Syracuse University to celebrate Syracuse Stories: An All Arts Festival

Festival to be held during Syracuse ArtsWeek, July 25-31

Syracuse Stories: An All Arts Festival, part of the community-based initiative Art Across Borders, is a communitywide storytelling festival modeled on the International Literary Festival of Paraty, Brazil (FLIP).  Syracuse Stories is scheduled for Syracuse ArtsWeek, July 25-31. Through its multi-media arts programming, Syracuse Stories provides a place and space for storytelling and making.  It is a time for all members of the Syracuse and Central New York community to experience through the arts the diverse cultural communities and institutions that have over time created the community. 

Among the sponsor partners of Syracuse Stories are the Syracuse University Arts Presenter Office, WAER-FM, Say Yes to Education and the Syracuse International Film Festival, in addition to ProLiteracy, The Gifford Foundation, Le Moyne College (CURAR), the CNY Community Foundation, Clear Channel Syracuse, the Everson Museum of Art, the Kauffman Foundation, the Westcott Community Center, the Onondaga Nation and many arts and community groups and organizations. 

Syracuse Stories is rooted in a simple insight: everyone loves a good story. Whether they are sad or joyful, provocative or whimsical, stories make us human. They are told through the arts; through song and dance, poems and music, theater and the visual arts, film and puppetry, oral history and the written word. 

The goals of Syracuse Stories are simple, but the stories it invites are not simple:

• to tell the stories of the greater Syracuse area. To connect over time and space the many communities and cultures that have settled in Central New York and created varied forms of cultural expression, contributing to the dynamic, often contested, sometimes conflicting, history of this area;
• to encourage communication between cultural groups and organizations to address the things that connect us; the common human desires and hopes that stories reveal. Sharing stories helps us surmount cultural divides and misunderstanding;
• to create a new community-wide ritual of inclusive storytelling that builds bridges across boundaries that divide, and helps us as a community to create a new story worth telling. It might be contradictory or troubling, but because it is more inclusive, it encourages us to recognize that one group’s progress may be another’s loss and that the stories we have inherited about progress and history can become much more complicated once all characters are present and telling their own stories; and
• to support the narrative dimension of all the arts, and to provide space for a broad range of artistic expression and celebration. 

Syracuse Stories Schedule 

The Power of Stories—7 p.m. Monday, July 25; Everson Museum of Art, Hosmer Auditorium
Syracuse Stories is honored to have Syracuse University, in association with the Congolese Community of Syracuse, Ping Chong and Company and Syracuse Stage present a workshop performance of “Cry for Peace, Voices from the Congo,” written by Ping Chong and Kyle Bass in collaboration with Cyprien Mihigo, representing the Congolese Community of Syracuse. Free. ASL Interpreters will be provided. 

Syracuse Stories: Stories From Generation to Generation—10 a.m.-noon Wednesday, July 27; Thornden Park
Community artists from a range of cultural traditions, partnering with Say Yes to Education, will provide children, teachers, parents and community members with story-based arts programming. Free and open to the public. 

Syracuse Stories: An All Arts Festival ProLiteracy Day of Stories—10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, July 30; Everson Museum of Art and Community Plaza 
Cultural groups, organizations, community groups and individuals from each quadrant of the City of Syracuse and the Onondaga Nation will tell their tales through story-based arts and performance. There will be interactive programming that invites everyone to contribute their story to the history of the community. All events are free. ASL interpreters will be provided for some events. ProLiteracy is the primary sponsor of the Day of Stories.

Syracuse Stories: All Syracuse Film Fest—10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, July 30; Everson Museum of Art, Hosmer Auditorium.
Films, documentaries and videos by, for and about Syracuseans, Syracuse and Central New York. Discussion and stories about the making of the works. Curated and sponsored by the Syracuse International Film Fest. Free. 

Syracuse Stories: Gifford Foundation Story Corridor—10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, July 30; Walk the story corridor between Columbus Circle and the Everson Museum of Art. 
A fun stroll with free activities and entertainment. Walk from other ArtsWeek Festivals and events to Syracuse Stories at the Everson and back. Free and fun. 

For all Syracuse ArtsWeek events and festival, including Syracuse Stories, parking is free at SU’s Manley North lot to take the free Connective Corridor bus downtown to the Everson and other ArtsWeek stops. 

Art Across Borders is an unincorporated grassroots coalition of individuals and organizations based in Onondaga County. Art Across Borders is artists and activists dedicated to creating new spaces for dialogue and sharing across the boundaries of local cultural communities; enhancing the role of art and culture in the everyday lives of people in the area; and organizing arts-based initiatives for community and economic development. The CNY Arts Covenant, which Art Across Borders, developed and launched in summer 2009, has become an independent initiative.  

For full information on Syracuse Stories, contact Mary Stanley, co-coordinator, marybstanl@aol.com or syracusestories@gmail.com; (315) 559-7232.