Last week, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso hosted a storytelling event at Brooklyn Borough Hall in celebration of March, which is Women's History Month.
The event featured a comedy show with side-splitting sets from comedians Chanel Ali and Sara Hennessey, who are both a part of the Brooklyn Comedy Collective, a local alternative comedy organization.
In addition to the evening's standup performances, the event also hosted a micro-workshop on storytelling and place-making, which was led by local artist Kira Joy Williams of The Laundromat Project, which is a community arts organization dedicated to the advancement of New York City's artists and residents with a specific focus on uplifting creators of color.
The workshop honored the history of Black women storytellers and craft workers that utilized quilting as a method of communication and preserving cultural memories.
During the workshop, Williams shared her visual storytelling project "Home is in the Stories" — which highlighted stories shared by Black women in Brooklyn — and then led participants in an interactive version of the project, in which they shared their own stories.
The workshop concluded with the creation of a photo-based story quilt, which was collectively made by the group of participants.
“Thank you to Brooklyn Borough President Reynoso for inviting The Laundromat Project and our Create Change Artist-in-Residence Kira Joy Williams to participate in this dynamic Women’s History Month program,” said Ayesha Williams, executive director of The Laundromat Project.
“It is not just a privilege but an honor to uplift and amplify the stories of women. Each story holds power to inspire and transform our communities and the world for the better."
Honored at the event were Liz Koch and Carolyn Greer, the co-founders of the Brooklyn Book Festival, who were both awarded with citations by the Brooklyn Borough President for their decades of contributions to arts and culture in Brooklyn, including the creation of the largest free literacy event in NYC.
“Storytelling is at the heart of everything that makes us special: the traditions of our ancestors, the compassion of community, and the subversive imagination that spurs local and global change,” said Reynoso.
“This month, we’re celebrating the women who carry our stories beyond borders and across time — whether through spoken word and oral history, song and music, poetry and prose, and so much more. It’s through their creativity and perseverance that once-whispered stories and people nearly lost to time have secured the place in our cultural memory they deserved from the beginning."
