Community groups encouraged to Grow Stories as part of local campaign

Scotland’s Local Storytelling Campaign “Growing Stories” is underway and is running to Friday 30 November.

The Local Storytelling Campaign is a creative outreach initiative that bookends and runs alongside the Scottish International Storytelling Festival (SISF); an annual celebration of live storytelling & cultural diversity that takes place each year at the end of October, organised by Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland (TRACS).
The Local Storytelling Campaign focuses on the community angle and reach of the SISF with schools and communities encouraged to take part by holding or attending a storytelling event that celebrates an over-arching theme.

This year’s theme is Growing Stories, highlighting how stories enable communities to grow together and how they are key to preserving heritage and cultures for new generations whilst connecting us with the greater world around us.

Audiences across Scotland are invited to book a storyteller for a local event, strike-up new community activity and engagement, and share all storytelling news with the TRACS team and their community. Community groups can also apply for a £75 subsidy towards the booking of a storyteller from Scotland’s Directory of Storytellers in order to run a storytelling event.

Events can take place anytime until Friday 30 November, however, a designated showcase day is suggested for Wednesday 7 November with schools and community groups encouraged to hold events on this date and showcase their work online with the hashtag #GrowingStories

National Storytelling Network Co-Ordinator, Miriam Morris says: ‘This is a great opportunity for local community groups to get together and share and connect with stories in their own creative way.

“We have compiled a toolkit and resources with suggestion on how to take part but they’re not prescriptive. The main goal of the local campaign is for communities and schools to connect with the art of storytelling in a way that is engaging and accessible to them and we encourage participation in any form.

We’ve had some great event ideas since launching in September with a storytelling event in collaboration with Historic Environment Scotland for their Heritage Awareness Day celebrations and steadily more community groups are getting in touch! We look forward to hearing from community groups, libraries or schools across Scotland in the coming weeks and discovering what exciting events people have in mind.’

Free resources, promotional materials, tips on how to run an event as well as any event listings can be found online at: www.sisf.org.uk/local-campaign

Storyteller, Amanda Edmiston, who is holding an intergenerational storytelling workshop with Doune Community in Stirlingshire as part of the campaign said: ‘Telling and sharing stories is a magical way of finding common ground within diverse communities, stories have the power to transcend age and circumstance and let us find new ways of connecting with each and to learn from other people’s experiences.

‘Community only exists if we communicate, so the Local Growing Stories Campaign is a fabulous incentive to invite everyone into a setting like a local school and share our learning and understanding of one another and start conversations using traditional tale telling and reminiscence sessions.’

Schools and community groups across Scotland are encouraged to get in touch with the National Storytelling Co-Ordinator, Miriam Morris if they would like to hold an event or would like further information on how to book a storyteller, the Local Campaign subsidy and for any help with promotion or event listings.

Please contact Miriam Morris – miriam@tracscotland.org