“I Have a Story” encompassed a series of four projects that the International Storytelling Center designed to serve its home base of Washington County, Tennessee. Leveraging the power of storytelling to build relationships, foster community, amplify marginalized voices, and boost civic engagement, ISC worked with community partners to offer free instructional workshops.
Generously sponsored by a matching “Our Town” grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the programs took place from 2021 to 2022 on four different sites in Washington County, Tennessee.
The NEA’s “Our Town” creative placemaking grants are designed to strengthen the connection between arts organizations and their broader communities as they work together to build a better future by supporting young people, preserving the past, and building bridges between individuals and the communities in which they live. Creating placemaking has been recognized by leading arts organizations and researchers as a vehicle for economic development and sustainable social change. We recognize the power of storytelling as a “seed art,” touching on diverse subjects such as photography, cooking, creative writing, and poetry, among other things.
The two-year initiative consisted of four discrete projects at different sites in Washington County. Learn more about each project and best practices that can be applied to similar efforts, then check out our planning resources.
