In the Spring and Summer of 2020, in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of professors and graduate students from various Southern California universities sensed that their world was about to be upended. They saw the existing economic and health disparities among their fellow residents in Riverside and San Bernardino County begin to fracture in ways that couldn’t be ignored.

In the Fall of 2021, StoryCenter partnered with ETSU’s Department of Communication & Performance to lead a cohort of 10 graduate students and faculty through the process of developing a brand new podcast showcasing their storytelling work both locally and nationally. We began the workshop by collaboratively developing the podcast’s title, communicative purpose, and content themes. Each participant chose a specific topic and produced their own segment as part of a cohesive podcast. Their episodes vary from guest interviews to traditional spoken-word monologues to research-driven local snapshots.

Over the past two years, StoryCenter has been honored to play a role in an innovative program in the Rio Grande Valley of Southern Texas. The project called Historias Americanas, was a three-year intensive for K-12 educators, designed by project partners, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and the Museum of South Texas History. The intent was to improve the quality of American history education in the Brownsville and Edinburg school districts by building on student and community knowledge and shining a light on the cultural wealth of the area. Local history was melded with the broader history of the United States to fill in faces that were blatantly missing from textbooks.

In the spring of 2021, StoryCenter worked with six members of the Cowlitz County Historic Preservation Commission to help them tell stories that reflect the ways the waterways, ports, and history connect the people of the area. In an online digital storytelling workshop, the storytellers reached into their memories to cover a range of themes–from efforts to restore the local salmon population, to childhood memories of dipping smelt, or watching a father get ready each morning before heading off to work at the Tollycraft boat plant.

The National Museum of Bermuda is a premiere organization in the Caribbean that showcases exhibits and extensive programming on science, art, and culture. Throughout 2021, the museum will engage the public through presentations, workshops, and an on-site contemporary art exhibit, as it prepares to launch an online exhibit called Tracing Our Roots/Routes. The staff, as well as local and international expert panelists, are assisting the public in researching and documenting their personal stories and photographs to add to the story of people who call Bermuda home.

The California State Library empowers the people of the nation's most diverse and populous state by supporting local library branches with funding and support designed to enrich the lives of current and future generations. The Library’s work is motivated by fairness, honesty, respect, and the value of each person and their contributions– it helps to ensure that libraries across the state can connect patrons to the information and resources they need.

History Colorado’s exhibits are rich in the stories of native peoples, early miners, fur traders, Western pioneers, and cattle barons. In 2007 and again in 2008, StoryCenter was invited to help integrate the voices of Colorado citizens themselves into the stories being told. The two workshops helped turn the tables on history museum interpretation, inviting members of the community to tell their own stories in their own words, and with their own photographs.

Charleston, SC has a rich history and oral storytelling heritage, and the Charleston County Public Library (CCPL) is one of the hosting partners of the annual Charleston Tells Storytelling Festival each spring. In 2014, CCPL decided to add a digital component to the storytelling festival. After contacting StoryCenter, CCPL applied for, and was awarded, a Library Services and Technology Act grant from the Institute of Library and Museum Services administered by the South Carolina State Library.

The school dropout rate among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth is nearly three times the national average. With support from Colorado Public Television (CPT12) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the American Graduate Project aims to re-engage Denver, CO LGBTQ youth in school, through a combination of the multi-media effort "Drop in Denver," community conversation, and the provision of individual guidance to LGBTQ youth.

When the Wild Center opened its doors in 2006, it was already one of the most unique science museums in the United States, situated in the heart of the country's largest natural park. The Center's relationship to the local and regional community has always been one of active engagement, and nowhere was that more true than with the decision to provide a maple sugaring education and production facility right at the museum. The Community Maple Project brought scientists and experts, commercial producers, and do-it-yourself enthusiasts together to help the community re-claim the tradition of maple sugaring.