Shelter & Place

Emerging adults (16-26) who are either currently unhoused or in the process of building their way out of homelessness were involved in a unique storytelling program the week before the evening of July 17, 2020. This video is the result of their labor. Shelter & Place was a pop-up drive-in theatre, an opportunity for the public to experience their stories on the big screen (sound transmitted via radio), while storytellers interacted with them outside their vehicles. Each storyteller had unique, handwritten signs that they walked amongst the cars displaying, while the stories were playing. Signs read things like, "My Black Trans Life Matters," "Ice Skating is Beautiful," and "Purpose Over Money." At the end of the night, all performers walked through the cars en masse with the other side of their signs displaying a unified message of "We Matter." This project was funded by Alternate ROOTS and generous donors through an Indiegogo campaign, as well as a number of crucial in-kind donations. Stories were filmed on location by Xerophile.