Brooklyn Borough Prez celebrates women storytellers

More than 150 Brooklynites joined Brooklyn Borough President, Antonio Reynoso last Thursday night to celebrate the “Women Who Tell Our Stories”, with an evening of comedy and storytelling at Brooklyn Borough Hall.

The Brooklyn President’s Office said the Women’s History Month celebration – hosted with the support of Brooklyn for All, Inc. and Ponce Bank – featured comedy sets by comedians Chanel Ali and Sara Hennessey from the Brooklyn Comedy Collective, as well as a micro-workshop on storytelling and placemaking led by Brooklyn-based artist Kira Joy Williams of The Laundromat Project, a Black-rooted, POC-centered, community-based arts organization dedicated to the advancement of artists and residents of New York City as change agents within their own communities.

Kira’s workshop honored the radical history of Black women storytellers and craft-workers who used quilting in order to preserve cultural memory and communicate across physical distances and generations.

The Brooklyn President’s Office said Kira first shared her oral history and visual storytelling project, Home is in the Stories, highlighting stories shared with her by Black women in Brooklyn.

Participants then participated in an interactive version of this project, sharing their stories of home and capturing portraits of one another. At the workshop’s close, participants created a collective, photo-based story-quilt.

“Storytelling is at the heart of everything that makes us special: the traditions of our ancestors, the compassion of community, and the subversive imagination that spurs local and global change,” said Reynoso. “This month, we’re celebrating the women who carry our stories beyond borders and across time – whether through spoken word and oral history, song and music, poetry and prose, and so much more.

“It’s through their creativity and perseverance that once-whispered stories and people nearly lost to time have secured the place in our cultural memory they deserved from the beginning,” he added. “I’m so grateful to Ponce Bank for their support in bringing comedians Chanel Ali and Sara Hennessy from the Brooklyn Comedy Collection and artist Kira Joy Williams from The Laundromat Project here to Borough Hall for our Women’s History Month celebration. It was such a treat to enjoy this night of laughter and sharing with Brooklynites from all over this beautiful borough.”

The borough president awarded Liz Koch and Carolyn Greer, co-founders of the Brooklyn Book Festival, with citations in honor of their decades of contributions to arts and culture in Brooklyn, including their work bringing 40,000 people together annually at the largest free literacy event in New York City.

The evening celebration was made possible by the support of Brooklyn for All, Inc. and Ponce Bank, with Brooklyn Brewery and Heights Chateau providing refreshments.

“At Ponce Bank, we have a history of championing women in business, women in the workplace, and women of all ages and backgrounds,” said Madeline Marquez, executive vice president/chief external affairs officer at Ponce Bank. “It’s been an important mission of ours, supporting women to reach their goals and to accomplish whatever we set out to achieve. We’re particularly proud that we have women at all levels of our banking organization –  women in management, women at the branch level, and women working with business and retail clients in the community.

“Acknowledging Women’s History Month goes hand in hand with what we do at Ponce Bank,” she added. “At the same time, we’re proud once again to work with the Brooklyn Borough President in support of women throughout Brooklyn, and beyond.

“We’re enthusiastic about working with Borough President Antonio Reynoso and we look forward to continuing to work closely with his office to further elevate the role of women – not just in the workplace, but throughout our entire community,” Maquez continued.

“Comedy is thankfully shifting focus from a man’s perspective about airline food, to include and celebrate a woman’s perspective about airline food. And things other than airline food too,” said Maya Sharma, programming director of the Brooklyn Comedy Collective. “It’s a needed change, and my experience at BCC has been crucial for developing my personal voice and giving me the confidence to share it unapologetically through a microphone.”

“Thank you to Brooklyn Borough President Reynoso for inviting The Laundromat Project and our Create Change Artist-in-Residence Kira Joy Williams to participate in this dynamic Women’s History Month program,” said Ayesha Williams, executive director of The Laundromat Project. “It is not just a privilege but an honor to uplift and amplify the stories of women. Each story holds power to inspire and transform our communities and the world for the better.

“This is evident through Kira’s project Home is in the Stories, an artistic archive comprising portraits of and oral histories from Black residents of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn,” she added. “With Women’s History Month’s focus on Storytelling, Kira’s project reminds us that it is imperative we take control of our own narratives and that our stories are the essential basis for building lasting community power.”