writing on your feet
Fall 2025

For the past five years, Ancram Center has led storytelling workshops, modeled after our Real People Real Stories community storytelling program, with 4th, 5th and 6th graders at neighboring schools.

The project supports each school's literacy and writing pedagogies by utilizing live storytelling as a step towards composing personal narratives. Through the workshop, Ancram Center Co-Director Paul Ricciardi and a team of teaching artists provide instruction to nearly 300 students, helping each to develop and tell a story about a memorable event in their life. This year’s program served 3rd and 4th graders from the Taconic Hills Elementary and 5th graders from Webutuck School District’s Eugene Brooks Intermediate School. As a culminating event, students sign up to share their tale from the Ancram Center stage. Below is this year’s presentation that took place on November 8.

Ancram Center’s storytelling initiative in the schools has been made possible through a grant from The Ackerman Foundation and the generosity of community members.