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Inside Black Stories Matter

“Absolutely life-changing. It revealed racism didn’t know I had and I’m grateful for that. The only way across is through!”
- Black Stories Matter at Bard College Audience Member

Join us for Inside Black Stories Matter, a new storytelling and roundtable discussion series from TMI Project that marries the personal and the political with ideas for direct action for anti-racism that everyone can take to make a positive impact on their community. Host Jessieca McNabb, Workshop Leaders Dara Lurie and Micah, and a featured storyteller -- all from the Black Stories Matter program -- will be joined by a community leader every month.

All are invited to listen, learn, and leave with concrete anti-racism actions.

Thursday, August 6th, 7pm - 8:30pm
Special guests Terry James from The Slave Dwelling Project and storyteller Freedom Walker will unpack how the past connects us to the present.

Thursday, September 3rd, 7pm - 8:30pm
Special guests Bard College Scholar in Residence, Human Rights, Kwame Holmes, and storyteller Beetle Bailey discuss the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality.

Thursday, October 1st, 7pm - 8:30pm
Special guests Gwen Wright, Former Executive Director of the NYS Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, and storyteller Erica Brown discuss intimate partner violence.

This event series is free and open to the public with a suggested donation of $20.

“The Black Stories Matter Drop-in Workshop was like a pressure-valve-release of pent-up rage. I’ve been refocused, renewed, calmer, and less stressed ever since. I had been writing over, under, and around increasing outrage over anti-Black racism.”
- Black Stories Matter Workshop Participant Beetle Bailey

Program Host

Jessieca McNabb
She/Her/Hers

Jessieca McNabb was born in Alabama and raised in Ulster County, NY. A sought-after entertainer, comedian, and emcee, Jessieca got her comedy career started at the Laughing Wolf Comedy Club in New Paltz, NY in the nineties. Other performance credits include Rosendale Theatre, Ole Savannah, The Bearsville Theatre, The Colony, Woodstock Pub, and her monthly gig at The Lodge. Since 2019, Jessieca has served as the emcee for multiple nonprofit organizations and charity events, including Black History Month Kingston, Kingston African American Festival, Harambee, and for TMI Project’s annual Voices in Action Benefit Showcase. Jessieca is an activist for Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ+ community and co-hosts popular Radio Kingston shows No One Like You, My Kingston Kids, and Harambee Radio.

Workshop Leaders

Dara Lurie
She/Her/Hers

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.

Micah
He/Him/His

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.

About Black Stories Matter

Black Stories Matter is TMI Project’s way to participate as an organization in the national outcry of injustice by using true storytelling to speak truth to power and to dismantle the white supremacist systems that hold racism in place. We support and amplify Black voices, share resources, and inspire anti-racist action. We acknowledge the historical predominance of white-centered narratives that permeate the cultural, political, and policy conversations in this country, and seek to elevate the full spectrum of Black experience to its proper place within the realm of American discourse. Learn more at tmiproject.org/blackstoriesmatter

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Inside Black Stories Matter

Program Host

Workshop Leaders

About Black Stories Matter

Partner Organizations

Funders

C O N T A C T

S U P P O R T U S

C O N T A C T

Events in this series have a suggested donation of $20.

C O N T A C T

C O N T A C T

W A Y S TO S U P P O R T