What kind of stories are you looking for?
We’re looking for true stories from Michigan told by the people who experienced them. An ideal story is 15-20 minutes long, but we’re open to stories of any length. They can be funny, sad, heart-warming, whatever! They are often once-in-a-lifetime type stories, but don’t necessarily have to be.
It is important that you experienced the bulk of the story yourself, although we are open to stories told second-hand if the person who experienced the story first-hand has passed away or the story is of serious significance in Michigan.
To get a sense of what kind of stories we’re looking for, you can listen to our podcast.
I’m terrified of public speaking. Can I still tell a story?
Absolutely! That’s very normal. We can always to a one-on-one interview or phone call and record your story that way for the radio show/podcast.
How can I submit a story for consideration?
The fastest way to submit a story is to email us a rough audio recording of yourself telling the story at story@mimichiganstory.com. Just a quick and dirty recording on a smartphone is fine. If that’s not possible for you, you can message us and we’ll work with you on an alternative way to submit your story. It’s a lot of work to completely write out your story and text submissions are not particularly useful to us, so we don’t recommend submitting written versions of stories. However, if that’s how you’d like to submit it, go right ahead!
What happens if I get selected for a live event?
We meet with every storyteller to go over their story and provide tips for improving it, if necessary. We will also explain the details of how the show works from the storyteller perspective. Storytellers are not allowed to read their story or use notes because we feel this undermines the authenticity of sharing a story on stage.
Are storytellers paid to tell their stories?
Storytellers receive a thank-you bag of goodies from the show and free tickets to future live events, but they are not paid. This is typical practice in documentary work because we don’t want subjects to make up material just to get paid. That could potentially undermine the credibility of the stories with our audience.
Where can I see the show live?
We’re aiming to host our first live event in East Lansing in the fall of 2025. Join our mailing list to stay up to date on live events and follow us on Facebook.
You can also message us if you’d like to help us produce the live event! We’d love your help!