Word Travels: Uplifting Voices
Honoring our shared humanity by providing a space for participants to give full expression to their experiences in their own voice.
Jack Straw Writer Merna Ann Hecht‘s Word Travels: Bringing Refugee and Immigrant Voices to the Community is taking an exciting new direction from its roots in the Stories of Arrival: Refugee and Immigrant Youth Voices Poetry Project that took place at Foster High School in Tukwila, WA. Merna and Jack Straw provided hundreds of refugee and immigrant youth opportunities for telling their own stories and giving voice to their hopes and dreams through writing poetry and creating visual arts pieces. The beautiful and impactful ways that poetry, visual art and stories serve to celebrate individual and cultural identities of newcomers to this country are at the heart of every Stories of Arrival and Word Travels project.
Now, Word Travels is rising to meet the harsh circumstances placed on refugee, immigrant and asylum seeker communities from the current administration with a new format titled Uplifting Voices. In this audio project, Merna is bringing individuals to Jack Straw’s studios to share personal stories and poems that speak to each person’s experience carrying their many memories, struggles and dreams across borders to a new country. The Uplifting Voices Project honors our shared humanity by providing a space for participants to give full expression to their experiences in their own voice. Participants can choose if they wish their names and/or countries of origin be kept confidential.
In 2026, Merna brought Najib Abbi, Ada Safi, Raúl Sánchez, Tasneem aka “Ms. Taz,” and Shogofa Amini to Jack Straw’s studios to share their voices.
Art and Heritage Partnerships
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Extraordinary Ordinary People: American Masters of Traditional Arts READ MORE >
1962 Seattle World's Fair READ MORE >
Vexations Live at Jack Straw READ MORE >
Salmon in the City READ MORE >
