Shilpi Chhotray, B. Preston Lyles, Alexandra Norris, Chantel Comardelle, and Story Salon attendees; Amy Duffuor and Candice Fortin; Esperanza Pallana, Marrion Johnson and Sabrina Torres; Frankie Orona and Marianella Nuñez; Roishetta Sibely Ozane, Dr. Joy Banner, Jo Banner, and Shamyra Lavigne.
Our live storytelling events are not your typical panels. They are acts of memory, strategy, and future-making, hosted in a space of cultural significance. We convene frontline organizers, journalists, artists, and community leaders to hear and share stories about climate and environmental justice.
Story Salons have been a Counterstream practice since our founding in 2021. We created them to address a persistent gap in mainstream media and climate discourse — where frontline communities are frequently represented by outside institutions rather than by those closest to harm and solutions.
Story Salons center narrative sovereignty, ensuring stories are shared on the storytellers’ own terms and grounded in lived experience. Each event is shaped by the people involved and the moment it responds to.
Counterstream has produced Story Salons across the United States in collaboration with aligned organizations including Earthjustice, Hip Hop for Change, and Frontline Resources Institute.
Want us to bring frontline storytellers to your city? For partnership inquiries, please contact hello@counterstream.org.
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The event illuminated the lived realities of communities confronting environmental harm and colonial extraction. Events like this remind us that cultural power and narrative sovereignty are the catalysts of transformation.
Thalia Carroll-Cachimuel, BLIS Collective
