March e-news
Sharing our stories. Strengthening our communities.
What's new at Window Seat?
Bravery & Belonging with Brave Practice
Saturday, March 9th, 2 - 4:30 p.m.
Briggs Community YMCA
All-ages. Register or just show up!
- 2-3 P.M. - PERFORMANCE
- 3:15 to 4:30 P.M. - WORKSHOP
- Briggs YMCA, Large Multipurpose Room
- 1530 Yelm Highway SE, Olympia, WA 98501
- FREE and by donation!
Join Brave Practice Playback Theatre Collective for a community reflection through storytelling and theatre. How do we live out these shared values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility? What does it take to step into a new space for the first time? How have you experienced being welcomed into this community? Where do bravery and belonging fit in your own journey? Stay for both the performance and workshop, or just the performance. Practice bravery in community in the way that makes sense for you on the day. No previous theatre experience is necessary!
March Creativity Salon
Tuesday, March 12th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
The Liberation Collective at YWCA Friendship Hall
Access-for-all. Come learn from and with other artists. Open to artists and storytellers of all-ages who can benefit! Subscribe to our Friends of Community Storytelling Program to support.
This month we have not one but TWO featured artist-narrators: Natalie "Wild" Coblentz (They/Them), Queer Latinx Multimedia Artist, Activist, Collaborator & Producer of LGBTQIA2S+ Events, and Aherlow Kasjaka (they/them), passionate community organizer and creative who strives to support community connection and healing through their work. Hear from these two beautiful souls - how they have worked together in community and about their own creative practices. Bring a storytelling project in your chosen medium that you want to work on in a group setting - memoir-writing, poetry, script-writing, composing, painting, audio editing, collaging, cross-stitch, or something else. Sessions have a mix of dedicated creative work time and peer-to-peer process sharing guided by Window Seat hosts.
Community Roots Event Series
Places where I belong with Brave Practice
Places Where I Belong: A Playback Theatre Performance with Brave Practice Collective created conversation about community spaces last Thursday evening through audience storytelling played back by amazing theatre artists. What did we hear about the precious, seemingly dwindling space we share? Stories about libraries, babysitters, Olympia’s artesian well and downtown busking, lasting friendships, a bit of nostalgia and some hopefulness about the future.
At the end of the performance, audience members shared:
“I have hope for the future. It won’t be the same, but it will evolve.”
“I think about how much I admire humans who rise to the occasion to take care of each other.”
“(Olympia has) innovation that is not housed in institutions.”
“We all belong here. Our stories weave together in a grand story.”
It was a heartfelt evening of sharing. Thank you to Brave Practice for sharing your gifts with our community and thank you audience members for being present and brave in sharing your stories!
We Need Space! with Kelsey Smith
Thank you to everyone who contributed to our "We Need Space" collaborative zine-making workshop last weekend! People of all ages came down to the Olympia Library last Saturday to cut, paste, type, and talk about the spaces that are special to them in our community. We compiled over a dozen pages and are looking forward to sharing the zine with you! Special thanks to Kelsey Smith of Community Print for leading our workshop!
What's next?
There's still time to experience the exhibit at the Olympia Timberland Library, 313 Eighth Ave SE, until March 11th before we continue our event series and exhibit at a new location. Stay tuned! Listen to the audio stories
Food for Thought
stories, projects, events, and works we love
We love participating in ASHHO Cultural Community Center's Resource Day! For the first time this month, they are changing things up. ASHHO has an ongoing partnership with Hidden Creek Community Church and they're taking the event to the people who need it the most!
- NEW Location: Hidden Creek Community Church, located at 1807 Ninth Avenue SW Olympia, WA 98502.
- NEW time: 9:00 am to 12:00 pm
- NEW Resource Day Dates: The third Wednesday of every other month. Mark your calendars accordingly: Wednesday, March 20th and Wednesday, May 15th.
We'll see you there. Also at their Family Game Night coming up soon at the center for some improv games!Window Seat Media is a community nonprofit whose mission is to use storytelling and oral history to spark conversation, connection, and social change within our local community. We weave the stories that often go unshared into the fabric of our public life. We do this because we believe we write our future with the stories we narrate, and we are committed to co-creating a more inclusive, connected, and just world.Window Seat Media is a 501c3 nonprofit organization.Our tax ID# is 81-1200465. Your donation is tax-deductible.
