The Bloom Stage & Storytelling
The Bloom Stage and Storytelling
Story is an important tradition that connects our communities, holds a mirror up to life lessons and helps chart where we are going. In our current golden age of storytelling, people are becoming more aware of how sharing their personal narratives function as a pathway to physically healing experiences and to achieving their goals. Stories elicit powerful emotional responses and are useful tools. Your story is your power!
The Bloom Stage offers quarterly events that bring a blend of storytelling, poetry, music, and art to the Murfreesboro stage. The series is produced by storyteller and personal coach Kara J. Kemp with assistance from poet and writer Kory Wells and partnership with Poetry in the Boro. This series celebrates the ability of art to honor both the diversity and commonality of human experience, and to satisfy a vital human need for connection. It seeks to present established and emerging storytellers, poets, performers and artists and to encourage unity among communities whose stories often go unheard. Each show presents a broad theme for artists to build upon, such as “Defibrillator” for a February Valentine’s show, “Cornbread and Casseroles” for Mother’s Day and “The Dog Days” for an August show on furry friends, summer’s end and school’s beginning. Live musicians weave the stories together throughout the series as well as visual artists on exhibit.
Don’t shrink. Bloom.
Bloom Stage presents The Art of Unburdening a culmination of Rutherford Arts Alliance’s art workshop series for caregivers
Bloom Stage proudly announces the second show in its 2026 series, “The Art of Unburdening” on May 7 at Walnut House in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Produced in collaboration with the Rutherford Arts Alliance, We Remember You and Poetry in the Boro, this special evening invites audiences to reflect on caregiving, connection, and the healing power of creative communities through an entertaining and deeply human night of live performance and art.
The Art of Unburdening is the culminating showcase of a six-month creative workshop series designed for caregivers, particularly those supporting loved ones living with dementia. Created as part of the Rutherford Arts Alliance ABC Grant through the Tennessee Arts Commission in partnership with We Remember You, the series offers space for participants to express, release, and reconnect through art-making, storytelling, movement, and reflection.
Caregiving is an act of deep love, but it can also be isolating, exhausting, and emotionally overwhelming. This project was created to offer caregivers a place to set some of that weight down and rediscover themselves through creativity, community, and shared experience.
This show will feature the music of Kristen Budde, art by LeeAnn Love, live art by Gregory Lannom, and storytelling and poetry from Jeanmarie Hill, Lee Ann Hyatt, Mark Lamb, Julie Sumner, Kory Wells, Kara J. Kemp, and more.
All workshops and the final performance are free and open to the public, celebrating not only the art created, but the voices, reflections, and lived stories that emerged along the way.
2026 Bloom Stage Season
The Bloom Stage 2026 Season continues our mission of cultivating connection through intimate, multi-genre and multi-generational performances rooted in storytelling, music, poetry, movement, and visual art. Hosted at Walnut House in downtown Murfreesboro and extending across the region, this season reflects both deepened partnerships and meaningful expansion.
Since launching in 2018, Bloom Stage has collaborated with over 300 artists internationally, welcomed nearly 3,000 in-person audience members, and reached more than 21,000 virtual viewers. None of this work is possible without the continued support of our community.
The 2026 season invites audiences, artists, and partners to gather in shared space, to listen deeply, honor lived experience, and celebrate creativity as a vital force for connection and care.
More highlights of the 2026 season include:
, a six-month collaborative art series presented with Rutherford Arts Alliance and , designed to support caregivers of those living with dementia, culminating in a Bloom Stage presentation in May
- Two Bloom Stage performances in Historic Rugby, East Tennessee
JOIN OUR STAGE
Have a story to tell? The Bloom Stage is always in search of new storytellers. No experience required, just a great story and a willingness to collaborate. Performers have an option to work with a coach to be performance-ready.
SPONSOR THE BLOOM STAGE
Supporting the arts is the noblest thing you can do to keep humanity thriving. -Anonymous We need support for The Bloom Stage to stay free and accessible to the public. If you’d like to become a sponsor, let us know.
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“True belonging requires meeting real people in real time in a real space. Story helps you find your real.” – Kara J. Kemp
Kara’s storytelling performances have also been crafted for energetic events such as United We Style benefiting United Way, The Ghostly Gathering in historic Rugby, Tennessee, The Moth Nashville and custom story workshops. Kittens on the Keys is a full-length production that resonates with audiences as “a unique mix….at once sophisticated and homespun” which explores the complexities and charm of growing up Southern and what we do with our past in order to shape our futures. Kara is available for customizing workshops or private coaching sessions to help tap into real power for simply sharing, performance or corporate presentations.