IFD was fortunate enough to be part of a First Person Arts Salon, which is “an interactive program offering emerging and established artists and writers an opportunity to present their new memoir and documentary-based works or works-in progress, and offering audiences access to exciting new works that might otherwise go unseen.”
Additionally, First Person Arts is gearing up for their annual First Person America competition, which might interest many of you since it deals with true stories. FPA organizer Nick Forrest explains:
We’re collecting stories (video, photography, writing) describing how people are managing across America in these difficult times. Taking inspiration from the WPA project of the 1930s, our goal is to collect a tapestry of stories that, taken together, documents these unique times.
I think it would be great for the LGBT community to be represented, so I hope some of you check it out and submit a piece.
Talking more about the Salon, I was one of four artists to present work. Sarah McEneaney showed her paintings, Stephanie Yuhas played her animated film, Michael Koehler presented his photographs, then I was the last to go. You can read a recap of the night here.
For my 20-minute time slot, I decided to read some select stories from the site. I dragged some friends and one of my brothers along to read as well, to break up the monotony of a lone voice. I’m going to post all the videos in two parts. Part I will have the intro and the first 3 stories. Part II, which will be posted tomorrow, will have the last 3 stories.
A final note, a big thanks to Sebastian Fortino and Patrick Hanley, regular IFD readers who were both in the crowd that night. Sebastian, who has shared a story on IFD, introduced me to the First Person Arts folks. Patrick has also shared a story, which was one of the ones read that night. He also met me the following weekend to be filmed for a Video Story, which you’ll see in the next couple weeks. Thanks for your support, guys.
Continue Reading to watch the first few videos.
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