Authoring
Action
For over 22 years, Authoring Action has developed youth and adult authors, equipping them with essential tools for personal and professional success, transforming lives through the power of creative writing, spoken word, visual and media arts, filmmaking, and leadership education. This literary and performance arts organization creates opportunities for individuals who might not otherwise have the chance to discover their authentic voices through artistic development, especially those who may lack critical support systems.
Authoring Action at
The Dwelling
Located at the bustling crossroads of downtown and West End, The Dwelling is an ecumenical church dedicated to serving people experiencing homelessness in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Sweeping steps provide a historic entrance to their building’s sanctuary, where a blazingly diverse congregation gathers for Lutheran liturgies and movie nights that feel more like a family reunion than church.
In 2023, The Dwelling teamed up with Authoring Action’s Co-founders Nathan Ross Freeman, artistic director and playwright, and Lynn Rhoades, executive director and community engagement production coordinator. “We don’t host performances,” says Freeman. “We produce public engagements to educate the audience, not the authors.”
Funded by an American Rescue Plan Act grant through Forsyth County and the Winston Salem Arts Council, along with funding from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Hunger Relief Fund, Pastor Emily, Nathan and Lynn came together to produce two years of workshops and public engagements featuring the voices of people in The Dwelling congregation. Nathan emphasized, “We aren’t here to entertain. We are here to move people toward action and effect policy in Winston-Salem around homelessness.”
Taking center stage is a community often unseen and driven-by.
Voices from
the Dwelling
Since the spring of 2023, Authoring Action and The Dwelling have produced three public engagements and will host a fourth in the fall of 2024, and we are just getting started! This work is community engagement meets social action meets creative storytelling.
Out Now!
Voice of the Dwelling Volume I
Powered by a grant from Be Still Media, Tiffany Thompson produced the first recorded collection of songs from The Dwellings involved in the Authoring Action program. These songs are adaptations of the original monologues and intended to challenge and inspire listeners. We are deeply grateful to Gregg Jamback at Swift Water Media for capturing these live performances on video.
Tiffany shared about the community impact of this initiative at the Winston-Salem Rotary Club in March 2024.
“People who you might pass by on the street corner. They are the teacher. They are the artists. They are the creative illumination of the city because they're given the opportunity to have their creative spirit unleashed, and then shared with people.” Read the full transcript here.
Creating New Communions One Engagement at a Time.
Tiffany’s song “New Communions” has become the theme song of the Authoring Action and The Dwelling collaboration. She often sings it to kick off the engagement and bring the audience into the space.
“As I sang my opening song, the room settled in. This wasn’t your dime-a-dozen barstool gig, casual music for a fleeting listener. It was a public engagement with an agenda: to change the way people experience homelessness. From my perch, I could feel the audience catch a ride on my phasing, riffs, and words, like a weathervane pirouetting in the wind of the song.” Read the rest of this article here.