(bright music) - [Matt] Experience the art of storytelling with the Front Parlor series.

(crowd claps) Learn what's new at the Iroquois Museum.

♪ I thought that maybe ♪ And catch a performance from Will Petecone.

It's all ahead on this episode of "Aha, A House for Arts."

♪ If I would talk ♪ - [Narrator] Funding for "Aha" has been provided by your contribution and by contributions to the WMHT Venture Fund.

Contributors include the Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fisher Malesardi, and the Robeson Family Foundation.

- At M&T Bank, we understand that the vitality of our communities is crucial to our continued success.

That's why we take an active role in our community.

M&T Bank is pleased to support WMHT programming that highlights the arts, and we invite you to do the same.

(bright music) - Hi, I'm Matt Rogowicz, and this is "Aha, A House for Arts," a place for all things creative.

I recently attended an event in Troy where people gathered to share stories based on a common theme.

The event was hosted by the Front Parlor series, which holds monthly open mics dedicated to the art of storytelling.

- Good evening everyone.

- Can you hear me out there?

- So this is actually my first time of doing this.

- This is like better than HBO.

It's better than "Bridgerton."

This is where you get the juicy stuff about your neighbors.

(gentle music) - I'm the cohost of the Front Parlor series, which is a monthly storytelling open mic in Troy.

We come together to share true stories from our lives in less than five minutes without any notes.

So folks are familiar with the Moth.

It's in the same style as that and anyone can come and step in front of the mic and share a story.

Tonight's theme is New Beginnings.

So this was partially inspired by the workshop that we did with Rise, with refugees and immigrants who, you know, obviously have a very new, very big new beginning as they come here.

But we always say our themes are just a jumping off point.

You don't have to tell a story quite as grand as moving to a new country.

It can be as small as you want it to be and it can be anything that's inspired by this theme.

(crowd claps) - Hello, it's my first time at storytelling.

(crowd cheers) - People tell stories I think because we all have this urge to share from our lives and to be seen by our community.

Like one of the coolest things about what we do is that people who've never been in front of a mic before will like go up and just speak from their heart and everyone else in that room will just be totally captivated and they'll be ohh-ing and ahh-ing, or you know, sighing, or whatever reaction they have.

And it's really validating, I think, for the storytellers to have that experience of being validated by the people around them.

I've seen myself as a storyteller for a really long time.

My professional work as a journalist really is at the end of the day, storytelling in a different form.

So, you know, even since high school I was doing journalism on my school paper, you know, did that all through college and for my entire career.

So I think I started specifically in this open mic style storytelling, you know, kind of right toward the end of college when I encountered The Moth.

That's, you know, kind of the iconic storytelling organization.

I attended a couple events, and I was just really enchanted by it.

I felt like I already kind of had those skills from my work as a journalist, and ever since, I've just loved it and I kind of can't get enough of it.

I think storytelling has allowed me to actually understand myself in a different way.

The process of of crafting a story kind of forces you to reflect and be vulnerable and make sense of your experiences.

And so a lot of the pivotal moments of my life I have shared in Troy in front of a microphone, and it's really helped me make sense of all of it.

- Hi, I'm Claire.

I've been doing this for a little bit now and I'm getting a little more confident, especially with the big huge audience like this.

I'm a little nervous, but I'm doing okay.

(crowd cheers) Woo!

I recently had an ending, let's put it that way.

And some people know what my ending has been, just getting divorced after 42 years of marriage.

But I'm not looking that way.

I am looking forward, and I'm seeing my new beginning with the, you know, one door closing, another door opening.

(crowd cheers) - One of them that sticks out was from one of our regular storytellers who has, sort of like I have, used the open mic as a way to process an experience in her life.

She had gone through a divorce recently after being married for many decades.

And so at this most recent event, she told a story about adjusting to life on her own.

- I had to, at 63, learn how to live by myself, and I did not like it, and I still am struggling with it.

I don't like kind of going home to a quiet place, no lights on.

Sometimes I'll leave a light on, sometimes I won't.

I'm really kinda struggling, but I've only been out, I think it'll be a year in August that I moved into my own place.

So I'm just learning to have fun, you know, and not just think about being alone, you know, and things.

So there are a lot of advantages in that, you know, they don't rewash the dishes that are in your sink, okay?

They're just as dirty as when you left them.

The silverware isn't all lined up, you know, in the drawer, you know, because they looked at it and saw it and I didn't have it that way and then they did it, you know?

So you leave a mess, you know.

Or you make a mess, you leave a mess, that's gonna be there.

So that's kind of good because then I'm gonna do it the way I want it anyway, right?

- It's been so cool for all of us who come to Front Parlor to see her evolution and the way she's gained confidence, both in front of the mic and in her own life.

- And I just wanna know how long does it take to kind of really be comfortable with yourself in your own little place?

So that is my journey and that is my new beginning, learning how to love and live by myself.

Thank you.

(crowd cheers and claps) (bright music) - I've also given out fun little prompts on the table.

So we call these flash nonfiction.

Let's say the theme is New Beginnings.

We'll print out a question that says, when was the last time you did something new?

And we'll hand out these little pieces of paper that people can answer and then hand up to the front anonymously.

And then what we do is between each of the storytellers, I take one or two of those little cards, and I read them in front of the mic, and they're often like pretty funny or irreverent.

And it's a way for people to participate even if they're not willing to get up in front of the mic just yet.

When was the last time you tried something new?

About an hour ago, I had the cinnamon apple caramel crepe.

Wonderful.

Okay (event host laughs).

Happy for you.

- When was the last time you tried something new?

Last week my mom tried apologizing to me and I tried, I love the tried in these sentences, forgiving her.

I always tried to understand her and never do.

This is worth like continuing to try.

So I hope that you and your mom will both keep at it.

- To the middle aged mind, new things are unkind.

Oh, that's too bad.

When was the last time you tried something new?

Birdwatching, taking pictures of them too.

Hobby, feels like a new hobby, amazing.

So what we do at Front Parlor is a lot of fun, and I think that's the reason why most people come.

But storytelling also has a lot of power beyond that.

And there's actually a lot of science about this that talks about how storytelling engages our brain in a unique way and helps us retain information.

But ultimately, I think storytelling has this power to kind of bridge divides and even motivate people to change.

It's really hard to, you know, hate someone or kind of be against someone when they're like up there being vulnerable, sharing an experience from their life.

And I know I've experienced a lot of like shifts in thinking based on stories I've heard.

And I think storytelling has that power if we want to use it to build community or to even motivate changes or to create a better society.

Like we have to be connected to each other to do those things.

And I think storytelling has the power to do that.

- There's always gonna be another adventure around the bend and the new beginnings, you can't see them from where you are right now.

- If you're at all curious about Front Parlor, I'd really encourage you to stop by.

There's no pressure to tell a story, but I can guarantee, even as a member of the audience, you're gonna have a good time listening to stories.

The kind of range of humanity that we see at this event is so heartwarming.

I cry at almost every one of these.

People are just out here telling really moving and beautiful stories.

So at the very least come to experience that and who knows, you might surprise yourself halfway through the event.

Put your name on my list and get in front of the mic.

- Thank you.

(crowd claps) - The Iroquois Museum is an educational museum dedicated to fostering understanding of Iroquois culture, using Iroquois art as a window to that culture.

Jade Warwick recently spoke with the museum's assistant to the director, Heather Livengood, to learn about some exciting upcoming events.

- Welcome to "A House for Arts, Heather."

- Thank you.

- Yeah, super excited to talk to you.

Everything creative and what's going on at the Iroquois Museum.

So before we even begin, what is the Iroquois Museum and what's your role there?

- The Iroquois Museum is a non-profit archeological art museum, that has one of the largest collections of Iroquois or Haudenosaunee, as they prefer to be called, art.

We're Howes Cave, Schoharie County, and just a beautiful museum to see.

It's replicated of a long house, and we have many beautiful things to see there.

My role is the assistant to the director.

It's a position that the director and the president of the board kind of, kind of made for me.

I was a volunteer there for a couple years, and then I had some availability, so they helped me create this position.

I am in charge of mostly marketing.

I am in charge of the shop, the museum shop, and I do a lot of the scheduling, and I assist in all the educational programs that we have at the museum currently.

- Now when you say longhouse, what is like, what is a longhouse?

- The longhouse is the traditional home of the people that used to live in this area.

Our building is very interesting.

It's, everything is very symbolic in the building.

Even the beams like that go, the rafters that go on the top of the building go in a form of a Wampum belt.

So which would, a Wampum belt would've told the story.

So it has a lot of meaning to it.

- That's amazing.

So it's like even in the building's bones, like a respect - [Heather] Yes.

- for the indigenous communities.

- Yes.

- So what sparked your passion to get into indigenous native education and advocacy?

- Well, when I was, this is kind of crazy, but when I was about 12, I found out that I was biologically had a different heritage than I was raised.

I was raised more in the Italian community, and I found out I was more Irish than anything else.

And I felt a loss of knowledge.

Like I didn't know anything about the Irish, I didn't know any traditions, that kind of thing.

And that's a little important to me.

So at the time, we were also studying the Native Americans in history class, which is my favorite subject.

I'm a former history teacher, so that really stuck with me.

So having a loss of culture and loss of identity because of like the period of the residential schools and what the United States and Canada has done to these people, I really felt very akin to it.

So it's really driven me for a long time.

- Yeah, and do you like feel that in multiple aspects, like you find knowing your heritage and ancestry really important for all folks?

Do you think that's important for everyone to?

- Well, I don't disrespect, I'm proud of where I have been.

I'm proud of my Italian too.

I mean, I found that very interesting and comforting.

I just felt, feel like some people have had their toes stepped on and I don't, we've took, we took it away from them, unbeknownst to them, where mine was just my step-grandfather didn't wanna talk about the past and that was his generational thing, and I would never do anything to disrespect him.

And that's how come I don't really know more about the Irish side of my family because I didn't wanna respect, disrespect that person.

But that's a whole different situation from where, you know, we've taken these children from their homes and cut their hair and taught them not to do their religion and they couldn't speak their language.

And that we have, as you know, now, years and years of trauma, generational trauma with the people and you know, it's, but at the same time there's such a beautiful comeback right now, like we have seen throughout the years and more people are reaching out and.

- Getting connected.

- Yeah.

- So let's talk about a little bit about the upcoming festival, which seems to be a huge connector for indigenous communities and non-indigenous communities.

So let's give a little bit of background about what's this festival coming up?

- Yeah, it is great.

It's the 41st festival, Iroquois Festival at the museum.

It's gonna be August 31st and September 1st, 10 to five, both days.

This year on Saturday we will have opening ceremonies.

We will have Perry Ground, who will be our emcee and storyteller.

We'll have the sky dancers perform twice during the day.

We have Kevin Stacy coming to do a lacrosse demonstration both days.

On Saturday, we'll have the Iroquois Indian Band, which is actually a marching band.

All of that will be on Sunday as well, except the band, we're gonna have one of our staff members, Mike Tarbell, he's gonna do Tools of the Trade and he is Mohawk and he works with us and it's wonderful.

He does our educational programs.

- Awesome, so there seems to be activities, food, music, dancing?

- Yes.

In addition to the main stage, we'll have a food truck, which is Onondaga Food Truck.

We have the art tent, the children's tent, the flint knapping tent, endangered species section, and of course, the museum's open so that you could take a tour of the museum, walk the nature trails, and of course shop in the museum shop.

- Awesome, witnessing the beauty of the arts and the culture is my favorite part, but close second is the gift shop.

So how have you seen this festival, since it's on its forty?

- First.

- First year.

How have you seen this festival impact the community at large?

- We have a lot of local people that come and return year after year.

We're really making an effort this year to reach out to the local community.

- And do you feel like they're gaining a lot of respect for the Haudenosaunee culture and understanding the history and the trauma behind?

- Well, I think that we're just an afterthought for a lot of people.

Oh yeah, the museum's there, I'll get there sometime.

And now we're doing other things like within the community.

Like we had a Teacher Appreciation Day, we've had a blood drive last week.

We have the animal shelter day coming up, so we're trying to incorporate more things locally, so people will come and share.

And we also have our annual fundraiser, which is August 2nd.

It's Roots, Rhythm, and Ale, and we bring all the local artists in and a couple local bands and we just have a party at night.

- Nice.

- And it's fun because it is all local.

- Now what about, so when folks walk into this museum, you know, I know you have exhibitions and workshops and things like that.

Do you wanna describe a couple that are upcoming that folks can enjoy?

- Well, we have a couple artist demonstrations coming up, which are really interesting.

Margaret Jacobs is going to do a welding demonstration and workshop.

She works in steel.

We have a luthier coming, Glenn Hill from Aquasausnee.

He makes beautiful guitars.

We have a talk with Hannah Claus.

She currently has the most popular piece in the new exhibit for this year, "Outside the Box."

And of course we have our like Early Technology Day in October, which all of our archeological staff come and they can identify points or bowls or anything that you happen to have and you can bring it too or you just watch the demonstrations and the kids get to flint knap and do that.

We're trying to provide as much education and interesting, fun things that we can do for the community.

- Thank you so much, Heather, for sitting down to talk to us.

I hope folks go visit the festival and all these beautiful workshops that are at the Iroquois Museum.

And again, thank you for visiting us today.

- Thank you for having us.

- Please welcome, Will Petecone.

(guitar music) ♪ I fall asleep with the TV on ♪ ♪ Keeping thoughts at bay as I drift away ♪ ♪ I hang on for so long ♪ ♪ Without some silence to stew on ♪ ♪ There wasn't so much to worry about ♪ ♪ If I let my mind roam around ♪ ♪ Same avenues I go down ♪ ♪ And I see the same regrets ♪ ♪ And where I thought I ought to be ♪ ♪ I thought that maybe since I was 18 ♪ ♪ And all I wanted was somebody beside me ♪ ♪ And if I worked hard and bought myself a car ♪ ♪ Everything would fall into place around me ♪ ♪ That's not how it's worked out ♪ ♪ I just keep working now ♪ ♪ I'm on repeat weekend, it's not slowing down ♪ ♪ Some people think that a drink ♪ ♪ Is not an answer for a frown ♪ ♪ But I could use another row ♪ (guitar music) ♪ No I never had an answer when someone would ask ♪ ♪ And I'd just make something up ♪ ♪ And get them off my back ♪ ♪ Oh I want to know with my life am I great ♪ ♪ When I just want someone to love ♪ ♪ And build a home around here ♪ ♪ I thought that maybe since I was 18 ♪ ♪ That all I wanted was somebody beside me ♪ ♪ And if I worked hard and bought myself a car ♪ ♪ Everything would fall into place around me ♪ ♪ It's not how it's worked out ♪ ♪ I just keep working now ♪ ♪ I'm on repeat every weekend, it's not slowin' down ♪ ♪ Some people think that a drink ♪ ♪ Is not an answer for a frown ♪ ♪ But I could use another row ♪ (guitar music) ♪ I wouldn't mind workin' so much ♪ ♪ If I was feelin' your touch again today ♪ ♪ 'Cause you know, I thought that maybe ♪ ♪ Since I was 18 ♪ ♪ And all I wanted was somebody beside me ♪ ♪ And if I worked hard and bought myself a car ♪ ♪ Everything would fall into place around me ♪ ♪ It's not how it's worked out ♪ ♪ I just keep workin' now ♪ ♪ I'm on repeat every week, and it's not slowin' down ♪ ♪ Some people think that a drink ♪ ♪ Is not an answer for a frown ♪ ♪ But I could use another row ♪ (guitar music) (guitar music) ♪ I wonder where did you go ♪ ♪ Yeah I wonder do you feel alone ♪ ♪ You packed all your things and went home ♪ ♪ So you were told ♪ ♪ Now I like to keep to myself ♪ ♪ I don't like to meddle, don't need show and tell ♪ ♪ But I know you want me, you know ♪ ♪ But don't you see what I know ♪ ♪ That I don't do crazy and I can't ignore signs ♪ ♪ That we're way past the end of the line ♪ ♪ I can't live in your fantasy all of the time ♪ ♪ And now don't get me wrong ♪ ♪ All our good moments for years ♪ ♪ I never bothered to learn descending to fear ♪ ♪ Anything besides what comes first to my mind ♪ ♪ No I don't pretend and I don't like to lie ♪ ♪ But things they can change on a dime ♪ ♪ With the things we say and display all the time ♪ ♪ And I don't do crazy and I can't ignore signs ♪ ♪ That we're way past the end of the line ♪ ♪ I can't live in your fantasy all of the time ♪ ♪ No, I don't do crazy and I can't ignore signs ♪ ♪ That we're way past the end of the line ♪ ♪ I can't live in your fantasy all of the time ♪ ♪ No, I can't live in your fantasy when it's not mine ♪ (guitar music) (bright music) - Thanks for joining us.

For more arts, visit wmht.org/aha and be sure to connect with us on social.

I'm Matt Rogowicz.

Thanks for watching.

(chill music) - [Narrator] Funding for "Aha" has been provided by your contribution and by contributions to the WMHT Venture Fund.

Contributors include the Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fisher Malesardi, and the Robeson Family Foundation.

- At M&T Bank, we understand that the vitality of our communities is crucial to our continued success.

That's why we take an active role in our community.

M&T Bank is pleased to support WMHT programming that highlights the arts and we invite you to do the same.