This is an audio company.
This is an art company.
In 2014, Mermaid Palace’s director, Kaitlin Prest (KP), started her first company with her former business-wife, Mitra Kaboli. The Heart LLC was the foundation for the long-running podcast The Heart on Radiotopia.
By 2017, The Heart had amassed over 7 million listens. It was the first podcast to win a Prix Italia, won the top prize at Third Coast International Audio Festival, was named a Peabody finalist and was consistently named among the Top Ten podcasts in publications such as The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time Magazine, The Guardian, and more.
The Heart was public radio’s first openly queer and feminist radio show. Tobin Lowe, host of Nancy (WNYC’s first ever queer show) tweeted in 2019 “Nancy would never have existed if it wasn’t for The Heart.”
In 2018, KP and Mitra got amicably business-divorced and they put The Heart on haiatus. KP was hungry to create serialized audio fiction, and partnered with CBC Podcasts to produce the first radio drama since the department closed. The Shadows was said to have ‘cracked the code of audio fiction’ (Neil Drumming, Serial Productions). In creating it, KP developed a style: auto-fiction. Using the techniques of documentary to tell the story of something she lived, but telling the story inside a fictional universe. This technique would become the calling card of a new company she was dreaming of founding.
In 2019, Mermaid Palace was born. An audio company, an art company. Dedicated to innovating and questioning the craft of narrative audio. In its first year, Mermaid Palace enlisted the talents of Nicole Kelly and Phoebe Unter (creators of the Bitchface podcast), Drew Denny (filmmaker, musician and traumedienne) and Sharon Mashihi (artist, genius and multi-dimensional performer) to create podcast work in their own voice as creators. Supporting those creators was a talented roster of artists: Jen Ng (art director, designer); Allie Pinel (producer, choreographer and all around do-er); Allison Light (advisor of finance and business operations); Natalie Prest (singer, musician and costume expert); AJ Moultrie (artist and musician); Aceel Kibbi (radio producer and future EP), Ariel Meija (audio artist and writer), and Mo Laborde (assistant producer and podcaster extraordinaire).
The company’s first projects were: THE HEART (2020), ASKING FOR IT, APPEARANCES, and MERMAID.
In 2021, KP took time to rebuild infrastructure and policy for the company. Through the lens of anti-racism and with the support of Freedom Verses she interrogated industry standards and worked to build organizational structures that were truly equitable. She founded the Mermaid Womb: a community exhibition venue and studio based in Parkdale, Toronto.
In 2022 the company comissioned audio art work from artist Deborah Shorindé: Sweet’ning is an installation and one on one performance art work about the challenges of staying soft after being burned. Shorindé also worked as the editor of the new season of The Heart, which launched in 2023 and featured personal work from KP and her sister about family, mental health and trauma.
Today, Mermaid Palace is getting ready to take its next big faithful leap: a secret initiative that will be made public in 2026. Sign up here for more information.
By 2017, The Heart had amassed over 7 million listens. It was the first podcast to win a Prix Italia, won the top prize at Third Coast International Audio Festival, was named a Peabody finalist and was consistently named among the Top Ten podcasts in publications such as The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time Magazine, The Guardian, and more.
The Heart was public radio’s first openly queer and feminist radio show. Tobin Lowe, host of Nancy (WNYC’s first ever queer show) tweeted in 2019 “Nancy would never have existed if it wasn’t for The Heart.”
In 2018, KP and Mitra got amicably business-divorced and they put The Heart on haiatus. KP was hungry to create serialized audio fiction, and partnered with CBC Podcasts to produce the first radio drama since the department closed. The Shadows was said to have ‘cracked the code of audio fiction’ (Neil Drumming, Serial Productions). In creating it, KP developed a style: auto-fiction. Using the techniques of documentary to tell the story of something she lived, but telling the story inside a fictional universe. This technique would become the calling card of a new company she was dreaming of founding.
In 2019, Mermaid Palace was born. An audio company, an art company. Dedicated to innovating and questioning the craft of narrative audio. In its first year, Mermaid Palace enlisted the talents of Nicole Kelly and Phoebe Unter (creators of the Bitchface podcast), Drew Denny (filmmaker, musician and traumedienne) and Sharon Mashihi (artist, genius and multi-dimensional performer) to create podcast work in their own voice as creators. Supporting those creators was a talented roster of artists: Jen Ng (art director, designer); Allie Pinel (producer, choreographer and all around do-er); Allison Light (advisor of finance and business operations); Natalie Prest (singer, musician and costume expert); AJ Moultrie (artist and musician); Aceel Kibbi (radio producer and future EP), Ariel Meija (audio artist and writer), and Mo Laborde (assistant producer and podcaster extraordinaire).
The company’s first projects were: THE HEART (2020), ASKING FOR IT, APPEARANCES, and MERMAID.
In 2021, KP took time to rebuild infrastructure and policy for the company. Through the lens of anti-racism and with the support of Freedom Verses she interrogated industry standards and worked to build organizational structures that were truly equitable. She founded the Mermaid Womb: a community exhibition venue and studio based in Parkdale, Toronto.
In 2022 the company comissioned audio art work from artist Deborah Shorindé: Sweet’ning is an installation and one on one performance art work about the challenges of staying soft after being burned. Shorindé also worked as the editor of the new season of The Heart, which launched in 2023 and featured personal work from KP and her sister about family, mental health and trauma.
Today, Mermaid Palace is getting ready to take its next big faithful leap: a secret initiative that will be made public in 2026. Sign up here for more information.
Mermaid Palace projects tell the truth and question the truth. They value beauty and humour and audiomagic as highly as any other thing we need to be alive.
ARTISTS / PRODUCERS / PARTNERS
YASAMIN MANSOORI - Assistant Producer and Artist
NATALIE PREST - Assistant Producer / Musician / Flowerbike Fairy
RIDER ALSOP - Poet, Producer, Sound Designer
FREEDOM VERSES - Coaching for liberation
BLAKE DAY - HR Consultant
ELIZENDA JEAN-CLAUDE - HR Consultant
HARRY KNAZAN - Engineer of Appearances & Asking For It
ELKA KARL / DADASCOPE - Publicist
ARIEL HAHN - Web Developer & Archivist
JEN NG - Art Director & Designer
DEBORAH SHORINDÉ - Editor and Artist
SHARON MASHIHI - Consigliere, director of people and culture, creator of Appearances
DREW DENNY - Filmmaker, writer, musician and traumedienne, creator of Asking For It
PHOEBE UNTER - Producer, writer, creator
NICOLE KELLY - Writer, producer, creator
ARI MEIJA - associate producer, writer, creator
MO LABORDE - assistant producer, artist
AJ MOULTRIE - assistant producer, musician, artist
SARAH ROSE - Organizer & Advisory Board
BIANCA GRIMSHAW - Legal
CBC PODCASTS - Distribution Partner
RADIOTOPIA - Distribution Partner
ALL OF YOU! - Fans. Our Listeners. Our Supporters. Thank You.
DEBORAH SHORINDÉ - Editor and Artist
SHARON MASHIHI - Consigliere, director of people and culture, creator of Appearances
DREW DENNY - Filmmaker, writer, musician and traumedienne, creator of Asking For It
PHOEBE UNTER - Producer, writer, creator
NICOLE KELLY - Writer, producer, creator
ARI MEIJA - associate producer, writer, creator
MO LABORDE - assistant producer, artist
AJ MOULTRIE - assistant producer, musician, artist
SARAH ROSE - Organizer & Advisory Board
BIANCA GRIMSHAW - Legal
CBC PODCASTS - Distribution Partner
RADIOTOPIA - Distribution Partner
ALL OF YOU! - Fans. Our Listeners. Our Supporters. Thank You.
