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Storytelling isn“t just for kindergarten
StoryCorps gives Milwaukee an opportunity to tell its story
By Melissa Campbell
â??Milwaukee is full of unique characters. We donâ??t often get to hear their stories across cultures. We can hear the broad range of who we are and what we mean.â?
The phrase “tell me a story” got a new connotation for Milwaukee residents on Jan. 25 when StoryCorps opened an outpost StoryBooth in Milwaukee. This is the third StoryBooth in the nation, and the first outside New York City.
StoryCorps, located in the Oriental Room of Milwaukee“s Central Library, is a small sound-proof booth with professional recording equipment that will be open until July 25.
A pair, usually family or friends, are able to step inside the booth and shares stories with one another while a facilitator records the conversation. They are given a maximum of 40 minutes for their interview, as it is called.
At the conclusion, they are given a CD recording as a keepsake of the event. StoryCorps asks for a suggested donation of $10, all of which goes to back to fund StoryCorps, said Gillian Kocher, of Dan Klores Communications, the New York PR firm representing StoryCorps.
Participants are also asked to sign release forms that allow a copy of the recording to be kept in the American Folk Life Collection in the Library of Congress archives, as well as release the story to be used on WUWM“s Lake Effect or NPR“s morning show. This request is voluntary and is not required to participate in StoryCorps, said local coordinator Steve Bernfield.
“The stories are going to be there forever, or as long as the Library of Congress is around,” said Bernfield.
Bernfield“s main function is to ensure that the booth is filled with diverse population. StoryCorps attempts to represent the entire population by reaching out to different cultural groups, said Bernfield. Each month he has outreach partnerships with different community organizations.
In March, StoryCorps will be teaming up with the Alzheimer“s Association; in April, the United Community Center (a well-known Latino organization); and in June, Luther Manor, a senior living community. StoryCorps reserves half of the appointments every month for these various organizations, and leaves the other half open to the general public.
On campus, the Center for Aging and Community as well as DocUWM are working with StoryCorps to help get University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee students, staff and alumni involved in this opportunity that is “unique to Milwaukee,” explained Bernfield.
Bernsfield is excited about StoryCorps“ presence in Milwaukee. “It“s a great way for people to become a part of history, for people to be remembered.”
Bernfield and Ann Basting, director of the Center for Aging and Community, are trying to drum up community support and involvement.
Basting was instrumental in bringing the outpost StoryBooth to Milwaukee. She became interested in October 2003, when the first StoryBooth opened in New York City“s Grand Central Terminal.
The Grand Central StoryBooth, a freestanding booth, had a price tag of $1 million, a number not feasible for Milwaukee. Basting, however, did not let that stop her.
“I teach storytelling,” said Basting. “Storytelling is what I do and what I believe in.”
She worked with StoryCorps through the development of an outpost StoryBooth, a booth that would not be permanent, but would stay longer than the mobile StoryBooths, which travel the country in Airstream trailers, stopping for a few days at a time.
Basting helped to raise $90,000 to help secure StoryCorps in Milwaukee for six months. Basting and the Center of Aging Community, the coordinating sponsor, secured a location sponsor, the Milwaukee Public Library, and media sponsors, WUWM and DocUWM.
“We want every resident who is interested in StoryCorps to have the chance to interview someone they know or share their own stories,” said Basting.
The Center hopes to have a reception to find more local and corporate sponsors, and raise money to keep StoryCorps in Milwaukee an additional six months.
“Milwaukee is full of unique characters,” said Basting. “We don“t often get to hear their stories across cultures. We can hear the broad range of who we are and what we mean.”
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