Contact: info@narrativearts.org | 606-454-8864 for more information | narrativearts.org

When: March 12th, 2026, 6:00–8:00 PM
Where: 6:00–8:00 PM, DREAMS Center for Arts Education, 901 Fanning St, Wilmington, NC 28401

After convening a story circle in New Hanover County on February 27th with local organizers Rachel Bodkin-Fox and Brandon Cagle, Narrative Arts returns to share what we heard. Join us for a multimedia evening featuring stories gathered from residents across New Hanover County about their lived experiences with public health and local systems of care. 

The event will feature a captivating multimedia installation of personal stories shared by over 30 New Hanover residents, creating a powerful, collective listening experience with over 100 audio headphones available. The community is invited to gather for food, fellowship, and a celebration of local voices.

Too often, communities are framed through deficit narratives that emphasize individual behavior while obscuring systemic barriers. Through recorded conversations and creative storytelling, this gathering highlights how public health is experienced not as abstract policy, but as infrastructure, relationships, and institutional accountability in everyday life.

Brandon Cagle shared: “This is not just an event  it’s a public act of listening. More than 30 residents have shared their lived experiences of health and care in New Hanover County. The work isn’t about extracting stories; it’s about creating conditions where people can speak and be witnessed. When listening becomes collective, it builds the trust that systems alone cannot create.”

Speaking about the event Rachel Bodkin-Fox pointed out: “This was neighbors sitting with neighbors, creating space to talk honestly about health and care in our community. We shaped it together, we invited people in, and the stories that emerged belong to New Hanover County.”

Narrative Arts program director Jack Fischer noted “When rural communities are framed primarily through deficits, distrust becomes predictable. This work focuses upstream, shifting the stories we tell so community-defined understanding can inform how institutions communicate, allocate resources, and design policy.”

Over the next two years, this initiative will advance a community-informed narrative strategy, public-facing media, and relationship-building efforts designed to support health equity and strengthen trust between residents and public institutions.These events are designed for community members, public health professionals, local leaders, policymakers, and advocates interested in civic dialogue, community arts, and narrative change.

Narrative Arts is holding Story Circles in seven counties across eastern North Carolina as part of a broader effort to better understand how public health systems are experienced in everyday life, and how trust is built—or strained—within communities.  Narrative Arts is a nonprofit organization based in Wilmington, North Carolina.   Learn more about the project here.

Story circle participants.