WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA EAST FOUNDATION INC
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Mission Statement
The WGI makes the art of storytelling accessible to people of all ethnic, cultural, and economic backgrounds – with special attention to the underserved.
About This Cause
The Writers Guild Initiative (WGI) is an independent 501c(3) nonprofit organization affiliated with the Writers Guild of America, East. Our programs are dedicated to bringing professional film and television writers together with underserved communities to encourage self-expression through writing. Our signature program, the Helen Deutsch Writing Workshops, has shared the craft of writing with a range of communities whose voices and stories are underrepresented in the popular discourse. The Workshops link accomplished professional writers with members of marginalized communities facing significant challenges. Our goal is to help them use writing as a tool to reflect on experiences, share insights, identify a path forward, and make their voices heard. For over a decade, WGI has partnered with various organizations to provide opportunities for such populations as wounded veterans, family caregivers of veterans, immigrant youth, LGBTQ asylum seekers, and people living with chronic illness, to name a few. We most recently completed workshops with nurses on the front lines of the COVID crisis through a partnership with the New York Professional Nurses Union. Many participants suffer from PTSD and other trauma and have found our workshops to be profoundly helpful, even life-changing. We are not therapists but professional writers who provide a safe space to write, create, and build trust and community. Together, we explore storytelling in all its forms, engage with writing as a form of self-expression and confidence-building, and use writing as a path to understanding and healing. Mentors lead participants through writing exercises that encourage creativity and develop descriptive skills. Participants are encouraged to write about whatever they wish. All work created in the workshops belongs solely to the participant who writes it. No writing experience is necessary, only a desire to explore storytelling and self-expression. Participants receive supportive and constructive feedback from their mentors and fellow participants. Finding common ground with others in the cohort can increase a sense of safety and understanding, and participants often share experiences they have never before shared with anyone. Our Mentors are accomplished professional writers who are exceptionally skilled at their craft, have innovative teaching styles, and include Pulitzer prize-winners, Emmy and Peabodyaward-winners, MacArthur and Guggenheim fellows.