Features:
2ND STORY CHANGES THE WORLD ONE STORY AT A TIME
“CultureBuilds, an extension of 2nd Story, seeks to bring the empathy, compassion, and humanity of the storytelling experience to the workplace. Unlike more traditional HR sensitivity training, CultureBuilds is differentiated by its focus not on one-size-fits-all PowerPoint presentations but in the power of a single story to facilitate growth and spur the pursuit of empathy and understanding in the workplace.”
Arts Leaders Discuss The Upside To Lockdown
“Indeed, when the Chicago-based Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation surveyed more than 60 of its arts grantees, it unearthed the benefits to virtual programming. The organization, which offers unrestricted grants to 175 small arts organizations in Chicago with budgets under $1 million, found the majority of arts groups were able to reach new, broader audiences via online events of 2020.”
Society & Culture: Inside Story
2nd Story’s Managing Director Lauren Sivak was featured in CS Modern Luxury discussing 2nd Story’s 20th anniversary.
Addressing Trauma at the Community Level in Chicago
Recently, Lawrence Hall, a nonprofit serving at-risk children and adolescents in Chicago, joined with five other organizations to kick-start a community conversation on how neighborhoods can best respond to traumas, both individual and collective. The group included the Kedzie Center, a community mental health clinic; Cook County Health and Hospital Systems; North Park University, a faith-based college; the North River Commission, an economic development nonprofit; and 2nd Story, an organization that focuses on creating “spaces where people can share and deeply listen to one another’s stories.”Together, they convened a gathering on September 26, 2018, titled “We’re All in This Together: A Neighborhood Conversation on Building Empathy and Safe Communities.”
“In what has proven to be a brilliant experiment in developing a literature-theater hybrid, they continue to push the already wide boundaries of creative nonfiction. Once an annual festival, 2nd Story has expanded to performing three to six times a month, and now has a stable of more than a hundred active performers.”
“At least, that’s the plan: to share stories that represent different parts of American life—themes include drugs, birth, jazz, luck, cancer, fortunetellers, race, drunken girls and faith, among others. They’re different, funny and hysterical at times, but the stories can also draw you into a stillness that’s hard to shake, making you want to give the teller a hug. A huge one.”
“In vampire lore, the undead often have the ability to “glamour” humans: They focus an intense type of hypnotism on humans, forcing them to believe what the vampire says. Being in the audience for a performance of 2nd Story, one of Chicago’s premier literary reading series, is kind of like being glamoured.”
“Mesmerized by 2nd Story.”
“While the process really grew out of trial-and-error, Amanda and I can certainly attribute our current good fortune to the amazing team of super-talented, dedicated people we’ve got in all aspects of the organization: production, music, marketing, story development, performance direction, sound design, storytellers and, most importantly, our wonderful, committed audience that keeps coming back, that finds value in what we do, that recognizes the power in a simple story and, hopefully, the inspiration to tell their own.”
“To audience members, 2nd Story may be most effective due to its unique format, which fosters discussion among the audience first and foremost. The name, Delheimer notes, is a play on words — not only does the series take place on the second story of Webster’s Wine Bar, but the ultimate goal of the series is “to get people to tell their story afterwards. That second story after each performance is what we’re really trying to get at.”
Media & Press Inquiries:
Amanda Berrios, The Silverman Group || amanda@silvermangroupchicago.com