The plot thickens...

There's so much going on at Story House! We are pleased to announce several new initiatives. As always, we welcome your ideas.  

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Artist Gym

Artist Gym is an innovative workshop series that uses arts-based exercises to inspire creative connection and community-building. It was developed by Sarah Plotkin, a theater artist who ran dozens of sessions in New York and Boston and recently returned to her home town of Ithaca. Participants move, improvise, write, and tell stories in a fun, supportive environment. The first session, on November 12, was supported by an SOS grant from the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County.

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Behind the Wall

Story House Ithaca and Prisoner Express are teaming up on a traveling exhibit of prisoner art and writing, thanks to a grant to Story House from Humanities New York. The project, called “Behind the Wall,” will bring panels of artworks and writings collected and curated by Prisoner Express to public libraries in Auburn, Ithaca, Cortland, Owego, and Seneca Falls in the winter and spring of 2023. 

Stages of Life

Story House will offer a multicultural, intergenerational playwriting workshop beginning in January. “Stages of Life” will pair elders from the GIAC Seniors Program and the Lifelong Senior Theatre Troupe with youth from the Village at Ithaca, Community Unity Music Education Program (CUMEP), and Running to Places Theatre Company, with everyone writing short plays based on the stories they learn from their partners. The workshop series is led by Cornell graduate student Sara Stamatiades and theater artist Carley Robinson. “Stages of Life” is supported by grants from the Community Arts Partnership’s Creative Recovery Fund and the Legacy Foundation of Tompkins County. Interested in participating? The application is here.

Beyond Black Panther Film Festival

With support from a 2021 Community Arts Partnership Grants for Arts Programs (GAP) grant, a generous gift from Tompkins Community Bank, and Giving is Gorges contributions from June, Story House will present a first-ever Black film festival next year. Local entertainer Kenneth McLaurin and Ithaca College film faculty members Nicole Horsley and Shola Ajayi are the creative force behind the project. Stay tuned for more details!

Rural storytelling tour

Story House helped organize a tour of rural libraries in Tompkins County this summer by master storytellers Regi Carpenter and Jay Leeming. Their visits, which featured storytelling workshops for kids and adults, were supported by a Community Arts Partnership GAP grant. 

Story Porch was a blast! 

The first-ever Story Porch was a smash success, thanks to an all-star storyteller lineup, a spirited audience, and an excellent rainy-day backup plan that saw canopies pop up like toadstools in the driveway. We are grateful to our brilliant performers, Cal Walker, Steve Paling, Kenneth McLaurin, Jay Leeming, and Regi Carpenter. Thanks also to Jonathan Plotkin and Barbara Brenner, porchowners extraordinaire. Let's do it again next year!