9:00 – 10:15
Jeff Doyle: Mapping Your Creativity
What makes us creative? Are some of us innately more innovative than others? How can we create more unique and original stories? In this workshop we explore creative process and how it works. Like exercising any muscle, the more we know about our creative mind, the easier it is to access and use it. Through exercises and discussion we will discover how to get the most out of our creativity.
Noa Baum: Come On In: Welcoming And Understanding The Stranger
The world gets smaller but divisions deepen. We identify the familiar and recoil from difference. In this dynamic interactive workshop, we explore assumptions we make about “the other” using a model that cultivates curiosity and openness. With her unique perspective as a Jewish/Israeli immigrant working to bridge cultural divides, Noa invites us to expand our awareness, enhance our tolerance and increase cross-cultural understanding.
10:30 – 11:45
Minton Sparks: Redeeming the Un-Lived Life
All of us have things we wish we’d done, lives we wish we’d lived. In this workshop Minton guides participants into the stories of their Un-Lived Life. Come set fire to the stories we carry, and the power of the lives we have yet to live.
Decee Cornish: Storytelling to Teach about Anger and Violence
To function effectively, all children need to believe there is some justice in the world, and a reasonable moral order maintained by caring, trusted, adults. Today’s children have witnessed more violent acts through the media and in person, are more likely to have witnessed the divorce of their parents, nearly one in four live below the poverty level and many are likely to know someone who has taken his own life. Stories of conflict resolution, tolerance, perseverance, need to be told. Stories create a comfort zone that allows access to areas that would normally be difficult to reach.
Decee Cornish has worked with at-risk youth from the mid 90’s until today. He has won awards on the state and national level for his work. This workshop will give participants the opportunity to develop stories that will teach and model appropriate behavior for youth at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. The use of therapeutic storytelling, an expressive art that involves storytelling with the goal to broaden and deepen the listeners’ understanding of a particular problem situation or event from the simple to the complex. Therapeutic storytelling uses imaginative stories both personal and literary to improve psychological well-being. This method is most beneficial when people are able to identify with a character, experience an emotional catharsis as a result of this identification, and gain insight about their own life experiences and decision-making.
What are the stories that reinforce the values that will help young people cope with stress that comes from: the tragic death of a classmate, teacher, school shootings, bullying, cyber bullying, etc.
Workshop will include micro lab exercises; attendees please bring a story.
Rachel Muller: The Audience You Want, The Audience You’ve Got
A great storytelling experience requires three elements: a skilled teller, a good story, and engaged listeners. Storytellers have some control over the first two elements, but what about the third? In this workshop participants explore what it takes to form and maintain a strong connection with an audience. We’ll discuss a number of practical techniques for establishing connection as well as the methods great storytellers use to build even deeper intimacy. Participants will have an opportunity to reflect on their own audience experiences – the good, the bad, and the ugly – and to strategize for future success.
