About the Anne Frank Project
The Anne Frank Project utilizes story-based programming to provide powerful learning experiences for students, educators, businesses, and community organizations.
OURMISSION
To use stories as vehicles for community building, conflict management, and identity exploration.
OURVISION
To be an internationally recognized leader in progressive experiential education and innovative professional development.
Inspired by Anne Frank, we are committed to developing caring, inclusive, and nurturing cultures and communities. We have dedicated ourselves to making her dream of an “improved world” a reality… one story at a time…
OUR HISTORY
In 2006, Professor Drew Kahn directed a unique production of The Diary of Anne Frank at SUNY Buffalo State that paralleled Anne Frank’s story with that of a Rwandan genocide survivor, based on Immaculée Ilibagiza’s story Left to Tell. Throughout the production, the audience witnessed Anana, a young Tutsi girl hiding from Hutu extremists, share Anne’s monologues. Juxtaposing these two girls, who are worlds apart, showed that they had the same hopes, dreams, and fears.
The production united our diverse student body with a story about social justice, showing that there is an “Anne Frank” in every genocide and in every conflict. Since the Holocaust, the world has been busier than ever with genocide and mass atrocities, and so the audience left with this question: How many diaries have we missed?
Buffalo State’s inspired administration and the SUNY system’s support helped the 2006 production give rise to the Anne Frank Project.
A symbol of hope, promise, and life’s beauty
Anne Frank wrote about the tree she could see from the annex three times in her diary. The tree symbolized hope, promise, and life’s beauty to her: “The two of us looked out at the blue sky, the bare chestnut tree glistening with dew…and we were so moved and entranced that we couldn’t speak.” (Anne Frank, February 23, 1944). We embrace this unflinching awe and positivity in two ways: First, the tree is AFP’s logo, reminding us daily of our obligation to the heart of Anne Frank. The second, our campus’s own horse chestnut tree has been adopted to create the Anne Frank Project Contemplative Garden. Located outside of our Admissions Office, the tree is a symbol of Buffalo State University’s commitment to “…improve the world.”
Buffalo State's Connection to Rwanda Grows with Donn Youngstrom Global Learning Lab
The Donn Youngstrom Global Learning Lab, located on the fourth floor of the Campbell Student Union, offers a real-time video connection between Buffalo State students and students at Rwanda’s Urukundo Learning Center. The technology to make the lab a reality is just one result of over $2 million in gifts from Youngstrom to Buffalo State’s Anne Frank Project over the past two years. In addition to the fourth-floor lab in the Campbell Student Union, two similar labs have been outfitted in East Africa.
Meet the Anne Frank Project Team
DREW KAHN
Founding Director
SUNY Distinguished Service Professor
Drew has taught acting, devised theater and directed productions for over 30 years. He presents and teaches internationally on the universal language of theater and the intersection of story, conflict resolution and community building—most recently in Rwanda, Kenya, Switzerland, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burma, Viet Nam, Morocco, New Zealand, Greece, Croatia and Turkey.
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Drew Kahn is a Distinguished Service Professor at SUNY Buffalo State where he has taught acting, devised theater (President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching/SUNY) and directed productions (Kennedy Center Award) for 25 years. He taught K-12 populations for 10 years previous to his work in higher education.
He is the Founding Director of The Anne Frank Project, a multi-layered social justice initiative at SUNY Buffalo State that utilizes the wisdom of Anne Frank as a springboard for the examination of genocide and intolerance through the lens of story and performance.
He presents and teaches internationally on the universal language of theater and the intersection of story, conflict resolution and community building—most recently in Rwanda, Kenya, Switzerland, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burma, Viet Nam, Morocco, New Zealand, Greece, Croatia and Turkey (Toby Ticktin Back Award for Holocaust Education, Community Leader Award, National Federation for Just Communities).
Professor Kahn has extensive acting experience in professional theater (Andre’ DeShields’ original cast of Saint Tous), feature film (Paramount Pictures’ Necessary Roughness) as well as several television and commercial credits.
In Buffalo, New York, he was the host of WKBW-TV’s (ABC) AM Buffalo for six years, hosted the WNED (PBS) documentary Saving a Landmark: The Darwin Martin House (National Telly Award), and has numerous local stage credits including In a Dark, Dark House, Lobby Hero, A Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and Baltimore Waltz (ArtVoice Artie Award).
He received an MFA from Southern Methodist University and a BA from San Diego State University. His favorite roles are husband to his wife Maria and dad to his children Sam and Nate.
JONISE HALL
Assistant Director
Jonise Hall is an alumna of SUNY Buffalo State College. Jonise has done multiple jobs with the Anne Frank Project where she wrote, directed, and toured plays at local schools and was a student assistant, co-facilitating workshops and teaching training in story-based learning, and assisting in the annual Social Justice Festival.
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Jonise Hall is the Anne Frank Project’s Assistant Director and an alum of SUNY Buffalo State College.
She graduated with honors in the National Honor Society for Dance Arts and received her BA in Theatre and minor in dance. During her time in college, she performed in two annual dance concerts, Movers and Shakers: dance as activism and Bodies Speak: dance is universal expression. She also performed as Avery in the Anne Frank Project’s devised show, The Space Between.
Jonise served on the board for the Buffalo State Dance Association as secretary from 2018-2019, and president from 2019-2020. She was a B.E.A.T team member for both the fall and summer orientations, where she performed the orientation play, No Results Found.
Jonise has done multiple jobs with the Anne Frank Project where she wrote, directed, and toured plays at local schools and was a student assistant, co-facilitating workshops and teaching training in story-based learning, and assisting in the annual Social Justice Festival.
She is the mother of an incredible boy name Jordan, who she is proud to call her son.
Meet Our Advisors
Advisory and Engagement CommitteeMembers
Lisa Anselmi, Holly Bewlay, Joaquin Carbonara, Jessica Fitzpatrick, Dr. Lisa Gelman-Koessler, Judith Harris, Andrew Hashey, Yanick Jenkins, Pascal Karangwa, Keunyoung Oh, Gabriella McKinley, Mark Norris, Patrick Ravines, Steven Sanyu, Dana F. Serure, Julie Setele, Anita Sethinathan, Gehan Senthinathan, John Starkey, Lamin Tamag, and Aimable Twagilimana.
Honorary Committee Members
Charlene Fontana, Pascal Karangwa, Josephine Kearney, William Lin, Cassie Lipsitz, Barbara L. Nelson, Alice C. Pennisi, Deborah K. Renzi, Irene Sipos, Carol Townsend, Aimable Twagilimana, Sophia Veffer, and Donn Youngstrom.
Partners
Buffalo State’s Anne Frank Project is proud to officially partner with the Anne Frank Centers around the world. Led by the Anne Frank House (Amsterdam) and the Anne Frank Center USA (University of South Carolina), we join this global commitment to bringing Anne Frank’s dream of an ‘improved world’ to a reality.
Anne’s father, Otto Frank, turned his immeasurable pain from the loss of his daughter and family into a universal sharing of his daughter’s lessons, feelings, and dreams. We call upon ourselves daily to surface this same courage and strength to always move our work forward ‘in spite of everything.’
Thank You to Our Sponsors
Donn Youngstrom, retired professor, SUNY Buffalo State University.
Vogt Family Foundation at the Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo.
SUNY Buffalo State University.
Sophia Veffer, Deborah Renzi, Carol Townsend, Don Erwin, Sarah Baird, Fay Northrup, Barbara Nelson, and Marylin Toth.
Friends of the Anne Frank Project
The Anne Frank Center USA, GEI: Global Engagement Institute, Buffalo Public Schools, The City of Buffalo, Arts For Learning WNY, National Federation for Just Communities, Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo, Genocide Watch, Alliance Against Genocide, EduAfrica, Woodland Star International School-Kenya, Urukundo Learning Center - Muhanga, Rwanda, and the Hope Made Real Foundation.
The Anne Frank Project proudly partners with InnBuffalo and The Parkside House for all of our provided accommodations.