Aitina Fareed-Cooke developed the Tales from the Porch project in 2019 under Get Fokus’d Productions as an opportunity to amplify the stories and the voices of members of the Buffalo, NY community. In 2022 the Tales from the Porch project focused on seven black community leaders positively impacting the city despite the pandemic and the tragedy that occurred at the Tops Market on May 14, 2022.

In partnership with Buffalo Arts Studio and with funding support from Creatives Rebuild New York’s Artist Employment Program through Arts Services Inc.’s fiscal sponsorship, Fareed-Cooke extended Tales from the Porch in order to invest in the next generation of creatives. Fareed-Cooke developed a creative arts apprenticeship called Fokus’d Kreatives as an opportunity to support emerging artists as they develop their artistic craft within the creative arts field. 

Over the course of 6 months, Fareed-Cooke guided the current cohort of five Fokus’d Kreatives as they responded to the 2022 Tales from the Porch project. Emerging artists Isaac Fareed, Stephen Forman Jr., Tallulah Gordon, Kaitlyn Lowe, and Mykiss Washington were also given paid opportunities to add to their resumes and support their art production. The end result is Tales from the Porch Extensions, an exhibition of new work in a range of media including photography, film, video productions, sound engineering, illustration, and poetry/creative writing.

We would like to recognize the following supporters & funders of this project: