Join Session 3 of Data Storytelling for Cultural Creatives
- Joseph Crown
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
The visuals here show how data storytelling can take different forms. One explores how happiness is built from small moments and relationships, while the other highlights patterns in everyday behaviors linked to well-being. Both move beyond numbers alone, showing how data can be translated into patterns, narratives, and meaning that people can quickly see and understand.
By the time people reach a third session like this, something important has usually shifted.
The number is no longer just a number. The draft is no longer just an exercise. What began as a figure in a packet, a note in the margin, a question about place, or a line someone almost did not write has started becoming something with shape, tension, and direction. That is where our next session begins. Session 3 of Data Storytelling for Cultural Creatives is a Form and Voice Clinic designed to help participants produce two substantial drafts in forms that match their voice and audience.
Our next gathering will take place on Thursday, March 19, 2026, from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM at NORAPC, 2601 Tulane Avenue, Suite 400, New Orleans. As with the previous sessions, free street parking is available nearby, and participants should not park in the lots. The Crown Legacy Program’s current series page also notes that food, refreshments, and seating are being provided, and that registered attendees may have the opportunity to receive a copy of the data storytelling book being used in the March series.
This session is about what happens after insight.
Not every story wants to be told the same way. Some stories arrive as a sharp scene. Some need a loop. Some want a before-and-after structure. Some want to braid data, memory, and context together until the reader can feel the pressure points for themselves. Session 3 is built to help participants test those possibilities. The agenda centers on voice and distance, then moves into structure choices, live drafting, and a share circle where participants bring forward two pieces and receive concise feedback around clarity, context, and care.
That matters because voice is never neutral.
A piece can stay close to the body or step back for public use. It can sound immediate, reflective, or analytic. It can read like testimony, like neighborhood observation, like planning language, or like something in between. The clinic asks participants to consider what changes when the audience changes: If your reader is a neighbor, what do you say? If your reader is a city planner, what shifts? The session is designed to help people make those decisions without losing emotional truth or flattening the dignity of the people inside the story.
It also makes room for form.
Participants will be able to work across three drafting paths: a visual path, where one insight becomes a four-panel storyboard; an audio path, where a one-minute script and simple recording plan can take shape; and a page path, where a vignette or poem can be drafted with a clean data note attached. The point is not to make everyone write the same kind of piece. The point is to help each person discover where their material breathes best.
That may be the most useful lesson of the night.
Sometimes the strongest version of a story is not longer. It is better aimed. Sometimes the number belongs in the opening hook. Sometimes it should land as a reveal. Sometimes it should echo throughout the piece like a pulse you do not fully explain until the end. Session 3 introduces participants to structures like snapshot, before/after, loop, and braided form, then asks a deceptively simple question: Where do you want the reader to meet the data—first, middle, or end?
That is not just a writing question. It is a question about priorities.
We do this constantly in public life. We decide what to foreground. We decide what gets a headline and what gets a footnote. We decide when the number enters, who gets named, who gets generalized, and what kind of truth we think the audience can carry. Writers do this. Organizers do this. Public health systems do this. Community members do this every time they try to explain what a local figure actually means where they live.
This clinic gives participants a chance to do that work more consciously.
There is also something generous built into the session design. The feedback format is intentionally short and useful: one sentence about what is clear, one question about context, and one care-read note about tone or impact. That structure helps keep the room focused and protects the energy needed to keep drafting. It reminds us that critique does not have to become performance. It can be practical. It can be precise. It can help a piece move.
By Meeting 3, people are not simply reacting to data anymore. They are shaping it into voice. They are making decisions about tone, image, pacing, and audience. They are learning that one story can live in more than one form and that revision is not betrayal. Revision is how a piece finds its real body.
So if you have been waiting for the session where the draft gets sharper, where the story starts choosing its form, and where feedback helps move something from possible to publishable, this is the one.
Come ready to bring something forward.
Come ready to test whether your story wants to be spoken, drawn, or read on the page.
Come ready to find out what changes when the number is no longer just information, but structure, pressure, rhythm, and voice.
What to Expect
Across the next sessions, participants will work through guided exercises, small-group discussion, writing time, and share circles designed to help them leave with actual work in progress—not just inspiration.
The series is designed to help you:
turn a number into a story seed
connect local data to lived experience and community knowledge
practice writing and shaping drafts with support
explore how voice, structure, and form change meaning
begin creating stories, visuals, illustrations, and narrative frameworks that can travel beyond the room
The sessions are practical, collaborative, and welcoming to people with different comfort levels around both data and creative work. Whether you are a writer, artist, organizer, advocate, or simply someone who wants to think more clearly about the numbers shaping our city, you are invited.
Who Should Attend?
This series is especially well-suited for:
cultural creatives
writers and storytellers
artists and illustrators
community advocates
Healthcare professionals creating messaging and content
Those interested in local data, public health, smoking, air quality, HIV, and Ryan White Priority Setting Sessions.
nonprofit staff
planners and organizers
people who work with lived experience and community knowledge
anyone who wants to make data more useful, more human, and more meaningful
You do not need to arrive as an expert. You just need curiosity, openness, and a willingness to practice.
Register Now
This is a chance to build practical skills, connect with others, and begin turning numbers into stories people can actually use.
Come ready to think, write, share, and create. This will be the last event of the March Training series.
Meeting 3: Form and Voice Clinic
The third session helps participants shape their work further—exploring voice, structure, and different creative pathways so each person leaves with stronger drafts and clearer next steps.
Date: Thursday, March 19, 2026
Time: 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Address: 2601 Tulane Avenue, Suite 400, New Orleans, LA 70119
Parking: Please use free street parking nearby. Do not park in the lots, as vehicles may be towed.
Finding us: Take the elevator to the 4th floor, then make a left when you exit. The office is located there.
Click here to Register:
Please register so we can prepare accordingly. Food, refreshments, and seating are being provided, and we are doing our best to get an accurate count for everyone attending.
Want to preview the agenda for these sessions?
You can view it here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pxI90XVxv0eN5wLAEmekluP66ewP0gJg/view?usp=sharing
Book Giveaway for Participants
Those who register and attend will have the opportunity to receive a copy of the data storytelling book we’ll be using throughout the March series.
During the training, we’ll work through the book together through guided exercises, small-group practice, and collaborative discussion as participants develop stories, visuals, illustrations, and more from the data of their own lives and communities.
This is a first-come, first-served opportunity, so early registration is strongly encouraged.
The Kindle book was given away for free through the Kindle app. This makes it available to everyone, whether they can join us in person or you’re following along from anywhere.
Couldn’t Make the UNO Session? Catch Up Here
If you missed Dr. Phillips’ presentation at UNO, you can still review the materials and get excited for what’s ahead.
Slidedeck of the UNO Presentation
AI Avatar Recap by Dr. Phillips
These resources offer a strong introduction to the ideas behind the March training and a helpful recap of the themes already explored.
Made possible by
NOTCF • The PoZitive2PoSitive Initiative • The Crown Legacy Program • University of New Orleans (UNO) • NORAPC Community Coalition
Thank you for helping expand access to learning opportunities that strengthen our collective work. If you’d like short social captions or a square graphic to promote this, please type continue.
We invite you to stay connected. Visit the Crown Legacy Program website regularly to stay informed about our ongoing community work, including educational initiatives and our new Lagniappe Logic podcast. Follow our updates, join our mailing list, or reach out if you’d like to collaborate. And be sure to check out my Amazon Author Profile for details on these titles and future releases.
Together, let’s build a legacy of literacy, creativity, and transformation. Thank you for being a part of this journey. Go download your free books today – read them, enjoy them, and help us share the gift of reading with others. By turning pages, you’re helping turn the tide on illiteracy and igniting change that will resonate far beyond this month.
Joseph Santiago, Executive Director, Crown Legacy Program joe@crownlegacyprogram.org
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