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The University Without Walls Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, in collaboration with the UMass Amherst Henry M. Thomas III Center at Springfield, presents a free, public community conversation and workshop series during the Spring 2026 semester titled “In These Times: Documenting Stories Through Our Own Lenses.”

Through panel presentations, hands-on workshops, community dialogues and collaborative story creation, participants explore the roles of storytelling in their lives, work, and communities, as well as in contemporary social and political contexts. The series also examines the relationship between power and narrative, and the importance of preserving stories for future generations.

All in-person events will take place at the UMass Amherst Henry M. Thomas III Center at Springfield, 1500 Main St., Suite 260. They are open to local community members as well as anyone from the UMass Amherst community.

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The series began with “Preserving Community Stories with Archiving, Arts, & Advocacy” on Feb. 21, with panelists Michelle Falcón Fontánez, a multimedia storyteller; Onawumi Jean Moss, storyteller, performer, writer, and former Dean of Students at Amherst College; Leena Matthews, community engagement director at Asian Pacific Islanders Civic Action Network, and Ben Power, founder and curator of the Sexual Minorities Archives. Iohann Vega, director of media engagement at Holyoke Media, served as moderator.

The next panel, “Telling Stories with Oral History Research,” which will be held from 6-8 p.m. on March 3, will feature Princess Garrett, doctoral candidate in social justice education at UMass Amherst, and Patricia Romney, author of “We Were There: The Third World Women’s Alliance and the Second Wave” and former associate professor at Mount Holyoke and Hampshire colleges. The event will be moderated by Millicent Jackson, fiction writer and executive director of Voices from Inside. 

On March 31, the final panel, “Photography as Storytelling”, brings together Japanese interdisciplinary artist Aiko Wakao Austin, Springfield photographer Sophie Markham, and Eunice Aviles, a psychologist and narrative exhibit creator of trans Latinx lives. The event will be moderated by Stephen Cary, executive director of Focus Springfield, from 6-8 p.m.

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There are also coordinating workshops that align with each of the panels. Spaces in these workshops are limited and require registration.  An Oral History Workshop, sponsored by the UMass Amherst Department of History and led by faculty members Sam Redman and Emily Hamilton, is scheduled for March 21, and “Fearless Writing: What Does It Mean to Write Fearlessly?” a writing workshop focusing on developing authentic narrative voice and led by Millicent Jackson, will be held on April 4. 

Additionally, two photography workshops will be offered in April: an online creative photography workshop on April 7 with Aiko Wakao Austin, and a smartphone street photography workshop on April 11 with Sophie Markham, which is co-sponsored with Art for the Soul Gallery.

The series concludes on May 2 with a Community Archiving Day with local artists and media professionals and where participants can choose to have their workshop stories recorded and preserved in digital form.

The program is funded by the UMass Amherst Office of Equity and Inclusion, the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, and the UMass Amherst Asian and Asian American Studies Certificate program. 

More information about the presentations and workshops, as well as registration links,  can be found on the University Without Walls Interdisciplinary Studies website.