Reading, PA – Starting on June 26, through August 30, journalist, storyteller, and poet, Anthony Orozco will be meeting with community members, collecting stories, and transforming them into small videos that will be played on BCTV. This is the first partnership between Barrio Alegria and BCTV, who see it as an opportunity to highlight community stories on the community media platform.
The goal of this residency is that through the cultivation, expression, production, and sharing of these stories, residents will strengthen their relationship to the Reading community and that the stories themselves will help increase an understanding of the diversity of the Latinx community in Reading.
Our resident artist will meet with a core group of 8 participants to work on storytelling, and video making. Through this Residency, participants will improve their ability to frame narratives and develop skills such as scoping, planning, messaging, and project management.
“Last year during one of our BAILE (leadership and inspiration learning) trips, we visited Philadelphia’s Chinatown and attended the Asian Arts Initiative, a symposium that talked about Creative placekeeping in Chinatowns. There, one of the speakers stressed the importance of communities choosing who tells their stories, and what is being told, lest others tell the stories for us. We took those words to heart, and have been looking for a way to foster and enable creators of our narratives. We are extremely fortunate to have an artist like Anthony Orozco, who is committed to the marriage between good writing and good storytelling as the artist for this residency. He, I am sure, will inspire those community members working with him to collect, and produce the stories,” said Daniel Egusquiza, Barrio Alegria. Egusquiza also serves as a Board member for BCTV.
Heather Adams, Executive Director of BCTV added, “The opportunity to work with Barrio Alegria and Mr. Orozco to highlight local community narratives is unique, and a great partnership for our dynamic organizations. We are appreciative for the grant that is making this program possible, and look forward to sharing these stories with our community and beyond.”
Those interested in participating in the program should email: [email protected]
You Might Also Like
From the Archives: Vintage Exhibits at the NAP 7-22-20
