Hosted by MADE Lab founding director AJ Escoffery, Jenna Anast and Makiah Green, this two-day workshop convened together storytellers and community producers in the Midwest to ask: how can we co-create stories with the communities informed by our ancestries?

Bringing together filmmakers and mediamakers aligned with organizations led by people of color, this invite-only workshop connected emerging storytellers with nationally recognized leaders in storytelling, media, and community organizing. The first day focused on engaging communities with ancestry-informed stories, and the second focused on how to tell stories informed by our ancestries.

Keynote conversations and panels featured storytellers and community organizers whose practices reflect deep cultural lineages and intelligences. Afternoon sessions featured emerging storytellers presenting films in development informed by ancestral intelligence. These participants were invited to apply to participate in the workshop by a partner organization based in the Midwest: Mezcla Media Collective, OTV | Open Television, FilmNorth, Detroit Narrative Agency, or Black Ohio Film Group.

Featured speakers included:

aja Monet, Noname. Eve L. Ewing, Fatimah Asghar, Tonika Lewis Johnson. Kamilah Rashied, and Dallas Goldtooth.

For the full program, click here.

Photo credits (above): M. Lamourt & Kin Marie