STORYCORPS, THE GROUNDBREAKING ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, TO VISIT CINCINNATI
MEDIA CONTACT:
Kevin Reynolds, Community Relations Manager
Cincinnati Public Radio
513-419-7104/kreynolds@cinradio.org
StoryCorps Press Desk
646-723-7020 ext. 75,
press@storycorps.org
Jamie Glavic, Director of Marketing & Communications
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
513-333-7511/jglavic@nurfc.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2017 – StoryCorps, a renowned nonprofit organization celebrating the stories of everyday Americans, will record interviews in Cincinnati from Thursday, April 20 to Friday, May 19 as part of its cross-country MobileBooth tour. Having collected more than 65,000 interviews from Americans in all 50 states, StoryCorps has gathered one of the largest single collection of human voices ever recorded.
StoryCorps’ MobileBooth—an Airstream trailer outfitted with a recording studio—will be parked at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Reservations will be available at 10am on Thursday, April 6 and can be made by calling StoryCorps’ 24-hour toll-free reservation line at 1-800-850-4406 or visiting storycorps.org. Additional appointments will be available on Friday, April 21.
In StoryCorps’ MobileBooth, two people are able to record a meaningful conversation with one another about who they are, what they’ve learned in life, and how they want to be remembered. A trained StoryCorps facilitator guides them through the interview process. At the end of each 40-minute recording session, participants receive a complimentary CD copy of their interview. With participant permission, a second copy is archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress for future generations to hear.
Founded in 2003 by award-winning documentary producer and MacArthur Fellow Dave Isay, StoryCorps has traveled to every corner of the country to record interviews in the organization’s effort to create a world where we listen closely to each other and recognize the beauty, grace and poetry in the lives and stories we find all around us.
“StoryCorps tells the true American story—that we are a people defined by small acts of courage, kindness and heroism. Each interview reminds people that their lives matter and will not be forgotten,” said Isay. “By strengthening connections between people and building an archive that reflects the rich diversity of American voices, we hope to build StoryCorps into an enduring institution that will touch the lives of every American family.”
In Cincinnati, StoryCorps will partner with 91.7 WVXU, the local NPR station. 91.7 WVXU will air a selection of the local interviews recorded in the StoryCorps MobileBooth and create special programs around the project. StoryCorps may also share excerpts of these stories with the world through the project’s popular weekly NPR broadcasts, animated shorts, digital platforms, and best-selling books.
"It's been 8 years since the last visit from StoryCorps, and much has changed in Cincinnati since then," said Richard Eiswerth, GM and President of Cincinnati Public Radio, home to 91.7 WVXU. "We are looking forward to welcoming a wide cross-section of our local community to the MobileBooth to record their unique, personal stories for posterity."
About StoryCorps
Founded in 2003 by MacArthur Fellow Dave Isay, the nonprofit organization StoryCorps has given more than 100,000 Americans the chance to record interviews about their lives, pass wisdom from one generation to the next, and leave a legacy for the future. It is the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered. In the coming years StoryCorps hopes to touch the lives of every American family.
Participating in StoryCorps couldn’t be easier: You invite a loved one, or anyone else you chose, to one of the StoryCorps recording sites. There you’re met by a trained facilitator, who greets you and explains the interview process. You’re then brought into a quiet recording room and seated across from your interview partner, each of you in front of a microphone. The facilitator hits "record," and you share a 40-minute conversation. At the end of the session, you walk away with a CD, and a digital file goes to the Library of Congress, where it will be preserved for generations to come. Someday your great-great-great-grandchildren will be able to meet your grandfather, your mother, your best friend, or whomever it is you chose to honor with a StoryCorps interview.
StoryCorps shares edited excerpts of these stories with the world through popular weekly NPR broadcasts, animated shorts, digital platforms, and best-selling books. These powerful stories illustrate our shared humanity and show how much more we share in common than divides us.
StoryCorps has also launched a series of successful national initiatives, including:
- The September 11th Initiative, helping families memorialize the stories of lives lost on September 11, 2001, in partnership with the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center;
- The Griot Initiative, now the largest collection of African American voices ever gathered, in collaboration with the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture;
- The Historias Initiative, the largest collection of Latino and Latina stories ever gathered;
- The Military Voices Initiative, honoring the stories of post-9/11 service members, veterans and their families;
- StoryCorps OutLoud, which documents the powerful, varied experiences of LGBTQ people across America; and
- StoryCorpsU (SCU), an interactive, standards-based college-readiness curriculum for high-needs schools uses StoryCorps content and interviewing techniques to engage the hearts and minds of young people and promote positive student outcomes.
With the 2015 TED Prize awarded to Dave Isay, StoryCorps has launched an app that puts the StoryCorps experience entirely in the hands of users and enables anyone, anywhere to record meaningful conversations with one another. These interviews are preserved at the U.S. Library of Congress and on the StoryCorps.me website, a growing, global archive of the wisdom of humanity.
StoryCorps aims to be an enduring institution that celebrates the dignity, power, and grace that can be heard in the stories we find all around us, and helps us recognize that every life and every story matter equally.
About WVXU
91.7 WVXU is Greater Cincinnati’s dependable in-depth source for news from around the block and around the world. National, international and local programs all have a home at 91.7 FM and include award-winning programs from NPR such as Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Fresh Air; local public affairs and magazine programs Cincinnati Edition and Around Cincinnati; beloved entertainment programs such as Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, This American Life and A Prairie Home Companion; as well as the BBC World Service, PRI’s The World and Q. Our award-winning news team covers our community with six acclaimed journalists led by News Director Maryanne Zeleznik..
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ABOUT THE NATIONAL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD FREEDOM CENTER
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center opened in August 2004 on the banks of the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Since then, more than 1.3 million people have visited its permanent and changing exhibits and public programs, inspiring everyone to take courageous steps for freedom. Two million people have utilized educational resources online at freedomcenter.org, working to connect the lessons of the Underground Railroad to inform and inspire today’s global and local fight for freedom. Partnerships include Historians Against Slavery, Polaris Project, Free the Slaves, US Department of State and International Justice Mission. In 2014, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center launched a new online resource in the fight against modern slavery, endslaverynow.org.
