Veterans’ Voices: An evening of Crankie Storytelling

Join us for an evening of Crankie storytelling featuring the stories of local veterans — their memories, feelings, and reflections on their experience and how their military service has shaped their lives today.

Five artists part of the LAB at ArtYard, a new social practice residency that brings together artists from different disciplines to create new work, will perform Crankies, a homemade, hand-turned paper story reel brought to life with spoken word and music.

As part of the residency, a partnership of ArtYard and New Brunswick-based coLAB Arts, invited artists will conduct and document oral histories of local veterans and work with researchers and experts to look into overlapping themes from the stories, providing insight into how personal experiences tie into larger structural or policy challenges facing community members. The artists will then come together for a weeklong residency in Frenchtown to turn the stories into Crankies culminating in the performance.

Veterans Voices was born out of the belief that everyone has a story to tell, and every person is deserving of having their story heard and reflected in our art and media. Sharing your story with others is a vulnerable act that can lead to healing and social connection. It can also lead to social change.