State of Stories is a series of free public programs produced in partnership with the University of Missouri Extension’s Community Arts Program to commemorate the Missouri Bicentennial. Funding for these programs has been provided by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the William T. Kemper Foundation—Commerce Bank, Trustee, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the Missouri State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
A cornerstone of State of Stories programming is an oral storytelling component, a series of four performances and workshops by master Missouri storytellers. Performances at various MCPL branches will entertain and educate audiences of all ages and represent traditions from across the state. Workshops will help emerging storytellers develop skills and techniques for researching and telling historical stories. Facilitated by Kansas City-based storyteller Joyce Slater, participants completing the sequence of workshops will have the opportunity to tell a five to seven-minute story as part of the state Bicentennial celebration in August 2021.
State of Stories Program Evaluation
If you have attended a program that is part of the State of Stories series, please let us know what you think by filling out our State of Stories Program Evaluation. Your feedback is integral to continuing to provide high-quality programs.
State of Stories Program Archive
Watch select State of Stories programs on MCPL’s YouTube channel.
Storytelling Workshops
Story Coaching
Thursday, June 10 | 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Zoom
Join professional storyteller Joyce Slater for a storycoaching workshop focused on historical oral storytelling. Come prepared to tell a historical story, whether it be reflective of the state's history or your own history.
Telling Your Digital Story, Part 2: Recording Your Story
Telling Your Digital Story, Part 2: Recording Your Story
Saturday, June 26 | 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Zoom
Join Katina Bitsicas, Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Digital Storytelling at the University of Missouri-Columbia, to learn how to record your own digital stories with digital technology. Cinematography, audio capture, and lighting will also be covered. Watch your written words come to visual life!
Presentations and Book Conversations
Confronting the Straight State: The Struggle for LGBTQ Civil Rights in Kansas City
Confronting the Straight State: The Struggle for LGBTQ Civil Rights in Kansas City
Wednesday, June 16 | 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Zoom
Stuart Hinds, Curator of Special Collections & Archives at UMKC, and Austin Williams, director of the award-winning documentary The Ordinance Project, discuss the history of LGBTQ activism in Kansas City. From the formation of the Phoenix Society for Individual Freedom to the recent creation of the city’s LGBTQ Commission, the first of its kind in the state of Missouri, activists have continued to build upon the work of those who came before them.
Book Conversation: The Many Worlds of Evan S. Connell
Book Conversation: The Many Worlds of Evan S. Connell
Tuesday, July 7, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Live on the Story Center’s Facebook Page
Kansas City-based biographer Steve Paul discusses the life and work of author and Kansas City native Evan S Connell. Connell, best known for the novel Mrs. Bridge and the history Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Big Horn, was a writer of a large body of wildly different books. Paul’s forthcoming biography of Connell will be the first in-depth account of his life and work.