President’s Report 2018-2019 Lindy Mitchell-Nilsson
The 2019 Guild year began with a questionnaire, painstakingly put together by the Vice President, Michael Patterson, sent to all our members. We were very happy that so many of our members took the time to fill it out and send through their ideas. The results of the questionnaire were looked at in detail at our Visioning and Planning Day.
Story Circles: One comment that came up quite a bit was that members wanted more informal opportunities to work on and share stories. The Story Circles have grown out of that desire. Story Circles are informal, supportive groups designed to nurture & grow your storytelling abilities. They are great place to connect with other storytellers and share stories. The Lower Blue Mountains and the Inner West Circles are already up and running and we hope to have members in other areas hosting Circles too. Keep an eye for a possible online story circle where members from all over NSW can connect and share stories.
Storytelling Resources: Another request arising from the questionnaire was for more storytelling resources to be available for members. Thus the Member’s Page on the Storytellers NSW website was created- the Member’s page has one section devoted to resources and the other section with all the information on the Story Circles. We plan to grow the resource section- and if you have found any great websites, books, or anything storytelling related then please let us know.
Venues: If you attended some of the workshop this year then you would have come to a few new venues as we continue our search for the perfect or near perfect place. We heard your wishes for a venue that was more central and accessible by public transport, especially the train. We tried the Tote Centre at Green Park and Erskineville Town Hall- the Tote was still an energetic walk from the train and difficult for those who drove to find parking. Erskineville Town Hall was very impressive and very handy to the station and cafes but alas expensive and we do like to keep our workshop prices low for members. Special thanks to Judy for all her leg work finding new venues. The Search continues….
Events: Last November, Storytellers NSW joined with The Fairytale Society to host Dark Enchantments: Blood, sex, death, abandonment and loss, trickery, treasure and triumph. The day was a triumph much to the hard work of dual member Jo Henwood. Jo was also the convenor of World Storytelling Day at the Botanic Gardens which saw many Guild members sharing Mythic tales to a very enthusiastic audience and she even organized a fabulous sunny day! In April, we hosted Stories and Songs of Wales at short notice when the talented folk from Adverse Camber UK, dropped by Sydney. Liz Locksley kindly hosted the wonderful evening in her home. April also saw a team of storytellers, Kiran, Jill, Ulf, myself, and our roadie Edgar travel to Lithgow to tell stories for Ironfest.
Members had some great opportunities to brush up their storytelling skills or learn new ones with three workshops this year: Same Story Different Journeys-Louise Coigley UK, The Storyteller’s Gym-David Novack USA and From Page to Stage-Christine Greenough. There has also been ample opportunity for members to perform stories with Tales Told Live: Glebe hosted by Christine Greenough , Lunch and Travelling Tales-Manly area hosted by Christine Carlton & Sue Alvarez, Story Spot Nights- Newcastle with Karen Eastwood and Long Story Short- Central Coast hosted by Julie Mundy Taylor, Ulf Nilsson and myself.
Accreditation: This year three storytellers, Michael Patterson, Jill Webster and Ulf Nilsson completed their Accreditation Journey when they presented stories for Storytellers NSW Accreditation panel at Tales Told Live. Happily, Michael, Jill and Ulf are all now Accredited members- let them eat cake, that is Sue Alvarez’s awesome accreditation cake! Thank you to Christine Greenough our Accreditation Officer and our judges.
Thank you: Thank you to the small but dedicated committee for their support and all their hard work this year. Our committee was Vice President: Michael Patterson, Secretary: Kiran Shah, Treasurer: Ulf Nilsson, Christine Greenough, Christine Carlton, Judy Mitchell, Liz Locksley and Karen Eastwood.