StoryCorps, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to recording, sharing, and preserving the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs, will record interviews in Detroit from July 9—August 8, as part of its cross-country MobileBooth tour.
StoryCorps’ MobileBooth—an Airstream trailer outfitted with a recording studio—will be parked at the Virgil H. Carr Cultural Arts Center, in Paradise Valley/Harmonie Park for four weeks. Reservations can now be made by calling StoryCorps’ 24-hour, toll-free reservation line at 1-800-850-4406 or by visiting storycorps.org.
StoryCorps and 101.9FM WDET, Detroit’s NPR station, are working with community partners like Wayne State University to collect interviews with residents in the Metro Detroit area. WDET will air a selection of local interviews recorded in the StoryCorps MobileBooth and create special programs around the project. Segments of select interviews may also air nationally on NPR’s Morning Edition. With participant permission, all StoryCorps interviews will be archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
WDET will host an Opening Day press event on Monday, July 9, to introduce StoryCorps to the community, and to allow press to interview StoryCorps staff and the first two VIP participants.
Who: Mikel Ellcessor, General Manager WDET
Allan Gilmour, President Wayne State University
Marcus Belgrave, Detroit jazz legend
What: Opening remarks by Mikel Ellcessor and StoryCorps Staff. Tour of MobileBooth.
Where: The Virgil H. Carr Cultural Arts Center
311 East Grand River, Detroit, MI 48226
When: Monday, July 9, 2012 @ 10:00 am
10:00 am First Interview — Allan Gilmour, President Wayne State University
11:00 am Press Event
11:30 pm Tour of MobileBooth
12:00 pm Second Interview — Marcus Belgrave, Detroit jazz legend
General Press Guidelines
- Cameras will be allowed in the MobileBooth before interviews begin. Photographs and video can be shot from outside the window during interviews.
- Press can listen to interviews with wireless headphones from outside the booth (when available).
- Press can interview participants before and after their StoryCorps interviews.