In partnership with local cultural arts partners, Thrivance Group will host a storytelling and spoken word night that thematically allows participants and attendees to creatively express their vision for the CAN community and broader Fresno. The event space will also include The Spirit of West Fresno: Community Stories and Memories Exhibit. This event will be in partnership with Fresno Arts Council’s Art Hop which happens the first and third Thursday of every month!

Before the exhibit, West Fresno community members will be encouraged to submit oral histories, photos, videos, voice memos, and art that speak to the theme of “Spirit of West Fresno.” These community stories and memories will help determine people, places, invisible assets, and other significant dynamics in the CAN community. This cultural mapping effort will also help practitioners identify cultural assets that can and should be protected (or created) throughout and after the project development process. The oral histories and memories collected from residents will be mapped and unveiled at the Exhibit where residents will have an opportunity to view and add to the asset maps. Youth from the community will help with story collection and will serve as dolcents and creative partners for the exhibit and storytelling/spoken word night.

Community members, please use THIS FORM to share your West Fresno Stories and Memories!

This event is one in a series of engagement activations designed get to the heart of a dignity-infused, resident-centered experience. The core desired outcomes among all the activations are to activate people to self-determine how they’d like to grow their environments/communities and to spark new ideas and action-oriented civic engagement and ways of being.