Help SIMBY and The Next-Gen of Black Storytellers!

Kyra Williams is organizing this fundraiser.

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Hi, my name is Kyra Williams! I’m the founder and president of Stories In My Backyard (SIMBY) and the creator of our immersive traveling photo exhibit, SIMBY Presents: The Voices of Sisterly Affection!

With support from Black Music City (REC Philly, WXPN-FM, WRTI-FM, and the William Penn Foundation) as a two-time grantee and in partnership with the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia School District’s TV Station (PSTV), our innovative exhibit is on display in front of the Library’s Field Teen Center until March 31, 2025!!!

After intergenerational pop-ups at World Cafe Live, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, REC Philly, and PSTV where we provided many first virtual reality (VR) experiences to the Black community, this is our longest display to date! Over the next four months, we’re preparing to welcome local high schoolers who will experience these printed images, immerse themselves in our VR gallery, explore related library resources, and participate in culturally relevant photo programming led by Black photographers. As we honor Philly’s Black music herstory from Bille Holiday to Tierra Whack through this exhibit, the next generation of Black storytellers will learn about artists who share their roots while tapping into their own creative potential.

With your help, we can foster representation, belonging, and media literacy in the digital age. Through our 21st century programming, Black youth will see themselves reflected despite their public school experience where ~80% of teachers are white across the nation and we will improve their access to learn about the media arts as everyday creators and consumers of media.

Your donation to our 501(c)(3) nonprofit will support:

Meta Quest 3S headsets and cases to allow more people to view the VR gallery at once
Prints of student photography created in our photo programming to display with our exhibit at the Free Library
Development of educational videos to ensure Black students feel represented in the resources we use to teach them photography
Local Teaching Artist Compensation for in-class and after-school photo programming
Annual Software Subscriptions (Google Storage, Padlet, Zoom, Wix, Spatial)
Exhibit Reception Needs: Food, Beverages, Videographer, Photographer, DJ, Signage

Thank you in advance for your contribution!

More on our exhibit
Take a sneak peek at our new setup at the Free Library via Instagram
Hear testimonials from the photo workshop that started SIMBY
More about Kyra: Kyra Williams is a multimedia artist, social entrepreneur, and scholar-practitioner passionate about creating learning experiences in the arts that center Blackness. With a diverse creative background that includes photography, videography, and DJing, she is a Gates Millennium Scholar and two-time graduate of New York University with a BFA in Recorded Music and an MA in Digital Media Design for Learning. As a Philly native and founder of the nonprofit organization Stories In My Backyard (SIMBY), Kyra currently provides Black youth access to culturally relevant photography education. She is now an Ed.D. student studying Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education at The University of Pennsylvania to further the impact of this work in her hometown and beyond.