A Request from our new Executive Director, Tasha Levy.
Creating Pathways.
When I joined Storycatchers Theatre last spring, I was excited to be a part of this extraordinary organization. As a former educator, I knew firsthand what a powerful tool the arts can be. When youth can share both their pain and their dreams in a safe place – when they feel seen and heard and empowered – they begin to realize that anything is possible.
The first step is to give young people whose voices have long gone unheard an opportunity to share their stories with each other. We haven’t always been able to bring all of the youth in our programs together in recent years – a pandemic and staffing shortages have created all kinds of unexpected obstacles. But I’ve learned that nothing stops Storycatchers from figuring out a way.
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The best part of Storycatchers is connecting with the youth.
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Nourishing Potential.
By working with each other to turn their stories into art, our young people learn not only the joys of self-expression but also how to respect different perspectives while blending their visions together. So, when we faced some new challenges in the past year, we got creative ourselves. And the results were extraordinary.
Our teaching artists built bridges for youth within our partner institutions even when facility restrictions meant smaller groups in separate spaces. At the Illinois Youth Center in Warrenville, a boy and a girl expressed their adolescent heartbreak from different rooms, combining two stories into a single beautiful poem. In the Chicago facility, we guided boys from opposing gangs, who persistently view one another as enemies, to create a script that articulated just how much they have in common – to their own surprise.
You Can Help.
We need to raise $50,000 by December 31. These funds are critical to our work with young people who are just beginning to discover empathy and explore their potential. We want to help every one of them realize their own power so that they can forge new pathways. These are children who are learning that they don’t have to be trapped by their pasts – their futures are filled with possibility when they get the support they need.
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