St Pete Stories™

“Everyone in our community has a story to share. These special stories highlight our differences and our similarities, which we should celebrate in a meaningful way. After all, they are what make our families,    neighborhoods, communities and our city so remarkable.”
 – Mayor Rick Kriseman, St .Petersburg, FL

What are St. Pete Stories? Four evenings of conversations about our St. Petersburg community. We explored St. Peterburg’s people, places and common values. We all experience our city based on where we live and who we are.  St. Pete Stories invited you to add your truth to the conversation.

At St. Pete Stories, you saw a theatrical performance of the stories of residents.  You had an opportunity to share your vision in a spirit of learning and curiosity. And you left with a fuller picture of who St. Petersburg is and how essential your story is to its future.

St. Pete Stories is produced in partnership with the City of St. Petersburg  by Your Real Stories, Communication Research Enterprises, Inc., and Competency & Performance Solutions.

The St Pete Stories series features professional actors presenting the scripted life stories of real people from the community.  Partnering with the City of St Petersburg, we presented the first 16 of these stories in four programs called This is my city: St Pete Stories. 

The first  people to sit for the  two-  to three-hour interviews were the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Other storytellers included:  an African American man in his mid-forties  who spent nearly  20 years in prison; a young woman who arrived as a teenage refugee from Bosnia  and faced the new challenges of living in the American South;  and a Czechoslovakian immigrant who is grateful for her American citizenship that allowed her to earn a college degree and be deaf at the same time.

Participants responded  to This is my city: St Pete Stories with, “Awesome, powerful, excellent…moving and inspiring…great stories, great personalities…We need more events like this!… It was the most revealing and transforming experience that I have had in years living in this  city.”