About Us

Our Lives as They Really Are

It started with a simple concept: our stories, told by us. Stories strengthen community by highlighting and underlining our shared dignity. When we read and listen closely, we honor our neighbors with our attention, and we change ourselves.

We Partner

In the broader narrative of our city, our authors’ stories are often left out or misrepresented. Partnerships can take years, but it cannot be rushed. Building and maintaining mutual trust is at the core of this work.

We Preserve

Think about all the stories and images that give you a sense of identity. The things passed down by your elders. The things you hold onto in your home. The stories you tell and retell about the experiences that shaped you and those who came before you. What if they disappeared forever? We are here to help facilitate the kind of preservation work folks are dreaming of: documentary writing, photography, oral history, and more.

We Provide a Process

At the center of our process is deep and deliberate listening. It’s a process that curates, refines, and celebrates the answers to a few simple questions: would you share part of your story? Would you tell me about yourself? What’s it been like for you? How did we get here? Some authors answer these questions in interviews that are collaboratively edited by LSP. Some authors participate in writing workshops.

We Publish

After the many drafts, revisions, and conversations needed to complete a chapter, we create a publication that is excellent and beautiful. These are incredible authors and documentarians whose words and work are part of the historic and creative record of this city. Their work deserves to be presented in a way that will have lasting impact and will inspire pride throughout our community.

Staff

  • Darcy Thompson

    Darcy Thompson

    Executive Director

    Darcy has been at the helm of LSP since its inception in 2013. Prior to his work at LSP, he worked on the national staff of Teach For America for over eleven years, during which time he conducted research on teacher effectiveness in urban and rural schools, helped refine the organization’s framework for effective teaching, led their national STEM recruitment efforts, and helped found Teach For America – Appalachia. Darcy has lived in Louisville since 2003, and has enthusiastically adopted the city as his home. He is thrilled to combine his enthusiasm for stories and books with his lifelong commitment to education as an engine for social justice.

    darcy@louisvillestoryprogram.org

  • Joe Manning

    Joe Manning

    Deputy Director

    Joe helped establish Louisville Story Program in 2013 and worked as an instructor and editor before he came on board full time as the role of Deputy Director in 2016. Joe was a Jackson Fellow of Creative Writing at Hollins University's prestigious MFA program where he focused on nonfiction. He's published award-winning essays, columns, and features for The Louisville Eccentric Observer and The Louisville Paper, has written for Fjords, theRS500.com, and Oxford American. Joe's first collection of single-topic essays, Certain Relevant Passages, was published in 2017 by Dock Street Press. In 2018 Joe was awarded the Kentucky Arts Council's Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship.

    joe@louisvillestoryprogram.org

  • Althea Allen Dryden

    Althea Allen Dryden

    Program Director

    Althea officially joined the LSP team in late 2021 but her love affair with the Louisville Story Program began in 2013 while working for LSP’s fiscal agent, the Network Center for Community Change. The Our Shawnee book launch is still one of her favorite professional accomplishments. She recently became a published author herself as a contributor to I Too Am America: On Loving & Leading Black Men & Boys by Shawn Dove and Nick Chiles. Althea comes to LSP after a decade in Louisville’s nonprofit community. Most recently, she served as the Director of Operations and later Director of Marketing and Storytelling at Cities United, a national organization committed to working with communities across the country to reimagine public safety and reduce the homicides of young Black men in boys. Althea has long dreamed of working alongside the staff, board, and authors to continue the heartfelt mission of the Louisville Story Program.

    althea@louisvillestoryprogram.org

  • Christine Gosney

    Christine Gosney

    Director of Operations

    Christine joined LSP in 2022 to bring additional leadership in operations, development, and communications. Her time in the local nonprofit sector has included eight years at a refugee resettlement agency, Kentucky Refugee Ministries. Prior to moving to Kentucky, Christine worked in emergency shelter services and re-entry programs in Arizona.

    christine@louisvillestoryprogram.org

Board Members

  • Mia Cooper

    Mia Cooper

    Director of Equity and Community

    Sacred Heart Schools

  • Kate Lacy Crosby

    Kate Lacy Crosby

    Partner

    Tachau Meek PLC

  • Amber Duke

    Amber Duke

    Deputy Director

    American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky

  • LaTanya Henry

    LaTanya Henry

    President

    LMH Accounting & Consulting

  • Jodeci Thomas

    Jodeci Thomas

    LSP Author

    Candidate for Board Certified Behavioral Analysis

  • Stephen Kertis

    Stephen Kertis

    Founder and President

    Kertis Creative

  • Judy Look

    Judy Look

    Community Volunteer

    Retired from Congressman John Yarmuth's Office

  • Anne McKune

    Anne McKune

    Director of Philanthropy

    Community Foundation of Louisville

  • Michael Washburn

    Michael Washburn

    Executive Director

    Kentucky Waterways Alliance

Partners

  • American Printing House for the Blind
  • Backside Learning Center
  • Central High School
  • Cities United
  • Dismas Charities
  • Festival of Faiths
  • Iroquois High School
  • Kentucky Center for African American Heritage
  • Kentucky School for the Blind
  • Kertis Creative
  • Louisville Free Public Library
  • Louisville Writing Project
  • Muhammad Ali Center
  • Rock Paper Jones LLC
  • Spalding University
  • St. John Center for Homeless Men
  • StudioWorks by Zoom Group
  • The Academy @ Shawnee
  • University of Louisville Oral History Center and Archives
  • University of Louisville Photographic Archives

Financial Supporters

  • Arthur K. Smith Family Foundation
  • Brown-Forman
  • C. E. and S. Foundation
  • Community Foundation of Louisville
  • Cralle Foundation
  • Emily Bingham and Stephen Reily
  • Fund for the Arts
  • Gheens Foundation
  • Impact100 Louisville
  • Kentucky Arts Council
  • Kentucky Colonels
  • Kentucky Oral History Commission
  • Louisville Metro Government
  • Matthew Barzun & Brooke Brown Barzun
  • Mrs. Christina Lee Brown
  • National Book Foundation
  • National Endowment for the Arts
  • Norton Foundation
  • Owsley Brown III Philanthropic Foundation
  • Porter Watkins & George Bailey
  • Republic Bank Foundation
  • Snowy Owl Foundation
  • Sociable Weaver Foundation
  • South Arts
  • Starlight Racing
  • Ted & Mary Nixon