Jamie Brunson and Sharing the Personal

Jamie J, Executive Director of First Person Arts, is an artist/activist using storytelling to build community and catalyze dialogue around important issues, especially those issues impacting the unheard. Brunson was named a 2022 NEA/ Delaware Division of the Arts Established Artist Fellow in Literature: Playwriting. Her creative body of work includes produced plays, published poetry and stories for the stage. She has brought storytelling to audiences across multiple platforms for over a decade, including: executive producer of two documentary films, producer of 12 annual First Person Arts Festivals of memoir and documentary art, host of WHYY’s Philadelphia Revealed Podcast (July 2024); WHYY’s Commonspace Radio Hour and Podcast series (2018), and COVID Stories – A Digital Memoir (2020). She is a Creator of FPA’s Applied Storytelling division where storytelling activities are customized to build communities. She serves as board, committee or steering committee member of: Strategic Planning Committee of Philadelphia’s Dept. of Behavioral Health & Intellectual Disabilities Services Engaging Males of Color Initiative; Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and Avenue of the Arts, ArtPhilly and Stories to Grow By. She has lectured at Bryn Mawr College, University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University. She is currently working on a memoir and solo show.Brunson holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and BA from Temple University.