Storytelling: For preserving and passing on traditions,
for challenging and breaking traditions,
and for the creation of new traditions.

To strengthen social norms that support healthy masculinities and gender equality, and to help eliminate gender-based violence, homophobia and other oppressions that are intertwined with masculinities, through ongoing events of men´s public story-sharing and community dialogue.

The Men's Story Project (MSP) is a new public performance and community dialogue project that explores social ideas about masculinity and manhood, using the arts as a medium for community-strengthening and social change. It aims to highlight men's stories that are less often heard; to break silences on issues including sexism, racism, heterosexism, ableism and violence – and ways in which these are often intertwined with masculinities; to celebrate men’s beauty and humanness; and to stimulate active dialogue on what contemporary masculinities can be all about. The ultimate goal of this replicable project is to help increase the presence of genuine self-expression, peace, health and justice in communities. The project started in San Francisco in 2008, and is intended for local implementation and evaluation around the world.

In each MSP presentation, a diverse group of approximately 15 local men share pieces they have created about their own lives, on subjects including sexuality, gender identity, romantic relationships, friendship, family, mentors, rites of passage, HIV/AIDS, perpetration of and healing from violence, immigration, personal transformations, and the men they wish to be – all with a framing focus on examination of masculinities and men’s roles. Presentations are multi-medium, including slam poetry, monologues, prose, music and dance, and are followed by facilitated audience-presenter discussion. MSP presenters are local artists, activists, and men who have never been on a public stage.