Storytelling For Social Good Workshop

Free Talks

| 60 MINUTES

Expressions of Black Freedom

Level Forward's Storytelling for Social Good (SFSG) workshop is a guided storytelling experience crafted with prompts, provocations, and practical skills that empower and equip artists for the future of narrative change. In this high-energy, interactive workshop co-created & facilitated by Andrea Ambam (Director & Host of Programming at Level Forward) and Dria Brown (Producing Artistic Director at Broadway Advocacy Coalition), participants will learn and then apply the unique SFSG framework to generate new stories and hone existing ones for maximum social good. Ultimately, Level Forward's SFSG asks us all to consider: What is my responsibility as a culture-maker with the power to shape and tell stories? How can my messaging reshape the status quo? And most importantly, how many untold, liberatory stories emerge when we all commit to storytelling for social good?

To bring it all together, the workshop concludes with a conversation on entertainment and social impact hosted by Level Forward alongside curated Tribeca 2025 selections – Josalynn Smith from Ride or Die, Travis Wood and Alex Mallis from Travel Companion, and Lorraine Molina from Esta Isla.

Panelists

Dria Brown

Dria Brown (she/her) is a Black, queer artDoula, creative producer, facilitator, and artist whose practice is deeply rooted in a Black maternal doula lens. She champions slow, intentional creation, guiding artists through nurturing processes whereby their work is "parented" from conception through realization. Dria’s approach honors the natural rhythms of creativity, fostering deep connections, sustained growth, and transformative expression. As a multi-hyphenate creative, Dria masterfully blends her roles to harness the power of storytelling and art as tools for social change. Her work is a testament to her dedication to creativity, justice, and advocacy.

Andrea Ambam

Andrea Ambam is an award-winning storyteller, truthteller, and worldbender whose roots sprout from Cameroon. As a politically-engaged writer, performance artist, and producer, Andrea seeks to reflect the times and generate new timelines via critical commentary, unruly imagination, and multi-modal creations that interrogate how we get free. Currently, Andrea is developing new theatrical work and serving as the Director of Programming at Level Forward - a public-benefit entertainment studio – where she produces and hosts the Anthem Award-winning audience engagement platform More To Talk About. She has developed her multi-hyphenated artistic practice through fellowships and residencies with New York Theatre Workshop, PEN America, Hi-Arts, Anna Deavere Smith, Broadway Advocacy Coalition, The Playwrights Realm, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Signature Theatre, and EmergeNYC; and collaboration with JACK, The Billie Holiday Theatre, Classical Theatre of Harlem, NYU Verbatim Performance Lab, Girls Write Now, NYU Prison Education Program, Harlem9, and others. Andrea has been pulsating at the intersection of art, current events, and social impact for over a decade, beginning as a competitive public speaker where she was awarded 10 national championships including "Top Speaker in the Nation'' three times, and went on to debate conservative pundits on live TV. Her plays include: Twelve Angry Black Women (Fault Line Theatre’s Irons in The Fire Finalist), Fragile State (Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Semifinalist, Rattlestick Van Lier Fellowship Semifinalist), R(estoration) I(n) P(rogress) (NYU Educational Theatre/Provincetown Playhouse 2023), Rehearsing Justice: A One-Woman Show (Brooklyn Arts Exchange 2022), and Angelina Weld Grimke (Classical Theatre of Harlem/Playbill, Broadway Podcast Network). Andrea holds a Master’s degree in Art & Public Policy from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Lorraine Jones Molina

Raising awareness about social issues pertaining to women, sexuality, colonialism, and spirituality within the Caribbean, Lorraine Jones Molina is a Puerto Rican filmmaker who strives to use the medium as a tool for activism and healing. Winner of two Suncoast EMMY awards for a documentary feature film and a science television show, she has also produced several award winning short films throughout the Caribbean and New York. Lorraine is the Co-Founder of the art film production company Experimento Lúdico. Her debut feature narrative titled “Esta Isla” (This Island) is having its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival’s US Narrative Competition.

Josalynn Smith

Josalynn Smith is a queer Black writer/director from St. Louis, Missouri. A graduate of Columbia University’s Film MFA program, they’ve been recognized by SFFILM, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and Sundance. Their debut feature, Ride or Die—an anti-romance thriller produced by Foxxhole Productions—will premiere at this year’s Tribeca Festival. Smith is committed to storytelling that challenges dominant narratives and creates space for queer and Black interiority on screen.

Travis Wood

Travis Wood is a director from Minneapolis, sometimes based in Brooklyn. His short films have been selected for multiple Vimeo Staff Picks, SXSW film festival, True/False, Rooftop Films, an NY EMMY award, and featured on NoBudge, Booooooom and Directors Notes. He was one of ten filmmakers selected for Lena Waithe’s Rising Voices program, where he directed the short film, Black Santa, which premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Festival. Most recently his short film, Dollar Pizza Documentary, co-directed with Alex Mallis, played several festivals including Rooftop Films and was selected for a Vimeo Staff Pick. He is a current member of the Meerkat Media Artist Collective and part of the commercial directing team at Farm League.

Alex Mallis

Alex is a Cuban-American, Jewish filmmaker raised in New Hampshire now living in Brooklyn, NY. His films have been selected for multiple festivals internationally. His work has been distributed by PBS, Criterion, Roku, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Pitchfork, The Huffington Post, and Vimeo Staff Picks. His short documentary SHUT UP AND PAINT (2022) was awarded Grand Jury Prize at IFF Boston and Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, shortlisted for the 95th Academy Awards, and broadcast nationally on POV. Alex received an MFA in Integrated Media Arts from Hunter College (CUNY) and is an active member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective and the Meerkat Media Collective.

* Rush Tickets will be offered at venues when advanced tickets for a screening or event are no longer available (EXCLUDES: Beacon Theatre and United Palace).

The Rush system functions as a standby line that will form at the venue approximately one hour prior to scheduled start time. Admittance is based on availability and will begin roughly 10 minutes prior to program start time. Rush Tickets are the same price as advance tickets and are payable upon entry.