Back Pocket is on a mission to make local journalism and its audience feel alive. One city, one stage, one Story Fest sold-out event at a time. Next one up is on June 12 at Herbst Theater – tickets here.
Who is McArdle Hankin?
Credits: Hewitt Visuals
McArdle co-founded Back Pocket, a live storytelling event series, and Back Pocket Presents, its nonprofit arm, together with Ellison Libiran and Tay Glass. His studies at Stanford Journalism School gave him a clear-eyed understanding of what journalism is up against: a crisis of trust, a crisis of relevance, and a business model still searching for solid ground.
His solution? Bring the stories off the page and onto the stage, and make an event out of it.
The Big Idea: Story Fest
Back Pocket’s flagship program is Story Fest – a night where the best of local independent media comes together on one stage, performed live, celebrated by the city it covers. The inspiration comes from iconic formats like This American Life and Pop Up Magazine.
“Every city is idiosyncratic. It has its own stories, its own audience. San Francisco is no exception.” McArdle says. Back Pocket’s crowd is roughly half loyal followers of local outlets like Mother Jones and KQED, and half people who simply came for a good night out.
How It Works
Media outlets pitch their best stories and journalists. Then McArdle and his team spend months working with each journalist – shaping the narrative, finding the conflict, building the arc.
Credits: Hewitt Visuals
One of my favorite stories from last year’s Story Fest: the story about Mashallah, a Pakistani restaurant by SF Chronicle food critic Mackenzie Chung Fegan – initially framed as a quiet love story with no tension, no cliffhanger. Then they spoke with the wife, and suddenly there was a story worth performing. The goal is to humanize journalism: to show the rigor and the heart behind the reporting, without being preachy about it.
McArdle saw something powerful in what happens when a journalist steps out from behind their byline: people who had never cared about the news started caring. People come on dates, for a night out, and leave with a new connection to local news. The audience is part of the show — tears, laughter, and above all, hope. I left energized: a night celebrating the stories of ordinary people in a city I love.
The Numbers Speak
Credits: TVTSV
Local Lives, a previous iteration of the show, was live in 12 cities. In Detroit, the first Story Fest sold out at 1,200 seats, and the second filled the Opera House. The event is now live in San Francisco, NYC, Philadelphia, Detroit and Chicago – Twin Cities and Charlotte are coming up next year. Story Fest will soon delight audiences all across the US. Lucky us!
McArdle advice to media consumers: Pick one or two local outlets and truly engage – read them, follow them, support them. That’s how you build a sense of community and belonging.
San Francisco Story Fest, Herbst Theater, June 12. Tickets can be purchased here.
Keep up the great work, and we can’t wait for the second San Francisco edition!
MerciSF Rapid Fire
Favorite media: This American Life / Rough Translation (podcast)
The story you wish had been told: Two, actually. First, San Quentin – what happens to people after they are released from detention? No one has told that story. Second, art crime: the perfect crime, where no one gets hurt. Forgery, the absurdities of the art world. “I love art,” McArdle says, with a smile.
Favorite media event in SF: KQED programming at The Commons
What you would miss most if you left SF: Nature, the parks, and my brother.
Favorite restaurant in SF: Café de la Olla – very good Oaxacan food
