What an Artist-in-Resonance Learned About Documentation, Doubt, and Designing from the Margins
When we dreamed NewStories’ Artist-in-Resonance role into being, we were reaching toward creating something we at the time could fully conceptualize: a way to support community-rooted practitioners not just in doing their transformative work, but in bringing us inside it—into the tricky experiments, the doubt-filled pauses, the sudden exhale of breakthrough, and the weight of […]
jesikah maria ross Named Inaugural Artist-in-Resonance at NewStories
NewStories is partnering with jesikah maria ross as our very first Artist-in-Resonance— a new role designed to support community-rooted practitioners who explore how meaningful change happens—through art, storytelling, and shared inquiry.
Unweaving: The Essential Art of Personal Transformation
There is a saying among weavers that to weave well, you must also know how to unweave well. This wisdom extends far beyond the loom, offering profound insights into how we might approach personal growth and social transformation. Mistakes happen. New insights emerge. We grow beyond old patterns and practices. The art of unweaving becomes […]
Rebuilding Dreams in Tomioka: How a Winery Became a Symbol of Resilience and Renewal
So how is a new future created when the old disappears? Let me share a story I heard last month in Tomioka Town in Fukushima, Japan. Before the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear explosions, Tomioka was a town of 16,000 located about 10 miles from the nuclear reactor that exploded. One of the pictures here is […]
Transforming Communities: The ELOS Methodology in Brazil and Beyond
By Rodrigo Rubido, Architect and Entrepreneur, Partner at Ânima Arquitetura, and Co-founder of Instituto ELOS At Instituto ELOS, we believe that the power to shape the future lies within every community. Founded in Brazil, our work is rooted in a series of methods and practices designed to mobilize people, strengthen their individual potentials, and deepen community […]
One Story Across Many Lands: First People’s Convening on Climate Forced Displacement
It all began, for NewStories, with an email in late 2017 from someone who would become a dear colleague and friend. Salote Soqo, a native of Fiji, was working with the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) on First People’s issues, including Climate Forced Displacement. She’d heard about NewStories and was reaching out to talk about […]
Dancing with Life’s Changes: The Dance Palace’s Journey of Renewal With NewStories
Guided by NewStories’ expertise in Principles Guided CoCreation and Re-Storying, the Dance Palace embarked on a transformative journey, discovering a renewed connection with its community and a new story of hope and possibility. Illustrations by NewStories’ graphic artist Zulma Patarroyo California’s West Marin Dance Palace Community and Cultural Center has long been a cherished hub […]
Roots of Resilience: NewStories’ Four-Decade Journey to Support Japan’s Post-Disaster Recovery
NewStories’ arrival in Japan to support communities after the March 11, 2011 Triple Disasters—earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear explosions—was the culmination of a journey that began four decades earlier, in 1970. That year, Bob Stilger, who would go on to found NewStories in 2000, first set foot in Japan as a college senior. Bob often speaks […]
Emergent Strategy
Recently, I was having a conversation with good friends Kathy Coffey from Leadership Snohomish County, Deb Needham from the City of Renton Emergency Services and Mark Jones from Sunyata (and everywhere). Kathy shared a recent experience she’d had with a small group of people from different parts of the world talking about the word resilience. Turns […]
From Isolation to Connection: Centering Story and Relationship at the Heart of Fijian Prison Rehabilitation
Story is a transformative agent with the power to reshape individuals, communities, and the world. Genuine healing and restoration require us to engage in ‘Re-story-ation’ – our relationship with ourselves and the world cannot be healed until we acknowledge and engage with the narratives that shape our lives. The profound and effectual role of story […]
Empowering Narratives: The Dynamic Journey of ‘Re-Storying’ as an Active and Inclusive Process
When I traveled to Fiji in October to host a series of workshops for Fijian women and young girls, I focused on gaining deeper clarity regarding what it means to “Re-Story” and its profound role in my life and the lives of those around me. The workshops aimed to provide a nurturing and creative environment […]
Finding Our Narrative: The Resonance of Artistic Expression in Reimagining Stories
Like the air we breathe, there is an invisible field of stories all around us and through us, whether or not we are conscious of it. These stories are often given to us by families, friends, and communities and are used to pass down our history, culture, beliefs, heritage, and points of view. During our […]