Are you a City of Poughkeepsie resident?
Do you want to make or deepen a connection to Poughkeepsie Farm Project?
Are you interested in exploring your relationship to nature through storytelling?
You are invited to apply for a unique true storytelling opportunity!
No prior experience with writing or storytelling is required to apply. Anyone who completes the full program, which culminates in a live storytelling showcase in August, will be paid a $300 stipend for their participation at the completion of the program. You do not need to commit to the 10 week program to attend the 4 drop-in workshops. Below is a description, our offerings, requirements, information on the workshop leaders, and a link to register for drop-in workshops and express your interest in being a part of the showcase.
PLEASE READ ALL DETAILS BEFORE YOU APPLY
Program Description
Black Voices, Poughkeepsie Roots is a series of true storytelling workshops offered by TMI Project in collaboration with Poughkeepsie Farm Project, which will ultimately culminate in a live performance and digital content. The program will be led by a Black facilitation team and is intended to cultivate a brave space in which Black teens and adults can feel empowered to share their true stories.
Black Voices, Poughkeepsie Roots intends to strengthen individual and collective voices to express lived experiences of the food system, the outdoors, and nature as it is experienced everyday. You don’t need previous experience in storytelling or writing to participate, just the motivation to tell a story that is meaningful for you and trust that the land, our facilitation team and the collective can support you to show up fully and bring your voice forward.
Drop-in Workshop Schedule
SAT
4:00pm-6:00pm
06/15
Juneteenth Jubilee Storytelling Workshop
Intro to Freewriting
Location: Pershing Avenue Farm and Gardens, 49 Pershing Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY
WED
6:30pm-8:30pm
07/03
Drop-In Writing & Storytelling Workshop
Intro to Freewriting
WED
6:30pm-8:30pm
07/10
Drop-In Writing & Storytelling Workshop
Intro to Freewriting/Story Development/Characteristics of a TMI Project Story
SCHEDULE FOR FULL 10-SESSION WORKSHOP WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON.
Offerings
- 4 free, no-commitment drop-in writing workshops offered in-person at the Poughkeepsie Farm Project
- An opportunity to learn from TMI Project’s developed and time-tested true storytelling methodology
- Working with trained facilitators through guided free-writing exercises and other methods for story development
- Collaborative editing services to transform your personal narrative into a TMI Project-style monologue for the stage
- A space to explore and strengthen your voice, to express your stories about connection to or disconnection from growing food, the outdoors and nature; and be in supportive community with other BIPOC
- A professional recording of your story for those who complete the full program and storytelling showcase
- $300 stipend for those who complete the full 10-week program
JOIN US FOR A FREE DROP-IN WORKSHOP!
Then, if you enjoy the process, you are welcome to continue on to take the full 10-session program, where you will work with TMI Project’s workshop leaders to fully develop a story, which you will perform as part of a culminating live storytelling showcase at the end of August.
All 10-session participants will be compensated with a $300 stipend and be provided with a professional recording of your story.
There is no expectation to continue on with the 10-session program if you attend a drop-in workshop.
INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING IN THE FULL PROGRAM?
Let us know when you reserve a space at one of our drop-in workshops!
(Attendance at at least 1 drop-in workshop will be required to be considered.)
Workshop Leaders
Micah
“TMI Project allows an exchange to happen. It feeds a deep need to know our own truth, to connect to something real. This is an ancient practice of sharing our stories and it’s perhaps the most revolutionary tool we have at our disposal.”
In addition to leading TMI Project workshops, Micah serves as the manager at GWI’s (Good Works Institute) Greenhouse Kingston, a yoga teacher at Mudita, and creator of DAY 1 (a New Year’s Day community event). He is on the board of Wild Earth (a non-profit Wilderness School), Radio Kingston, The Center for Creative Education, and O+ (a nonprofit health and wellness festival for artists and creators). He also serves as City of Kingston’s Art Commissioner at the Kingston Farmers Market.
Dara Lurie
“I jumped at the opportunity to participate as a storyteller in TMI Project’s first workshop and performance of #BlackStoriesMatter in early 2017 and, later that year, as a TMI Project teacher-trainee. I can’t think of more important work than helping people tell their true stories. If you think it’s simple, you should try it sometime.”
In addition to leading TMI Project workshops, Dara is an author and manuscript coach. She received a B.A. in Film & Theater from Vassar College and M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Hunter College. Dara grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and migrated in the early 1980s to West Berlin, Germany, where she tended bar, wrote and performed in the theater while living in different communities of squatters, Green Party activists, journalists, teachers, and social workers. Her first book, Great Space of Desire; Writing for Personal Evolution, is a memoir and creative guide for writers wishing to tell their own stories.
This program is made possible thanks to the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Environmental Community Impact Grant