Have you ever noticed how a single strand can hold a whole pattern together? Common Threads is a FREE three-part media storytelling workshop series for NC State students where you’ll practice interviewing, photography, and video editing as tools for community-centered storytelling. Each workshop begins with its own entry point and ends with a tangible takeaway: a recorded interview, a mini photo essay, or a short video. Drop in for one, or join all three to see how voice, image, and motion come together in layered narratives of care and connection. Certificates will be issued to NC State students who complete the entire series. This series is a partnership between Marginalia Making and Iximché Media sponsored by the NC State University Foundation.
WORKSHOP 1
THREADS OF LIGHT: PHOTOGRAPHY
September 19th
Noon to 2:30 pm
Explore photography as co-creation, practicing framing, light, and captions that honor your subject. Leave with a mini photo essay.
In this workshop you will learn:
– Composition, light, and framing for visual storytelling.
– How to co-create images that reflect shared meaning, not imposed narratives.
– Captioning as a storytelling act.
WORKSHOP 2
THREADS OF voice: interviewing
October 3rd
Noon to 2:30 pm
Learn how to prepare, listen, and record interviews rooted in respect. Leave with a short, recorded story that centers another person’s voice.
In this workshop you will learn:
– How to prepare and conduct interviews that honor community voices.
– Active listening techniques and ethical consent processes.
– Capturing clean audio/video interviews using accessible tools.
WORKSHOP 3
threads of motion: video editing
October 10th
Noon to 2:30 pm
Discover video editing basics to weave together interviews, images, and sound. Leave with a short, polished story in motion.
In this workshop, you will learn:
– Basic video editing to sequence interviews, images, and b-roll.
– Adding captions, audio, and pacing for emotional resonance.
– Planning distribution with community approval and care.
Workshop instructors:
Iximché means “corn plant” in Maya Kaqchikel, a symbol of connection among Indigenous peoples across the Americas. It is also the name of a sacred Maya Kaqchikel site and, for founder Roderico Y. Díaz, a place of family roots and ancestral memory.
is a Maya Kaqchikel photojournalist and documentary filmmaker from Guatemala. For over 20 years, he has documented the search for justice after the Guatemalan genocide, and more recently immigrant and indigenous communities in North Carolina. His work has been published and exhibited across the Americas and beyond.
Emily Gibson Rhyne (she/her)
brings a background in human rights to storytelling. After years of organizing for immigrant justice and leading delegations across Latin America, she co-founded Iximché Media in 2021. Her work highlights stories of environmental justice, Indigenous rights, migration, art, and memory.
