We imagine a world where storytelling creates just and joyful communities.
Mission
At the Barbara Geralds Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact, we weave together meaningful stories with those who live them. We foster collaborative storytelling and advance narrative scholarship to catalyze collective action.
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Fostering Collaborative Storytelling
- Creating spaces for narrative encounters that encourage understanding, empathy and connection across differences.
- Working alongside community members to witness, create and share stories in creative forms to educate and effect change.
- Collaborating with non-profits, granting agencies and private industry.
Image: Lynn Harter (right), Megan Westervelt, and Jorge Castillo film artist Tad Semsel and his creative process at Passion Works Studio.
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Advancing Narrative Scholarship
- Involving OHIO faculty and students in the creation and analysis of storytelling.
- Conducting inter-disciplinary, participatory and narrative-based research.
- Cultivating narrative pedagogies that harness the power of storytelling for catalytic learning.
Image: Joe Bianco (right) interviews OHIO doctoral students Chuck Kaminski and Tobi Odunsi in Studio B at WOUB Public Media Center.
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Guiding Principles
- Elevate community voices and local forms of knowledge.
- Surface and amplify voices previously unheard or dismissed.
- Shift dominant narratives that limit human potential.
- Enhance individual and communal well-being.
- Model ways to thrive amid trauma and hardship.
Image: Benefactor Barbara Geralds (left) joins Bernadette Henry, Hannah Back, Kelsey Williams, and Lynn Harter on set during a filming session at the University of Texas AD Anderson Children's Hospital in Houston, Texas.
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Our Narrative Work
- Interactive workshops
- Feature-length films
- Art installations
- Academic essays
- Digital stories
- Audio podcasts
- Immersive media
- Poetic interpretations
Image: During a Turn it Gold OHIO men's basketball game, 10-year-old childhood cancer survivor Ethan Barnhart receives a Passion Works Studio flower.
Leadership Team
Contact Us
For information about the Storytelling Institute and how to support it, please contact Lynn Harter at harter@ohio.edu or Amanda DeWees at deweesa@ohio.edu.