As the Director of New Media at the National Arts Centre (NAC), Maurizio Ortolani is the force behind the organization’s Podcasting initiatives which began with event-specific Podcasts to promote the AlbertaScene festival and the NAC Orchestra’s 2005 tour of Alberta and Saskatchewan, and has expanded to include several regular programs (both english and french) including the NACOCast.

Maurizio’s approach to Podcasting as a business tool is brilliant. The NACOCast, for example, is designed to showcase talent, culture and NAC Orchestra events without putting the business agenda on the show. The focus is on education and discussion that, as a listener, inspires me to explore more about the topics and — if it weren’t for an over-scheduled life — buy tickets for concerts or subscribe to a performance series.

The hard-core Podcasters know that Podcasting isn’t just about hitting record and publish. Podcasting is a social media and Maurizio represents the NAC extremely well in this regard. Besides hosting and attending meetups and conferences, Maurizio donated decommissioned recording equipment for a giveaway in the Canadian Podcast community.

Maurizio has established a Podcasting strategy that is truly in the spirit of social media and proves that some businesses “get it”.