About

History

Voices’ mission is to document Tucson’s community stories and inspire individuals to explore themselves and their connection to place. Voices began when Bob Rodriguez, a community leader in Tucson’s westside barrios was tired of hearing the youth in his neighborhood tell just gang stories. He wanted them to tell positive stories and be proud of neighborhood history. He created a 1997 neighborhood stories project with Regina Kelly and Stephen Farley as the guest artists who mentored ten teenagers to document the westside’s stories, resulting in a magazine, Looking into the Westside, and additional westside barrios projects. The success of these projects prompted a group of parents, neighborhood activists, youth, and artists to create a non-profit, Voices: Community Stories Past and Present, Inc., in 1999.

In our first two fiscal years, Voices focused on mentoring projects that blended oral history, creative writing, and photo documentation and resulted in two books including the best-selling Snapped on the Street that focused on the story of mid-20th-century downtown as told through community’s members personal photos and memories, and the bilingual stories of public housing residents in Don’t Look at Me Different/No Me Veas Diferente.

In 2000-2001, Voices created The 110° After School Magazine Project that blended creative writing, photography and journalism and responded to youth participants’ desire to tell stories about their present lives. This project is now in its fifth year and will continue (proud and strong) next year. In 2001-2002, Voices began its first arts-in-education project, The World War II Intergenerational Book Project, They Opened Their Hearts: Tucson Elders Tell World War II Stories to Tucson Youth–our most ambitious weaving of creative writing, photography, and in-depth oral history.
Our programs align with our mission to document community stories and encourage individuals to explore themselves and their connections to where they live. Each year, our capacity has grown to deepen these programs.