasts, listen to them, or run a business that wants to reach them.
Use the programs
Classes, one-on-one mentorship, long-term support, your genre pod, and your show listed on the Podshelf.
FIND YOUR POD // SMALL GROUPS BY GENRE
FIND YOUR POD.
A pod is the small group for one genre: the hosts who make that kind of show, the listeners who follow it, and the local businesses that want to be heard in it. Every member show sits in one of ten pods, each with a leader and a month of its own to host the meetups. Businesses can join a pod too. Down the road, a business will be able to fund ads across the shows in its pod from this site, and the pod splits the work. Find yours, or run one.
MONTHLY MEETUPS // LITTLE ROCK AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS
MONTHLY MEETUPS
Every month, podcasters pull up chairs in Little Rock and in Northwest Arkansas. Real rooms, real mic talk, no pitch decks. One pod hosts each month and sets the theme.
Month Little Rock
Central Arkansas Podcaster Meetup
Little Rock // Central AR Chapter
Monthly hang for podcasters and people thinking about starting one. Tips, gear shop talk, and the show-and-tell that makes it worth showing up.
Next date announced soon. Get on the list and we will send it.Chapter Details
Month NWA
Northwest Arkansas Podcaster Meetup
NWA Chapter
The NWA chapter. Bentonville, Fayetteville, and the corridor in between, meeting monthly just like the Little Rock crowd.
Next date announced soon. Get on the list and we will send it.Chapter Details
THE PODSHELF // EVERY MEMBER SHOW
EVERY SHOW IN ARKANSAS.
Podcasts produced in The Natural State, from cryptid hunts to Razorback talk to Bentonville boardrooms. Every member show gets its own page, cover art and all.
WHAT WE RUN // INCLUDED WITH MEMBERSHIP
PROGRAMS THAT MOVE SHOWS FORWARD.
A first-time podcaster gets a beginner class. A producer on season ten gets help booking bigger guests. Both come out of the same membership.
Classes
Hands-on workshops on the basics: gear, recording, editing, hosting, getting your first ten listeners.
Browse ClassesMentorship
One-on-one pairings with working Arkansas podcasters who've been where you are.
How It WorksLong-Term Support
Continuing help for podcasters past their tenth episode. Guest booking, distribution, growth.
Long-Term SupportPodshelf Listing
Your cover art on the Podshelf with the rest of the member shows, plus your own page with links to everywhere you publish.
Submit Your Show
THE BLOG
NEWS AND HOW-TOS.
Support the Collab during the funding freeze.
There's a federal funding freeze hitting small Arkansas nonprofits this year, ARKAST included. Here's what that means for us and how you can help.
Matthew Orton on cryptid encounters and podcast origins.
From ARKAST: Matthew Orton of Drunken Cryptids on how the show started, the encounters that stuck, and why podcasting picks up where TV stopped.
Top 5 high-quality, low-cost gear picks.
Starting a podcast on a budget? The five pieces of gear we actually recommend to first-time Arkansas podcasters, plus why we like them.
THE NEWSLETTER
STAY IN THE LOOP.
Not ready to join? Leave an email and we will tell you when the next meetup is, what class is coming up, and who joined the shelf.
MEMBERSHIP OPENS SOON
Know a show that belongs on the shelf?