GET LOST! There aren’t too many podcasts out there that would actively encourage people to get lost, but that’s precisely the aim of this one. (Submitted photo)

What better way to celebrate the warm weather blossoming in Eau Claire than to pop in some earbuds and go for a long walk?

That was the hope, at least, of curator and UW-Eau Claire professor Arthur Grothe and the theater department when they created a new eight-episode podcast highlighting the history and entertainment scene of Eau Claire, called Get Lost!

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We're still able to produce and invest in something in a time when so many things were taken away.

Arthur Grothe

UWEC THeater professor

Each episode represents a different location in Eau Claire, and maps created by the theater department guide listeners to each site to listen to factual and fictional vignettes based on research conducted by theater students.“The idea (is) that you can sit yourself on a bench,” Grothe said, “and you’re listening to this scene, and you can envision it taking place.”

The idea for the podcast came from the theater department trying to create art in turbulent times. Knowing this podcast would be produced and released in the spring, they wanted to create something that would get people outside and moving.

"We were trying to find ways to create art that is both safe and interesting and challenging,” Grothe said. “Because all of us are kind of stuck in these box worlds. … We’re able to still produce and invest in something in a time when so many things were taken away.”

This is the first podcast by the theater department and features the work of about 25 students and faculty members. It was put together by recording engineer Lena Sutter in the recording studio at the Pablo Center at the Confluence.

This project pushed everyone working on it to dig deeper in Eau Claire’s history. “One of the elements that – to me – makes this project already successful is that the students who worked on this learned a ton more about Eau Claire and were able to delve into some stories,” Grothe said. “They created about four to five hours’ worth of original content and did so all primarily over Zoom.”

It’s important to try to find some normalcy wherever we can these days, and this podcast helps give some of it back. 

Learn more about Get Lost! and its creators, and give the podcast a listen at getlostec.com.