Every event at the inaugural Berkeley Storytelling Festival sold out, according to a release distributed as paid-service content by XPR Media. Diaspora Arts Connection and Third Culture Tales announced the festival’s completion in a release dated Oct. 6, after the three-day program ran Sept. 18–20, 2026, at Impossible Stage in downtown Berkeley.
The release reported packed events but didn’t give ticket prices, festival revenue, performer compensation or operating costs. It named the event’s organizers and described its programming. The distribution page disclosed that USA TODAY Network editorial and news staff didn’t create the content.
A sold-out program
The festival presented four programs: opening-night production Stories of Berkeley, a personal storytelling workshop, the participatory Berkeley Open Stage and a closing-night edition of Third Culture Tales. Organizers called the gathering community-centered and said the intimate venue would bring performers and audiences together.
Stories of Berkeley focused on the people, experiences, histories and perspectives shaping the city. The program featured award-winning storyteller, humorist and human-rights activist Max Houghton; Human Rights Activist and Writer Anirvan Chaterjee; Berkeley-raised writer, documentary filmmaker and stunt performer Kelly Richardson; musician, singer, oud player and yoga instructor Sara Saberi; Diaspora Arts Connection Founder and human rights activist Nazy Kaviani; and business leader and arts supporter Payman Najafpour. Storyteller and festival organizer Shayan Ravandoust hosted.
Saturday’s workshop brought together Shayan Ravandoust, founder of Third Culture Tales, and co-facilitator Kavian Ravandoust, a licensed therapist, writer and storyteller. Participants worked with character, scene, detail, tension, reflection and performance to turn lived experience into stories. Many had no prior writing or performance experience. By the end, they had developed and shared stories.
The Berkeley Open Stage welcomed experienced performers and first-time participants to tell five-minute true stories. No one judged the noncompetitive event, where Iranian American singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, educator and Persian setâr virtuoso Fared Shafinury appeared as special musical guest.
Migration and cultural memory
Sunday’s closing program, a sold-out special edition of Third Culture Tales, focused on migration, identity, cultural inheritance, belonging and life between worlds. Its storytellers were interdisciplinary Iranian American artist Shirin Towfiq; UC Berkeley alumna Nasrin Murad; artist, writer, musician and four-time Moth StorySLAM winner Eva Schlesinger; master musician, composer and ney player Mohammad Khodadadi; and Stanford lecturer, award-winning educator, Moth GrandSLAM finalist and First Person Story founder Harriett "Dr. J" Jernigan.
Stories explored migration, displacement, family, tradition, reinvention, humor and the search for home. Third Culture Tales alum Vivek Venugopal hosted. He is a Bay Area storyteller, improviser, performer and facilitator whose life across Zambia, India and the United States informs his approach to storytelling and human connection.
Organizers and distribution
"The response to this first festival exceeded what we imagined," Shayan Ravandoust said. He said audiences listened, storytellers took creative and emotional risks, and people stayed afterward to talk. Nazy Kaviani said the sold-out response showed demand for spaces where people could meet beyond headlines, labels and assumptions.
Organizers said future editions would keep performances, workshops, open participation, music and cross-cultural storytelling. They said they’d announce plans for the next festival later. Diaspora Arts Connection is a Bay Area nonprofit that supports artists, preserves cultural heritage and creates opportunities for dialogue across cultures. The release said it has presented more than 500 events, supported more than 2,200 artists and welcomed more than 30,000 audience members.
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