Sharing our stories. Strengthening our communities.

What's New? February 2025

Pride Storytelling Project cohort updates

Themes have begun to emerge from our initial conversations with community members through the Pride Storytelling Project. We're learning that memory is not linear. As interviewers, our preparation and research help anchor a story in the context of when something happened. We're learning the importance of deep listening, distilling the essence of what someone is communicating, and reflecting it back. We're hearing a throughline about how our origin stories as queer people are deeply tied to the story of why we moved to this area. And we're hearing that community members are eager to instill hope and empower the youth of tomorrow.

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO WATCH THE VIDEO. Created by cohort member, Daniel.

What is the Pride Storytelling Project cohort up to, you may ask?! We've brought together this timeline to share our progress with you. Thank you to our panelists at February's cohort meeting, Corey, Hiroko, and Daisha, who shared their experiences with trauma-informed interviewing techniques and helped prepare us for our first month of conducting and recording oral history interviews! So many exciting updates and ways to support the project to come. We hope you'll engage with us over the next few months in person at Arts Walk in April, at our Pride booth in June, and for our final cohort share-out event in June.

Donate to Support the Pride Storytelling Project

Shout out to Jahla Brown @l3baybay for creating brand-new graphics to help us tell the project's story. They are beautiful and capture the spirit of the work perfectly as only a talented artist can. We can't wait to feature them in project promotions and are excited that the project's brand story aligns with the graphics you have created for Capital City Pride.

Tumwater Middle School visit at ASHHO

Our dear friend and educator Renee Cruickshank in the RISE Program at Tumwater Middle School applied for and received a Thurston County School Retirees’ Association Mini Grant for her students. She chose to bring her students for lunch at ASHHO Cultural Community Center and invite Meg from Window Seat for a community building workshop. We shared a delicious meal, met new neighbors, and reflected using Deepa Iyer's map of a community care ecosystem to have a conversation about how we all have a role to play in community care. Thank you for investing back into community, Renee and ASHHO team! We love this kind of opportunity.

Join us in storytelling community

Inspire Olympia grant writing workshops

TODAY!!! - Grant Writing - Beyond the Basics - TUESDAY, February 11, 3 – 5 pm via ZOOMUnderstand the common components of a grant application and learn how to effectively connect your proposal to a funder’s priorities. Led by Meg Rosenberg of Window Seat Media, this workshop is open to both current Inspire Olympia organizations and aspiring organizations. Your rsvp helps us to be well-prepared. REGISTER HERE.Storytelling for Effective Granting Writing and Reporting - MONDAY, March 3, 5:30 – 7:30 pm at Arbutus Folk SchoolTelling your story effectively is key to securing grants, and gathering the experiences all year round is key to telling your story. Learn how, from a panel of local experts + small-group peer discussion, led by Window Seat Media. REGISTER HERE.Support is available to anyone experiencing barriers to participation. Contact Meg Rosenberg for assistance: meg@windowseatmedia.org.

Save the date for the annual gathering!

Thursday, May 22nd 5:00 - 8:00 pm
Burfoot Park Meadow Shelter

Food for Thought
stories, projects, events, and works we love

Community Sustaining Fund of Thurston County

Window Seat is a recipient of $1,000 from the most recent Community Sustaining Fund grant cycle. Our Pride Storytelling Project is in good company with the other grant recipients, Nisqually Reach Nature Center's Nature Center Mural Projects; The Journal of Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater (JOLT)'s Nourish Our Civic Lives; Thurston Housing Land Trust's Digital Outreach Toolkit; and Wild River Healing Arts' Queer+ Trans Disabled Support Group.

"Window Seat is a local, community-based oral history and storytelling organization that works within our community to document stories and activate historical memories left out, ignored, or silenced from local history. Through oral history and storytelling projects, Window Seat builds community capacity in arts, culture, education, human rights, and social justice. The CSF grant funding supports the development and execution of the Pride Storytelling Project: a community-based documentation effort to capture and preserve oral histories of Thurston County's vibrant LGBTQ+ community."The Community Sustaining Fund (CSF) is a WA State registered non-profit organized to provide grant funding to progressive, community-oriented projects in Thurston County. Funding is aimed at creating and sustaining a democratic, just, nonviolent, and ecologically sound society. CSF has raised and distributed over $125,000 to more than 200 organizations and individuals. Thank you for investing in us.

​Window Seat's mission is to spark conversation, connection, and social change through community oral history and storytelling. Our nonprofit aims to weave the stories that often go unshared into the fabric of our public life. 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.