Pulling a 180: Stories about Change, Transformation, and New Beginnings

May 16, 8:00 PM

Saint Stephens Church auditorium; 1525 Newton St. NW; Washington, DC

Pulling a 180: Stories about Change, Transformation, and New Beginnings
An evening of musical, screened, and live storytelling.
Featuring: music by Lilo Gonzalez, SpeakeasyDC community storytellers, and screened stories by teenage filmmakers from the Served Project.

When: Friday May 16th, 8 pm
Where: Saint Stephens Church, auditorium
1525 Newton St. NW (16th & Newton St.)
Washington DC
Donation: $10 (students, seniors, and alternate donation: $5)

Presented with the generous support of the Saint Stephens Church and Arts Collaborative, and the Latin American Youth Center’s Art & Media House. Funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

THE DAY
The International Day for Sharing Life Stories celebrates and promotes life story projects that have made a difference within neighborhoods, communities, and societies as a whole. The Day is an initiative of the Museum of the Person, based in Brazil, and the Center for Digital Storytelling, based in the U.S. May 16th was chosen to honor the birthday of Studs Terkel, an American author, radio host, and oral historian who popularized life story work in the United States.

On May 16th, people around the world will be gathering in community halls, classrooms, public parks, theaters, and auditoriums to share their stories. Second Life will be the site of two virtual storytelling events hosted by The New Media Consortium. Since October 2007, over 200 individual and organizational endorsements for the International Day for Sharing Life Stories have been collected, representing fifteen countries and 80 institutions. http://www.ausculti.org (“ausculti” is Esperanto for “listen”)

WHO WE ARE
Center for Digital Storytelling
The Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS) is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization rooted in the art of personal storytelling. We assist people in using the tools of digital media to craft, record, share, and value their stories in ways that improve all our lives. A pioneer in the field of Digital Storytelling, CDS has worked in 45 of the 50 U.S. states and internationally in 26 countries, leading workshops, developing projects, consulting, and helping around 12,000 people to tell their stories. CDS offers public workshops for individuals and customized workshops that focus on assisting local communities, not-for-profit agencies, schools, and universities nationally and globally in creating stories that are strategically integrated into training, community education, community organizing, and policy advocacy efforts. CDS offers regular Digital Storytelling workshops at the Art & Media House on 15th ST. NW. www.storycenter.org

SpeakeasyDC
SpeakeasyDC promotes the art of live storytelling through our events, including our monthly open mic, solo shows, ensemble performances, special events, story socials, classes, and recordings. We believe that storytelling and the oral tradition have a unique ability to give color and texture to human experience, to promote understanding, and to create a sense of connection and meaning. www.speakeasydc.org

The Served Project
Last fall eight DC teenagers from all over the city created short personal documentaries. They were each trained in storytelling, video production, and editing by filmmaker Amy Hendrick. Their stories are part of The Served Project, a multimedia series documenting teenage perception of class. www.dcserved.com

Lilo Gonzalez
Lilo Gonzalez is a local musician, songwriter, and bandleader from El Salvador. He has been composing and singing for over 20 years. Among his many credits, Lilo won second place for the Latin category of the 1991 Billboard Song Contest with his song “Forjando un Solo Pueblo” and received the Wammie Award for “Best Latin Vocalist.” He has also been awarded grants for artistic excellence in music by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Museum of the Person
The Museum of the Person is an international network of virtual museums of life stories, located in Brazil, Canada, the USA, and Portugal. Our mission is to contribute to make every person’s life story valued by society. www.museudapessoa.net