Documentarians-in-Residence: Creating Living Archives

The City of Raleigh is interested in connecting with residents and learning what they want to change about the city and what they want to celebrate. The Office of Engagement is working on new ways to bring City services and engagement to neighborhoods and communities.

As part of this effort, the City of Raleigh is working with StoryShed Studio; a community documentary studio that collaborates with the public to create living archives. StoryShed Studio was selected as the City's first Documentarians-in-Residence, one of five Artist-in-Residence programs organized by Raleigh Arts.

Documentarians-in-Residence

StoryShed Studio is comprised of Johnny Andrews and Juli Leonard. Both documentarians work in still, audio and video documentary mediums, have degrees in communications and have worked as community photojournalists for over 20 years. They each reside in Raleigh, NC. Andrews & Leonard became friends over 20 years ago as young photojournalists who share the same passion for collaborative storytelling, deep listening and paying attention to the beauty in the everyday.

Portrait of Johnny Andrews — Documentarian Johnny Andrews

Portrait of Juli Leonard — Documentarian Juli Leonard

This Artist Residency is part of the City of Raleigh’s Arts and Cultural Resources (ACR) Strategic Plan Initiative 2.1, which aims to broaden access to our collective history and stories. The selected artist will have opportunities to collaborate with the ACR 2.1 Initiative Team as well as other workgroups seeking to tell stories reflective of Raleigh’s diverse populations; strengthen partnerships for increased programming capacity and impact; broaden the reach of education and activation of public spaces throughout the city; increase accessibility of its programs, sites, and collections; and create and maintain welcoming spaces for residents and visitors to learn, engage, and play.

This is a joint project of the Office of Community Engagement, Office of Strategy and Innovation and Raleigh Arts.