Amplifying the voices of the community one porch at a time.
In 2019, Aitina Fareed-Cooke launched the Tales from the Porch initiative to amplify community voices through the creative arts. Over the years, this community-based initiative has garnered substantial funding from Buffalo State University’s Anne Frank Project, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, and Creatives Rebuild New York, among others.
Tales from the Porch is now in its fourth iteration and has successfully engaged diverse audiences across generations, providing platforms for both emerging and professional artists to collaborate, enrich their portfolios, and discover lucrative growth opportunities.
Aitina Fareed-Cooke
Photo By: Kristy Tasca Photography
"We all have our porches. Our platforms from which we share our stories. Our lives. From these porches we learn perspectives. We learn of the varying commonalities and complexities that exist, human to human.
As we exchange these tales, we share our hopes, fears, and dreams. Together we discover the beautiful weight of reality which is that we are all human. Different, yet the same." - Aitina Fareed-Cooke
Tales from the Porch I: We are Human (2019)
Tales from the Porch II: Overcome Evil with Good (2022)
Tales from the Porch III: Extensions (2023)
Tales from the Porch IV: Art is a Language (2024)
We would like to recognize the following supporters & funders of this project over the years:
