June e-news
Sharing our stories. Strengthening our communities.
Dear Friends,
Summer is just around the corner and we can't wait for the longer, slower days. We'll be spending more time with our families and friends and a bit less time in the office and community in July and August. We are looking forward bringing people together this summer for two exciting opportunities, and we will be busy supporting Interfaith Works on a storytelling project to celebrate their 50th anniversary in September.
Our Summer Institute: Oral History in the Classroom and Community will be held on August 16th and 17th at Arbutus Folk School. (By the way, we moved to Arbutus last week!) It is open to all and offers educators 6 clock hours. We have also rescheduled our Community Storytelling Gathering for the last weekend of August. The format will be a bit simpler, but all the important components - food, storytelling, and nature - will be there. We hope you will join us. You can read all about these and other news below, including our last Creativity Salon of the season featuring poet Suzanne Simons.
Please consider becoming a Friend of Community Storytelling by making a pledge this summer. We have some fun perks as gratitude for your support. Pledges of all sizes make a big difference.
We hope the sunshine warms your heart and relaxes your soul this summer.
Warmly,
Elaine & Meg
Summer Events
June Creativity Salon
Tuesday, June 11th, 6:30-8:30PM
The Liberation Collective at the YWCA Friendship Hall
220 Union Ave SE, Olympia
Has Window Seat Media's Creativity Salon series caught your eye? You're in luck, because next Tuesday, we'll have a special session featuring local educator, poet, activist, and dreamer Suzanne Simmons, who will be leading a workshop, "Spatial Poetry: Blending Visual and Word Art." Spatial poetry appeals to our writers and visual artists, where words map into a shape on the page. Come try something new, connect in community, and explore spaces, places, and spatial history through poetry. Will we see you there? Bring a friend!
Access for all. For artists and storytellers of all ages! Subscribe to Window Seat's Friends of Community Storytelling Program to support this series.
Summer Oral History Institute
Friday and Saturday, August 16 & 17, 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Arbutus Folk School
705 4th Ave E, Olympia, WA 98501
Learn how to lead a community-based oral history project in your classroom or community. Participants grow skills in project development, archival research methods, oral history interviewing, audio recording, and ethical best practices for documenting community and family histories. This offering is ideal for middle and high school teachers, librarians, professionals working in arts and culture fields, or anyone interested in facilitating an ethical, community-based research project using oral history methods. 6 educator clock hours provided.Sliding Scale Cost: Full Rate $180 / Supporting Rate $225 / Needing Support Rate $135**Educators may be eligible for funding for this offering through a WEA Community Outreach Grant. Learn more here.Register Now
Save the Date
We have rescheduled our annual gathering for the evening of Thursday, August 29th. After having to postpone our May gathering, we're excited to celebrate our community engagement this past year with our dearest friends at a storytelling circle event.RSVP
What's New!
Thanks for joining Brave Practice at ASHHO
We ended Brave Practice Playback Theatre collective's season with a final workshop in our "Stories of Bravery" series at ASHHO Cultural Community Center. One participant said the experience was "'delicious' and nourishing." Our troupe is off for the summer! We'll see you starting next September, amplifying community stories and practicing bravery.
We've moved into Arbutus Folk School!
We are excited to officially announce our move to the second floor of the Arbutus Folk School building into what is lovingly called "The Eagles Nest" suite. We're thrilled to join this artist community and the aligned missions of our organizations grounded in honoring folk traditions.Our new physical address is: 705 4th Ave E Ste 101, Olympia, WA 98506.Our mailing address remains the same: P.O. Box 2733, Olympia, WA 98507.
Our last event with Arbutus in 2022 was an artist talk with Master Storyteller and Quinault Basketweaver, Harvest Moon, and local musician and luthier, Daniel McKinstry. Both have deep ties to the region and a shared love for western red cedar as a medium for their craft. The event explored how handicraft is a form of storytelling and how it connects us to our homeplace and each other. Here's to our continued collaboration.
Ways to Support Our Work
Become a Friend of Community Storytelling
Subscribing to our Friends of Community Storytelling program is an easy way to support the community-based oral history and storytelling programming you love!
This year, we have some cool incentives for subscribers:
- Friends - $5+/ month, $60+/ year: Window Seat Media annual themed pin
- Neighbors - $10+/ month, $120/ year: Community Roots bookmark
- Connectors - $25+/ month, $300/ year: Annual themed tote bag
- Cultivators - $50+/ month, $600/ year: Community Roots letterpress print (design by Aïcha El Beloui)
- Champions - $100+/ month, $1,200+/ year: Group cooking class with Terry Vanderpham and Phamily Cooking aka Nourish Olympia.
If we reach the following new subscriber goals, as a thank you, we will be doing some fun things!
- Tier 1 - 5 new subscribers: Meg draws one person at random to receive a personalized ephemera card with collage materials (you contribute lots of these) and a hand-created main image of your choice.
- Tier 2 - 10 new subscribers: Elaine draws two people at random to receive one loaf of Vetebrod (Swedish coffee bread)
- Tier 3 - 20+ new subscribers: We draw one person at random to receive an hour-long free consultation for your next storytelling or oral history project with Meg and Elaine.
Your contribution pays directly for the community events, exhibits, workshops, and performances you love! Your money supports not just us, but the numerous collaborators and artists we invest in through our work. Donations allow us to be nimble in our community programming and continue to offer large sliding pricing for our events and services. It’s as simple as $5 a month.
We deeply value your reciprocal relationship in fundraising. Thank you for helping us spark conversation, connection, and social change.
Food for Thought
stories, projects, events, and works we love
Join the Thurston County Asset Building Coalition for their first We Rise Economic Empowerment Retreat: We are stronger together! This is a free event centering community connection and support around financial wellbeing. Location: Millersylvania State Park Retreat Center. June 10th: Networking Reception for Social Services Providers. June 11th: Community Economic Empowerment Retreat and Resource Fair. Window Seat will be doing a storytelling circle activity with retreat participants on the 11th.
