Planning a Heart & Soul Storytelling Project

An Overview

April 6, 2009

Digital Explorations for Orton Family Foundation

Map Your Connection

An Exercise in Storytelling

Why Storytelling?

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

"Stories of place do not simply mirror reality; they are subjective accounts of personal interaction with, and perceptions of, the environment, society and economy. It is these interactions and perceptions that 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

What Can Stories & Storytelling Do for Us?

Bonding & Bridging

*Engaging community*Reconciling rifts*Creating 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?

Bonding & Bridging

Engaging the Community

Top Diagram fromA Storytelling Model of Civic Engagement in a Multiethnic Urban Space Yong-Chan Kim http://tinyurl.com/c2mztu

The Story Spiral

Gathering Information:

Community Values&

How to Act on Them

Do the stories reveal:

what we should let go of?what we should hold onto?what we should add?

Asking good questions

Sense of PlaceSense of Place

PhysicalBuilt environment

Natural environmentsGeography

ClimateNatural resources

PhysicalBuilt environment

Natural environmentsGeography

ClimateNatural resources

Non-physicalCharacter

HistoryCultural heritage

Spirituality

Non-physicalCharacter

HistoryCultural heritage

Spirituality

Heart & SoulHeart & Soul

(Mapping of Community &Setting of H & Soul goalscompleted; Storytelling Options matched;Storytelling Capacity matched)

Challenges!

Outreach:Engaging theFullCommunity

Locating &Engaging theHubs

Matching story type& scenarioto least likelyparticipants

Moving beyond the past

Clear & Precise Articulation of Values, Themes & Issues

Clear & Precise Articulation of Values, Themes & Issues

Language

Active Participation

Is anyonelistening?

VolunteerBurn-out

Who is helping?

Vs.

Thorny Issues

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

Uncomfortable

Disruptive

Finding Common Ground

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 Hole

http://www.greenmuseum.org/generic_content.php?ct_id=268

Map & Set Goals

Consider StoryOptions: how theymatch community& goals

Get Realistic aboutResources & Capacity

Plan Waves:

Moving from bondingto harvesting toactivecivic participation

The Four Phases

Hour Two: Story Options

Scenariowhere & who & when

Mediamatching type to goals, sharers

& resources

Scenario

See wiki pages on neighborhood events & story ideas

Storytelling Options

Individual Alone“My Story”

One-on-One: “My story/Her story”

Story Circle:“Our story/stories”

WHO WHAT WHY HOW

Personal ExperiencePerspectiveInsight

To give story holderownershipTo invite free-flow

All media & formsP:Community AlmanacNewspapers, bulletin boards,etc.

Audio InterviewsDigital StoriesWritten StoriesP: All publishing outlets

&Layering ofInteraction Values harvest

To connect/bondTo draw story outTo make it easy on story holder

&Group perspectiveContrasting viewsCommon groundValues-to-themes

To bond & bridge To focus on the telling To celebrate in the moment & take action

NeighborhoodCity-wideCollaborative StoriesP: In-the-moment Collected on maps

Co-creation Events:Mosaic

&Facilitated DialogueValue/Theme/Issue Harvest Hybrid events w/data

To embed the storiesWithin the communityTo celebrate, to bridgeTo lead to action

TheaterMurals & PublicationsPodcast Tours & Kiosks

Text-based Stories

•Newsletter•Community Almanac•Website/Blog/wiki•Self-published book•Forum

•Community displays: bulletin boards, 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/

Community Almanac

www.communityalmanac.org

Visual Stories

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

• Slide stories (online or at events)

• Postcards & ecards• Comics • Calendars

Installations

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

mural.html

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

Exhibitions: Online and In Town

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• Story klatches• 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

Multimedia Stories

Voicethread; Soundslide; Collage; Digital Stories; Hypertext

Digital Stories & MapsOnline Tours

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/

City-wide Story Circles

Using Stories in Facilitated Dialogue Events

Meadowlark Institute

Hour Three:Trying it Out

Using role play, harvesting techniques and facilitated dialogue, 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: Victor Map and Story HotspotsFour participants (preferably four 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 Exercise: What did you hear? Stickies and Wordle.

C. Deepening the Harvest Exercise: 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

First Round:Stickie Notes & Wordle

Second Round: Grouping & Getting Specific

Third Round:

Selecting an Issue&

Having a FacilitatedDialogue

Sorting the Issues

actionabledisruptive

urgent

less pressing

HOUR FOUR:

PLANNING

Mapping Informal & Formal Groups,

Identities, Storytelling Capacity

Matching Map to Goals

Other Heart & Soul Approaches

Planning the Waves

Questions?

Check the Envision Victor Storytelling Wiki

http://envisionvictorstorytelling.pbwiki.com/

Or Contact Us at Digital Explorations:

Barbarabgblogging@gmail.com

Remyremymansfield@gmail.com