Stories and Music are the Heartbeat of the Community

Sharing stories and celebrating our lives and cultures, is an essential part of wellbeing for both individuals and communities. In traditional societies, the storyteller is the one who weaves the threads of community together, through words, song and music. We all have stories to tell. As a contemporary storyteller, my role is to help facilitate spaces and places where stories can be created and shared. I enjoy designing special projects which strengthen community identity and create a sense of joy, hope and harmony within the community. Storytelling is an ancient, accessible, powerful tool for individuals and communities to make connections, to learn new skills, to discover new knowledge and to explore possible solutions to community issues.

When we share our stories, we strengthen our sense of identity and find fresh perspectives which help us to understand our cultures, our histories and our shared futures. Taking a strengths based approach, I am enjoying developing a series of programs which help to place storytelling at the centre of community development philosophy and practice. In 2008, I presented a workshop, “Connecting Communities through Storytelling” at the National Family & Community Strengths Conference in Newcastle 2008. I am passionate about the power of storytelling and creative arts to facilitate self expression, ideas sharing and creating connections within adult  and children's communities. All my storytelling programs foster a sense of belonging to a group, celebrating our unique life stories, supporting individuals to let their voices be heard and creating fun, safe places to create together.

WRITERS ROADSHOW

I have developed a writers and performance project in partnership with the South Coast Writers Centre and the Eurobodalla/Braidwood Learning Community cluster of south coast schools. Spanning three years, we are providing a series of writing workshops for middle school students (Years 5 to 8), with the aim of bringing young people together to have fun writing while developing their writing skills. Working in collaboration with poet and performer, Harry Laing, we are providing an opportunity for young people who love writing, to be mentored and supported by professional writers, as they explore different genres and approaches to writing. After two successful years, and over 100 participants, we are now planning our third year of workshops. 

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A SELECTION OF PROJECTS

POETRY WEEK PROJECT

Poetry week is an annual event which is celebrated across Australia. I was invited by Mogo School to design and facilitate a project which would celebrate the creative community, develop literacy skills and build links between the school, home and the broader community. The project involved a storytelling show, student workshops, staff training, parent mentoring and a final performance of the students collaborative poems for Poetry Week 2006. The creative journey was a steep learning curve as performance poetry was a new form to the students. However, the outcomes were exceptional as students enjoyed becoming poets and poetry was seen as an exciting form of self expression.  Funded by NSW Dept Education & Training Literacy grant, Hosted by Mogo P& C Project Subcommittee
 

Poetry Week Performance at Mogo Public School

FREE FORM

A multiarts creative workshop series for adults living with disabilities in the Eurobodalla Shire. The focus of these workshops is on affirming and empowering ability through skills development and creative storytelling (music, song, drama and visual arts).  Coordinated by Eurocare Community Participation Program. Funded by NSW DADHC.

Free Form Project, The Arty Party Celebration, Moruya July 2005

KANGAROO VALLEY PIONEER STORIES HISTORY ALIVE!

The first stage of an oral history project which involved inviting local dairy farmers and people from pioneering families to share and to record the stories of their experiences of life in The Valley. Some of the stories were crafted into a permanent audio installation for the Kangaroo Valley Pioneer Museum Park, launched in History Week 2005.

Coordinated by Kangaroo Valley Historical Society and funded by IMB Community Foundation.

Making History Come Alive. Elsie Dewhurst cut the ribbon to launch
the project "History Alive" with Doris Good, Doris Blinman & Anna Jarrett

at Kangaroo Valley Pioneer Museum Park

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Project Partners & Clients

Funding Partners

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