Youngstown-area residents tape oral histories this week for Voices of the Valley

YOUNGSTOWN

Community conversatons are the highlight of the Voices of the Valley exhibition, presented by the McDonough Museum of Art, 525 Wick Ave. at Youngstown State University.

The exhibition is a collaboration between the museum and StoryCorps, an independent nonprofit that’s collected more than 40,000 people’s interviews preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

The museum selected 60 individuals from the Youngstown area community and paired them up in 40-minute conversations that were recorded by StoryCorps this week by interviewers Susan Lee and Cambra Moniz-Edwards.

“It has been an endless parade of amazing human beings,” said Leslie Brothers, the director of the McDonough Museum. “It’s a humbling experience.”

The $30,000 exhibition was funded by partners of the museum and will run from Tuesday to July 26.

Among the participants were Sophia Buggs, an urban farmer from Youngstown’s South Side, and Jay Coy, an organic farmer from North Jackson.

During their interview on Friday morning, Buggs said they talked about farming practices, as well as how their paths have crossed before without them actually knowing it, and how much they really have in common.

Read more about the project and the exhibition in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.