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Center on Aging and Community

What We Do > Promoting Voice

Collecting Stories


Cultivating Community Memory - Celebrating Lives Through Story Sharing


Peggy and Jennie interview two friends in the Story Tent                         A line forms at the Center Story Tent

CAC believes strongly in helping people find their voice and giving a voice to “unheard” citizens - those on the fringe of society and those whom, for a variety of reasons, do not or cannot speak up to have their voices heard.

The Storytelling project aims to collect and preserve life stories (oral histories) of ordinary citizens. The stories collected are as diverse as the people who tell them, and commemorate and celebrate people from all walks of life giving heft to the fabric of our community through their daily work, play, traditions and dreams.

The Center on Aging and Community (CAC) had the privilege to collect many Indiana stories the past several years for a variety of organizations with varying objectives utilizing the Story Tent. Our role is facilitating the story collection. We develop interview questions or provide technical assistance to help the host organization develop questions. We arrive with our 10x10 tent, video equipment, an interviewer and videographer. Upon completion of the interviews, the footage is turned over to the host organization or we are contracted for editing and product development.

Some of our Storytelling projects include:

• The Indiana Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities ConferenceInterviewing in the Story Tent
Each year we attend the conference and interview attendees on a theme. As an example, here's a direct link to our 2010 conference interviews, but you can find more on our CACVOICES YouTube channel.

• Senior Expo
Seniors share their thoughts, stories and advice with us at this annual event. Watch our 2011 interviews.

• Bloomington Housing Authority
We've filmed at the National Night Out and created a video for the Crestmont Boys and Girls Club Bike Archway project.

• Memory of the Fair
Monroe County Fair visitors of all ages told us about their memories of the fair's 50-year existence. We created a video of their stories and shared copies of it locally. Watch The Memory of the Fair.