Saint Louis Story Stitchers Artists Collective Announce The WHY of MY City – Fair Ground

ST. LOUIS - March 18, 2024 - PRLog -- Celebrate Black history and youth empowerment with a new production by Saint Louis Story Stitchers, written by Story Stitchers artists and directed by Sillo.

Synopsis of the story: In a top podcast show a 19-year-old Army Reservist draws inspiration from a Civil War  story about the power of young people to make progress towards fair ground.

The WHY of MY City is a multi-year signature program that captures and documents pieces of black history through written word and art while training the next generation to become active, engaged citizens. Our goal is that programs become a force multiplier, rippling into families, schools, and neighborhoods, offering solutions to common urban problems.

Saint Louis Story Stitchers artists have been meeting since January to write a new script of fictional history for The WHY of MY City – Fair Ground, centering on the story of a young African American man, enslaved in central Missouri in 1862, who makes his way to St. Louis and joins the Union Army, becoming a free man upon enlisting. At Benton Barracks, which sat on the land we now call Fairground Park, he learned to read and write. After the Civil War, our young soldier joins with peers to create an amazing and lasting legacy for his home state. Our inspiring story is one that alumni of Lincoln University famously celebrate. Themes in the production include civic responsibility, young adults taking collective action to help others, and the power of youth to shape society and their world, including creating lasting change for the future. The WHY of MY City – Fair Ground honors Black history, military service, quality education for all, and the great State of Missouri, which fosters the young leaders of tomorrow.

The WHY of MY City – Fair Ground
https://storystitchers.org/the-why-of-my-city-fair-ground/
April 18 and 19, 2024 at 7:00
.ZACK Theatre, 3224 Locust, St. Louis, 63103
$10 on MetroTix
https://www.metrotix.com/events/detail/saint-louis-story-stitchers-the-why-of-my-city-fair-ground

Saint Louis Story Stitchers' The WHY of MY City is funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts and Missouri Arts Council. Support for Story Stitchers creative youth development programs is provided in part by The Lewis Prize for Music 2021 Accelerator Award. Additional support is provided by Kranzberg Arts Foundation, where Saint Louis Story Stitchers is a proud resident organization, Ameren Missouri, and Arts and Education Council.

Saint Louis Story Stitchers is a nationally recognized Artists Collective known for high quality art and innovative youth violence prevention programs.