Even before graduating last spring, Jake Barton, a graduate of the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at the Tisch School of the Arts, was putting his new media skills to good use. His young company, Local Projects, is the creator of the interactive listening stations, motion graphics signage, and the reservation Web site for the new flagship StoryBooth at Grand Central Terminal.
StoryBooth was unveiled last month with author and oral historian Studs Terkel cutting the ribbon. It is part of the StoryCorps initiative created to instruct and inspire ordinary Americans to record meaningful oral histories with family members and friends. The project's goal is to place soundproof booths across the country where Americans can bring older relatives and loved ones to conduct broadcast-quality oral history interviews with the guidance of a trained facilitator.
The first StoryBooth, a freestanding soundproof structure, is located in the Graybar Passage, just off Grand Central Terminal's Main Concourse. Participants will walk away with a CD of their interview, and, with the user's permission, a second copy will become part of the archive of the Library of Congress.
In 2001, Jake Barton enrolled in the graduate program at ITP and founded Local Projects, a design firm committed to interactive Web sites and exhibitions for museum and public spaces. The StoryBook team at Local Projects comprised Sarah Gray, Stephan Knuesel, Dan Shiffman, Kyle Chepulis and Milena Iossifova. All but Chepulis are alumni of ITP.
David Reinfurt, an ITP adjunct faculty member, did the graphic design for the StoryBooth project. His firm, ORG Inc., is a graphic design practice that works for cultural and educational institutions in a range of media.
Sound Portraits Productions, a non-profit public radio documentary production company based in New York City, created StoryCorps. Dave Isay, an award-winning radio-documentary producer, is the founder and president.
"StoryCorps is a manifestation of the 10-year mission of Sound Portraits Productions to tell the stories of ordinary Americans with dignity, celebrating the power and poetry in their words," Isay said. "We believe that StoryCorps will engage communities, teach participants to become better listeners, foster intergenerational communication, and help Americans appreciate the strength in the stories of everyday people they find all around them."
For additional information on StoryCorps and how to make a reservation to use the StoryBooth, visit http://storycorps.net
Written by Richard Pierce
