Storytelling Overview Workshop: StarksboroApril 14, 2009

Digital Explorations for Orton Family Foundation

When we dream alone,It’s just a dream.But when we dream together,It’s the beginning of a new reality.

~Brazilian Proverb

HOUR ONE: OverviewHOUR TWO: Trying it outHOUR THREE: Planning the Project

Why Storytelling?

"There is no change greater than a community discovering what it cares about." Meg Wheatley

"Stories of place … indicate past and present sustainable or unsustainable relationships, and thus provide the basis and means for analysis of future sustainable directions of change.

The many and diverse regional stories must be told and listened to before

they can be weaved and transformed into a new regional story,

and before a region can imagine a new and sustainable way into the future.

Realising and celebrating a sense of place encourages active citizenship and builds social capital, which is essential for the sustainability of a region, and provides a secure foundation for approaching the future. It could also be a powerful vehicle for reconciliation, with differing groups realising that they are linked by the same sense of concern for and attachment to a region. "

K. Longley, 2002, Stories for Sustainability, Sustainability Forum, Perth

Sense of Place

PhysicalBuilt environment

Natural environmentsGeography

ClimateNatural resources

Non-physicalHuman community

HistoryCultural heritage

Spirituality

Heart & Soul

What Can Stories & Storytelling Do for Us?

Bonding & Bridging

*Community engagement*Reconciliation*Sense of belonging

Transmission of Culture

*Lessons of the past*Realities of the present*Hopes for the future

Refer also to Orton’s Document: Why Storytelling?

The Story Spiral

CELEBRATE

LISTEN

S H A R E

B U I L D T R U S T

Map & Set Goals

Consider StoryOptions: how theymatch community& goals

Get Realistic aboutResources & Capacity

Plan Waves:Moving from bondingto harvesting to dialogueto activecivic participation whileweaving in art projects

The Four Phases

Mapping & Goal Settingcompleted

Storytelling Options matched

Storytelling Capacity matched

Inside the Storytelling

Original photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/yinto/3213182939

Challenges!

Outreach:Engaging theFullCommunity

Locating &Engaging theHubs

Matching story type& scenarioto least likelyparticipants

Moving Beyond the Past

While Honoring

It

What we mean by Story

Values Themes & Issues

Understanding the Languages We Speak

Original Photo byhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/h-k-d

“The situation is the context or circumstance, sometimesthe plot; the story is the emotional experience…:the insight, the wisdom, the thing one has come to say.” Vivian Gornick (p. 170 The

Situation and the Story

Learning to Listen: What is the story about?

What is it REALLY about?

Finding the Story

Asking Great Questionsfinding & entering the space

within the story

Town-wide Participation

VolunteerBurn-out

Vs.

Thorny Issues

Original Photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattpettengill/2880947744/

Uncomfortable

Disruptive

Finding Common GroundTrustRespectWelcome

We can find the extraordinary in the ordinary

orthe ordinary in the extraordinary

The Importance of an Inclusive Process

From Glasgow’sImagining the Future of the Cityhttp://www.demos.co.uk/themes/~community/view//pg/2

From a Workshop at Woods Holehttp://www.greenmuseum.org/generic_content.php?ct_id=268

Choosing a wideRange ofStoryoptions

A Realistic View of the Process

Moving past

Listening

Dialogue

Sharing

Weaving inother approaches

Matching StoriesTo the Project

Text-based Stories

•Newsletter•Community Almanac•Front Porch Forum•Self-published book

•Community displays: bulletin boards, roadside boxes & benches, etc.•Contests: essays, postcard stories•In combination with visual media & with public readings- radio or live events

Minnesotahttp://ww2.startribune.com/news/variety/voices/flash/index.shtml

VermontYoung Writers Projecthttp://youngwritersproject.org/

Examples

Community Almanac

www.communityalmanac.org

Visual Stories

• Visual artwork (exhibitions, murals, posters, quilts etc)

• Slide stories (online or at events)

• Postcards & ecards• Comics • Calendars

Art & Soul Installations

MuralsVancouverhttp://www.cacv.ca/pages/

mural.html

Face Up: North Carolinahttp://cds.aas.duke.edu/faceup/

Exhibitions: In Town and Online

Minnesotahttp://www.mnhs.org/exhibits/

lakestreet/

Alaska: Making films & screening them

Audio Stories

• Personal narratives• Interviews/oral histories• Story circles• Audio theater stories

• Story booths & events• Story tours• The Sounds of Starksboro• Community Almanac• Community radio• Combined with visual media

Story Tours

Murmur Project http://murmurtoronto.ca/

ArtMobs http://mod.blogs.com/art_mobs/

JHKunstler’s Walking Tour of Paris http://kunstlercast.com/shows/KunstlerCast_56_Virtual_Tour_Paris.html

http://www.ausculti.org/storytour.html

Multimedia Stories

Voicethread; Soundslide; Collage; Digital Stories; Hypertext

Digital Stories Online Tours

KiosksTheater

Movie NightSet into Other Events

Alberta Community Walk http://www.communitywalk.com/calgary/alberta/my_first_neighborhood/map/140666

Ukiah PlaceMeant http://www.storymapping.org/placemeant.html

Youth Engagement

Skowhegan, Maine http://www.msad54.org/district/placedbaseded/index.shtml

Voices: Arizona Youth http://www.voicesinc.org/

Neighborhood & City-wide Story Circles

WalkingStoryCircles

ThematicEvents

Site-SpecificEvents

Celebrations

Using Stories in Facilitated Dialogue Events

Add dataIncorporate visualizations

Not-So-Expected Stories List storiesSounds of Starksboro Image-Only StoriesPoems, MapsCollaborative StoriesPostcards, Story Mosaics/Quilts, Wishing WallsWish Book, Traveling Storybook A Day in the Life of StarksboroStory QuestsGuerilla Storytelling (Performance)

Stories in the LandscapeKioskBulletin BoardMurmur-type projectToursStory boxes, story benches Original Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessedraper

Stirring the Story Pot

Original Photo by tp://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk

Trying it out: Story Circles

Original Image by http://www.flickr.com/photos/alternatewords/2151355801

Getting the Creative Juices Flowing: Playful Story Exercises

What comes next?

(In your Starksborosetting)

A Lesson fromComics Writers

• What role do the physical details of space & place play in the story?

• Could this story be told about any other place?

• What is the relationship between the physical and nonphysical elements of Starksboro?

The Senses,The Place

Using role play, we’ll explore storytelling as an effective means of bringing people together to share stories, to harvest values, and to thread them into dialogue about the future of the community.

A. Story Circle Role Play: Story HotspotsFour participants (preferably with little or no experience with story circles) will share 2-minute stories about a place on the map that they associate with stories.

B. Value Harvest: What did you hear? What resonated? Stickies (and Wordle--Wordle.net)

C. Deepening the Harvest: Relationships, Themes and Issues--Clustering and Sunray charts

D. Finding the Issue for a Facilitated Dialogue: Using a simple matrix , we’ll sort the issues, and select one to engage with in a short facilitated dialogue.

Story Circles PLUS

HarvestingValues

Finding Connections Between our Stories

Searching for Common Ground & Recognizing Differences

Stickies and Wordle (wordle.net)

Second Round: Grouping & Getting Specific

Round Three: Sorting the Issuesfor a Facilitated Dialogue

actionabledisruptive

urgent

less pressing

Mapping Informal & Formal Groups, Identities, Storytelling Capacity

Timelines and Subcommittees: Planning & Outreach

Plan Well &ExpectChanges