About

Necessity is, indeed, the mother of invention, and in the case of IAM Conversations, this was certainly the case.

A little over two years ago, IAM’s Director of Public Relations, Christy Tennant, looked at her publicity budget for Encounter 09 and knew some innovation was in order. The line-up of speakers and performers scheduled for that event, which included actress and writer Susan Isaacs, philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff, and former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, was too good to slide under the radar with press releases that would likely never see the light of day under a major news publication’s banner. Wanting to find a great – and inexpensive – way to get people excited about coming to the Encounter, Christy thought of conducting interviews with the speakers. Combining her natural love for conversation and her authentic interest in getting to know people, Christy began “The IAM Podcast.”

Her first guest was IAM’s Encounter Director, Kevin Gosa. Sitting in the staircase at Space 38|39, Christy interviewed Kevin using an ad hoc studio comprised of her aging laptop, a free download of Audacity (a recording software), some earbuds, and the microphone that had come with her old Dell desktop nearly a decade earlier. That interview was so much fun that she began researching other options for recording interviews, and discovered that Skype could be used to call telephones and Pamela could be used to record those calls. When her laptop gave up the ghost in 2010, Christy replaced it with a MacBookPro, complete with Garage Band, which she now uses for recording her interviews.

“The Effervescent Christy Tennant”

As the host of IAM Conversations, Christy has grown as a public personality, with a diverse fan base of listeners from all over the earth. Described as “effervescent” (Matthew Miliner, First Things), “alarmingly talented” (Andy Crouch, Culture Making), and “the lively and friendly interviewer” (Byron Borger, Hearts & Minds Books), Christy’s unique, engaging interview style draws on her rich background of experiences. Having listened to people like Terry Gross, Krista Tippett, Larry King, and Barbara Walters for years, Christy developed her own signature style of conversational journalism. Today, over one hundred episodes later, IAM Conversations has become one of International Arts Movement’s online resources, helping to inspire listeners to engage the culture that is and create the world that ought to be.

The Music

After getting permission from a handful of artists to use their music for IAM’s podcast, Christy turned to musical genius Kevin Gosa and asked him for an official IAM Conversations theme song. He gave her permission to use his original song, “Double Happiness,” which he wrote, recorded, and performed.