Barbara Geralds Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact

11/02/2026

Our team including Jorge A. Castillo-Castro, Jessie Gongolo, Claire Howard, and Lynn Harter had a blast working Passion Works Studio's 14th annual Honey for the Heart.

A couple of thoughts we will share about this year's theme "In the Pond." A pond doesn't ask every creature to move the same way. Why should a community? This is the gift of the studio and it is a story worth amplifying. Additionally, sometimes ponds are murky. We often move through the world without clarity. Yet, creativity and connection can emerge amid the uncertainty.

Thank you Passion Works.

10/30/2026

Hard things feel lighter when carried by community. Lean in and learn about our new initiative.

The Barbara Geralds Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact and its community partners are creating the Field of Forever Flowers, a permanent landscape of handcrafted aluminum flowers honoring children and families affected by childhood cancer.

10/29/2026

At the Storytelling Institute, we believe questions shape the world. What if we reimagine storytelling as a process for healing and transformation? Our What If? Speaker Series brings together and who use storytelling to foster generative personal transformation and social change.

💬 Join us for an evening of conversation and reflection on thoughtful collaboration!

📅 Thursday, November 12
🕔 5:00–7:00 p.m.
📍 Scripps Hall 111, Ohio University

What if unpredictable fruits are more valuable than targeted outcomes?

What if relationships are as important as measurable achievements?

Learn from the multinational team of The Tandana Foundation, an NGO with a relationship-based approach that achieves objectives while honoring space for the unexpected to emerge. After hearing about Tandana’s unique approach and examples from Mali and Ecuador, engage in an interactive exercise to consider how openness to the unexpected and clear objectives can be balanced. Learn how to bring healthy relationships and successful outcomes together in the service of community development.

Guest Speakers: Anna Taft, Moussa Tembiné, Housseyni Pamateck, Omar Flores, Mauricio Bonilla, and Danika Robison

Special thanks to Communication and Development Studies at Ohio University Center for International Studies, Ohio University, and InitialEyes



Ohio University Ohio University Scripps College of Communication

10/28/2026

LIVESTREAMING Honey for the Heart!!!!

The Storytelling Institute and Passion Works Studio are delighted to partner with WOUB Public Media to livestream this year's Honey for the Heart Parade.

Join us as our community comes alive with larger-than-life puppets, colorful creations, music, and movement. Together, we'll walk, roll, ride, and dance down Court Street in a joyful celebration of creativity, connection, and belonging.

Can't be there in person? You can still be part of the magic! Tune in to WOUB's page to experience the parade from wherever you are.

Livestream begins at 4:55 p.m. EST.

Because the joy of making and celebrating together deserves to be shared far beyond Court Street!

10/27/2026

Congrats to the one and only Tina Kelsey for receiving an Operation Hummingbird Passion Award. We SEE you, Tina. Spreading kindness one lasagna, one meal at a time. Thank you for the countless ways you show up for our region. Tina of Athens. Be like Tina.

10/23/2026

The very first Forever Flower takes shape for the one and only Gibbs Weaver!

Gibbs is a joyful five-year old kindergartner at the Ohio State School for the Blind who loves playground swings and Llama Llama books even as he navigates life with an inoperable optic pathway tumor.

Gibbs and his sister, Ivy, brother, Sully, mom, Taylor Anne, and Grandma, Brenda, joined members of OHIO Soccer team at Hideaway on the Hocking to transform reclaimed materials into something beautiful and enduring. Hands worked together and colors mingled as stories were shared. And what began as pieces of metal will become a Passion Works Studio flower that will hold a place in this growing field of love, memory, and hope.

SO to Coach Aaron Rodgers and the student athletes for bringing their hearts and hands to this first making.

We imagine a field where visitors will wander, pause, notice, and bear witness. A place where art and nature make room for stories that deserve to be carried forward.

And this is only the first bloom. 🌼

📸✨ Photos by Raymond Ayivor and Andrew Ekuban

10/20/2026

A field begins with a single flower.

Nestled among the hills and riverbanks of Southeast Ohio, Hideaway on the Hocking is a place where nature invites us to slow down, reconnect, and make memories together. Within this beautiful landscape, a new vision is beginning to bloom.

Through a partnership among Hideaway on the Hocking, the Storytelling and Social Institute at Ohio University, the Schoonover Family Experiential Learning Center at Passion Works Studio and Turn It Gold, we are cultivating a Field of Forever Flowers, a living story landscape where art, nature, and the narratives of families impacted by childhood cancer come together.

The field will grow one handcrafted flower at a time. Created from reclaimed aluminum and painted collaboratively, these colorful blooms will celebrate children living with and beyond cancer, honor the families who love them, and lovingly remember children whose lives continue to shape our world.
Each flower will be as unique as the stories it represents. Some will celebrate. Some will remember. All will carry love.

Click here to witness our vision:

A field begins with a single flower. At Hideaway on the Hocking in ...

10/16/2026

What a packed night! 🎉❤️

Last Friday, community partners, university colleagues, family, and friends gathered at the Ohio Museum Complex to celebrate the intersection of art and science and discover the fascinating stories of the non-human inhabitants who share our region. 🌿🍄

At the Barbara Geralds Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact, we were thrilled to be part of this celebration and see our community connect through creativity, curiosity, and storytelling!

The opening of the In-Habitat Project ☀️🎵💨 and the Third Annual Print Exchange 🍄🍄 brought art, science, and storytelling together through interactive experiences that invite us to explore our relationship with the natural world.

✨ Haven’t visited yet? Come explore the exhibitions!

📍 Ohio Museum Complex

🕙 Monday–Friday: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
🌙 Thursday: Extended hours until 8 p.m.
🕐 Saturday & Sunday: 1–5 p.m.

We’d love to see you! Stop by and discover the stories waiting to be explored! 💚

📸 Photography by Jorge A. Castillo-Castro ✨



Ohio University Scripps College of Communication Ohio University Chaddock + Morrow College of Fine Arts Ohio University College of Arts & Sciences

10/13/2026

Today, we had the joy of presenting our first Operation Hummingbird Passion Award to the Athens City-County Health Department (ACHD) and its dedicated staff, recognizing them as everyday difference makers whose work helps our communities thrive.

The recognition unfolded at the studio, where ACHD staff spent the morning learning about the studio, making art together, and exploring the intersections of creativity, community, belonging, and public health. Their work reminds us that health is in part about creating conditions in which people feel seen, supported, connected, and able to flourish.

Through Operation Hummingbird, the Schoonover Family Experiential Learning Center at Passion Works and the Storytelling Institute are celebrating people who use their time and talents to enrich the lives of others.

To the Athens City-County Health Department: Thank you for the countless ways you show up for our community, including the acts of care that often go unnoticed.

May we all continue to notice kindness, celebrate service, and make care for one another the norm.

10/09/2026

🍄 Come discover what happens when art meets our non-human neighbors!

Join us for the opening reception of the 3rd Annual Ohio Museum Complex Collection’s Print Exchange!

This year, participating artists have drawn inspiration from the incredible diversity of mushrooms and fungi found across Ohio, bringing together art, nature, and science in a new exhibition celebrating these fascinating organisms.

🎨 Opening Reception: Friday, October 9, 2026
🕠 Time: 5:30–7:30 PM
📍 Location: Lin Hall, 2nd Floor
100 Ridges Circle, Athens, OH 45701

Come explore the artwork, connect with the artists, and discover the hidden world of fungi through a creative lens!

Light refreshments and snacks will be provided.

This exhibition is made possible through the collaboration of the OHIO Museum Complex Gallery, the Barbara Geralds Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact , Digital Art + Technology, Ohio University , and Crane Hollow Preserve.

We hope to see you there!



OHIO Community Impact OHIO Scripps College Ohio University