Writing Fellowship To Support Diverse Chicago Writers

Dionna Griffin-Irons (center) teaching a class, courtesy of Stories Matter Foundation.
Dionna Griffin-Irons (center) teaching a class, courtesy of Stories Matter Foundation.

Writing Fellowship To Support Diverse Chicago Writers


By Tia Carol Jones


A newly created writing fellowship seeks to cultivate diverse writers and highlight their unique perspectives and voices. The Write Where You Are writing fellowship was developed by the Stories Matter Foundation. The foundation will award 12 fellowships and the classes are scheduled to begin in early March.


“This new fellowship program gives those who may not think of themselves as writers — but who have important stories to get out into the world — the opportunity to learn in community, gain skills and creative confidence, and know they are ready to make a positive impact by using their voice,” Jill Pollack, founder and Board Chair of StoryStudio Chicago and Stories Matter Foundation, said in a release. “We are committed to doing what we can to combat racism and stand alongside those who are fighting for social justice for themselves and their communities.”


Dionna Griffin-Irons is a former director of talent and inclusion at Second City. Griffin-Irons will serve as an instructor for the three-month mentorship and educational program, which is also a partnership between the Stories Matter Foundation and the Lookingglass Theatre Company. The goal of the program is to support writers who are Black, People of Color, Indigenous, African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, Native American, and/ or LGBTQIA+.


Griffin-Irons, who also co-created the fellowship, said that in the literary landscape there is a lack of stories being told by people of color. She said in Chicago, being a literary giant that it is, there is less access to more literary arts opportunities for Black people and people of color and LGBTQIA +. She said that Write Where You Are seeks to address and close that gap, by providing access and inclusion to underrepresented voices. She said the aim is to help reach and create access to StoryStudioChicago, which has been around for more than 20 years.


Griffin-Irons, whose career has mostly been in improvisation and experiential theatre, has been an instructor at StoryStudioChicago since 2017. She said while teaching her class, there was maybe one or two people of color. With her roots in inclusion, she instituted a fellowship at Second City to close the gap in comedy arts. She said when Polack reached out to her about the fellowship, she wanted to help broaden and expand the initiative.


Griffin-Irons said the fellowship is for all different levels of writers. She said the cohort will be exposed to improvisation, poetry, fiction and dramatic storytelling. She said the participants will get a creative sampling of different forms that they can apply, experiment with and play with, to develop their narrative voice.


She is familiar with helping people develop their narrative voice from her work with formerly incarcerated individuals and women survivors who have been involved in human trafficking. She said with the fellowship, they are looking for a mix of people, from novice to intermediate to more advanced.


“We are looking for people who have not had the opportunity to get their stories out, who have not been in a community to collaborate with other likeminded people who need that kind of mentorship, who want to try their hand or polish a project but they don’t have that community and they are looking for it,” she said.


Write Where You Are applications are open now through January 30th. To learn more about the fellowship and apply, visit storystudiochicago.org/write-where-you-are-writing-fellowship.

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