Dear Friends and Supporters,
As you may have read/heard in the news, on Friday evening, May 2nd, the National Endowment for the Arts withdrew support for hundreds of grants to arts organizations across the country. These grants were announced publicly in January 2025 but have now been withdrawn. The International Storytelling Center was one of the organizations to have its grant offer withdrawn on May 2nd. Our grant of $30,000 was specifically intended to help cover our 22nd annual Storytelling Live Series, which starts on May 20 and attracts 16,000 people to Jonesborough. We also conduct community and youth outreach through Storytelling Live, and contribute $8 million to Northeast Tennessee’s economy.
The loss of the NEA grant is a blow to us and many Northeast Tennessee arts institutions. Storytelling Live 2025 will still run from May 20 to October 2. We will be here for our community and continue to fight for support of Storytelling and the Arts. If you would like to help there are several ways you can do so. Please help in any way you can—we appreciate you!
Make Your Voice Heard: Call and Write to State Officials and Representatives in Congress.
Save the Date! Attend our 2025 Storytelling Live Series. Your presence is a powerful indication of how much the International Storytelling Center means to our community.
Thank you for your endless support of the International Storytelling Center. We can’t wait to see you at Storytelling Live in a few weeks!