Flint Stories
Before schools, there was Flint. Public art events, documentaries and interview programs taught me that a community’s own voices tell its story best.
Public art
With the Flint Art Works Collaborative, events that asked residents to make something together.
| Year | Event | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Balloon Rainbow | Residents built a rainbow of 400 helium balloons arched 100 feet across the Flint River. |
| 1980 | River Creatures | 1,000 balloons shaped by the public at the opening of Riverbank Park. |
| 1984 | Requiem for the Sill Building | A two-day event where the public built and destroyed a sculpture from the rubble of three demolished downtown blocks. |
| 1985–86 | The Race; Feet Don’t Fail Me Now | Performances built around the Crim Road Race. |
Genesee Spotlights (1991)
Thirteen commissioned documentaries on Flint’s civic and cultural institutions, each told by the people who knew it. This is where the civic storytelling method began.
- Flint Chamber of Commerce
- Mott Children’s Health Center
- Crossroads Village
- Whaley Children’s Center
- Flint Labor Museum and Learning Center
- Bishop Airport
- Sloan Museum
- Longway Planetarium
- Flint Children’s Museum
- Buckham Fine Arts Project
- Big Brothers/Big Sisters
- Flint Institute of Arts
- United Way of Flint
Hometown Magazine
A 60-minute bi-monthly series interviewing Flint’s community leaders, produced at Comcast’s studios.
Me and Mike
A satiric short answering Michael Moore’s Roger & Me, with Pat Paulsen searching Flint for Michael Moore.
Genesee Spotlights proved that residents, not a narrator, tell a place’s story most convincingly. A year later I taught that method to high school students in Mount Clemens.