Storytelling at Follow Your Art

Follow Your Art Community Studios is excited to announce a 2025 storytelling series of community events and workshops with Stellar Stories! Read below for more about how storytelling has taken shape at FYACS and what’s in store for 2025.

Once upon a time, there was a Big Yellow House where folks gathered to share their stories…

Coaxing out a story is at the heart of what many of our creatives do, whether through writing, visual art, or ceramics: what does this piece convey, and how does this specific medium help me do that? 

“In Real Life” storytelling events are one way we creatively share stories. For the past several years, Follow Your Art Community Studios has been building a storytelling culture in Melrose through free informal storytelling events that attract 25-60 people, and annual large collaborative events featuring tellers from traditionally marginalized groups. 

About In Real Life (IRL)

In Real Life (IRL) started as a collaboration with Melrose Organizes for Real Equality (MORE), a grassroots organization dedicated to centering diverse voices in Melrose and surrounding communities. Since 2018, IRL has found its home as part of Follow Your Art Community Studios and has organized five larger community storytelling events with themes like “Home,” “American Like Me,” “Who Do You Think You Are?” and most recently a collaboration with the Melrose Commission on Disability “Taking Up Space: Elevating Stories for Lived Experiences with Disability.” 

These community events create a special, shared experience between the tellers and listeners with stories that entertain, enlighten, provoke, or inspire. We invite you to view MMTVs coverage of the community events linked below.

Living Room Stories

In addition to community events, FYACS hosts small storytelling events at the Big Yellow House. A stage goes up in the Gallery at 647 Main Street and both tellers and listeners are invited to a safe, supportive and low-key environment to practice storytelling. The events often welcome featured storytellers to kick things off, and then those who are interested are invited to share a prepared five-minute true story from their lives. 

The Storytellers Among Us

FYACS is grateful to the dedicated and accomplished local storytellers who have generously shared their time and experience to facilitate these events and ignite greater interest in storytelling. Among those, 

Rilda Kissel, Chris Robinson, and Sara McCabe, all Melrose residents, have been integral to the growth of storytelling in our community. Rilda has appeared on WGBH’s Stories from the Stage and trained with MOTH in their storytelling education course. Rilda helps coordinate events, identify prospective featured storytellers, and will facilitate upcoming storytelling workshops. Chris is cofounder of Think Outside the Vox, working to close the gap between disabled patrons, marginalized/disabled access providers, and arts organizations. Sara has been a driving force behind the informal Living Room events, enhancing the events with marketing support, enthusiasm, and her own storytelling skills. Their combined experience has provided a strong foundation for creating even more storytelling opportunities in Melrose and the surrounding communities. 

Follow Your Art is also grateful for Theresa Okokon’s involvement in our storytelling program. Theresa is an essayist, storyteller, a co-host of GBH’s “Stories from the Stage,” and teacher, as well as a past fellow of Follow Your Art’s writing programming. She has contributed to FYACS storytelling workshops and events in the past, and will be back at FYACS in March for an Author Talk to celebrate the release of her memoir. We look forward to welcoming her for future storytelling events as well. 

Storyteller Theresa Okokon

2025 Storytelling Series

We all have a story to tell, and FYACS provides the space and resources to give more people the tools and confidence to share those stories.

In January 2025, Follow Your Art Community Studios received word that its grant application to create a robust storytelling series would be funded by the Melrose Cultural Council, supported by the Mass Cultural Council.

To amplify our community’s diverse voices in a safe and supportive environment, FYACS will hold four free community storytelling events in 2025, two in Winter/Spring and two in Fall, with well-known storytellers from Greater Boston. FYACS will also host very discounted storytelling workshop series in partnership with the Stellar Storytelling Company. Older teens, adults, and seniors from Melrose and surrounding communities can gather to practice and gain confidence under the guidance of accomplished storytellers and coaches.

The first community storytelling event of 2025 will be held on March 9, with the Spring four-part workshop series beginning on March 24. Click the button below to learn more and sign up.

Sharing diverse experiences and perspectives builds community, and storytelling is an impactful and accessible medium to engage with people on an emotional and creative level. We’re looking forward to how this series and workshops will introduce more people to storytelling as an artform, and empower more individuals to share their own stories. 

Further Storytelling Collaborations

FYACS recently helped members of the Melrose Commission on Disability get a fellowship for storytelling. There are discussions to hold a storytelling event with them this summer for Disability Pride. Stay tuned!

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