VOICES Radio Hour is presented by VOICES in collaboration with Circa 71 Productions and explores different themes and invites diverse voices in our community to share their stories once a month on KDNK Community Radio. This month, in the wake of her passing, we honor VOICES’ Founder and original visionary, our Unsung Hero: Barbara Reese. It was Barbara’s belief that everyone had a voice to share. Barbara, along with Founding Executive/Artistic Director, Renee Prince, set out to create an organization in which all voices - particularly unheard or often silenced voices - would have a stage, a page, a canvas, a microphone to be witnessed and celebrated! From this seed of an idea, along with Barbara’s unparalleled generosity, VOICES was born in the fall of 2016.
In addition to being VOICES’ Founder and first Board Chair, Barbara participated in the ensemble of the first Women’s VOICES Project in 2019. Her original poetry - featured throughout this episode - was also woven into the Women’s VOICES Project: Wetlands in 2022.
Barbara’s fingerprints and joyful, imaginative soul are all over VOICES, but she was never one to take the spotlight. In this episode, we'll hear from the voices of dear friends, supporters, board members, and past project participants - some who knew Barbara well, others whose life paths may not have crossed with hers, but whose lives were forever changed through VOICES’ work. We hope to illuminate the lasting impact and honor the legacy that Barbara Reese leaves through VOICES.
We love you, Barbara. Thank you for all that you have done to strengthen our community and ensure that everyone’s voice has a place to be heard. We are so grateful.
EPISODE 10 | UNSUNG HERO FEATURES THE VOICES OF Angélica Breña, Kristin Carlson, Alya Howe, Julián Nihill, Flor Paz Pastrana, Renee Prince, Vanessa Porras, Natalie Spears, Travis Dean Wilson, and Chip Winn Wells.
MUSIC IS PERFORMED BY MinTze Wu (violin), Chih-Long Hu (piano), Michael Graham (cello), Chieh-Fan-Fan Yiu (viola), Delaney Meyers (violin), Sarah Graf (cello).
ORIGINAL POETRY WRITTEN & READ by Barbara Reese, recorded in 2022.
