What just happened?!
What just happened?!
We'll tell you! In 2025, Story House Ithaca:
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Presented 61 events
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Welcomed over 1,500 participants and audience members
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Supported refugee stories, immigrant stories, resilience, risk-taking, laughter, and new work
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Watched Presentation Night, Playwrights Jam, and Kitchen Cabaret truly bloom
All of this with a tiny, very part-time staff — doing what we exist to do: bring people together to share, create, and enjoy stories in all their forms.
As we look toward 2026, we’re excited to welcome Jen Pearcy-Edwards as interim co-director while Jonathan goes on sabbatical. Jen is a performer, director, puppeteer, filmmaker — and a longtime community artist who embodies what Story House is all about.
Like many nonprofits, we’ve also faced funding cuts this year. A $10,000 grant was awarded and then rescinded, and other grants were half of what they were last year. We’re asking you, our community, to help us raise $5,000 to keep our programs strong and accessible in the year ahead.
If Story House Ithaca has ever inspired you, challenged you, or made you feel part of something bigger, we hope you’ll help us meet this goal. Let’s write the next act together!
Make a tax-deductible donation today to help us reach $5,000 and carry Story House Ithaca into 2026.
With gratitude,
Jon, Lesley & Jen
Co-Directors, Story House Ithaca
Sharing stories, building community
Story House Ithaca is a community arts organization with an emphasis on "community." Our mission is to bring people together to share, study, create, and enjoy stories in all their forms. We're a project of the nonprofit Center for Transformative Action. Donations are tax-deductible. Learn more.
Upcoming Events
We love our supporters!
You may have heard that Story House Ithaca lost a grant to the DOGE cuts this spring, when a $10,000 Action Grant award from Humanities NY to support our "Refugee Voices" project was abruptly rescinded. The project was already underway, but we were able to scramble and cover the costs with funds we received earlier this year from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). We had hoped to spend that on other programming, but at least we didn't stiff our dear friend Samite!
The experience has made us even more grateful for the support we get from you, our beloved community. Some of you give regularly and others chip in with a few bucks at an event. We notice and we thank you!
We also want to recognize the foundations, organizations, and companies who have helped make the Story House vision real. Heartfelt thanks to the Park Foundation, the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County, the Community Foundation of Tompkins County, the Triad Foundation, the JM McDonald Foundation, The Sophie Fund, the Legacy Foundation of Tompkins County, the Kitchen Theatre Company, Red Feet Wine Market, NAMI Finger Lakes, Tompkins Community Bank, The Learning Farm, Khuba International, and CCM.
What's YOUR story?
Do you have an idea for a Story House program? Are you looking for someone to work with? Is there something you'd like us to do? Fill out the form on our Contact page!