The Birth Death project

The only thing all humans share is that we are all born and we all die. Yet we often feel disconnected, lonely, or isolated in our journeys through these experiences.

The Birth Death Project seeks to change that, one story at a time, weaving our truths together.

Share Your Story

We are developing a new community-based performance and oral history project exploring our human experiences of birth and death.

We invite you to reach out to us to learn about our process and to schedule an interview so you can share your own stories about your experiences with birthing and dying.

The interviews will be preserved in a public archive and these stories will inspire a performance piece that we will present in our local communities across the Valley, first as a work-in-progress in the summer of 2026, then as a full production in 2027.

We will be scheduling interviews in ongoing waves, beginning in the spring of 2026. We can hold interviews at The LAVA Center in Greenfield, Forbes Library in Northampton, Holyoke Public Library, and Wistariahurst Museum in Holyoke. Please let us know if you would like to participate but none of these locations are accessible to you.

Interview sessions will be conducted with care and confidentiality. Participants may remain anonymous if desired. No special experience is needed - everyone has a story to share!

If you are interested in participating, or would like to learn more, please contact:
Ellen & Lena at birthdeathproject@gmail.com

We welcome people of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences.

Thank you for helping us build this project together, for all of us.

This phase of the project is supported in part by grants from the Conway, Hadley, Holyoke, and Shelburne Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Flower image by Dietmar Rabich from Wikimedia Commons.