Today I am proud to share with you my new project – Applied Storytelling a seven minute weekly podcast examining every aspect of the application of storytelling in life, business and culture.

Any listener is welcome to suggest a question that I (Eric Wolf) will endeavor to answer to the best of my ability. Any question on the application to storytelling will be answered – if I do not know the answer I will find some one else who does know the answer.

This project will publish weekly but only the first of episode published each month. The other three episodes produced each month will publish inside the members only section of the International Storytelling School’s Website. You can read more about the School at http://www.thestorytellingschool.com

The free episodes in will appear as a separate feed and as a part of the Art of Storytelling Show’s feed as well.

The transcript and audio of the first show are available here – http://www.thestorytellingschool.com/2010/09/applied-storytelling-community-performance-storytelling/

There is a story that a human life is like a man riding a donkey with a tiger walking behind him. The man lives in fear of the tiger. Sometimes he goes faster, sometimes he goes slower. Sometimes he looks and feels more. Sometimes he goes to sleep on the donkey. The man is always afraid that if he turns and looks at the tiger too closely the tiger will eat him. But the truth is the tiger does not care whether the man looks or not. Death waits for us all – while walking right behind our shoulders.

This denial of death, allowing us to find joy and satisfaction in our lives, is the same denial that troubles environmental storytellers. Human beings need that denial; we need not to look too closely at the facts of life as they are stated so often. But we also need to recognize that denial of the environmental disaster we have been living out for the past five hundred years is not really useful, as demonstrated by precedent.

The advantage that storytellers bring to this dilemma of how to talk about environmental problems is that we have a whole set of tools to get around the denial built into the human experience. We are able to build worlds and bring our audience to them. We are able both to educate and create awareness in a single action. We can use fairytales and myths to talk about hard things.

Using storytelling it is possible to get Americans to see that environmental policies are above politics. Storytelling can allow us to move past knee jerk responses of tired political campaigns to understanding that the environ- ment belongs to us all. In storytelling you can only take an audience to where you have been. Oral narrative is dependent on the story- teller’s development. You have to educate yourself about the actual environment to be an environmental storyteller – not just the theoretical, but what really is there. There is no replacement for time spent outdoors in the real world. To be an ecological storyteller, to be an environmental storyteller ultimately is to be someone who knows the ecology, the environment and storytelling.

So for those of you who may consider yourself storytellers but not eco-tellers, here is my invitation: spend half an hour a day sitting quietly in the woods, in a park or on the lawn near your home. Within a year you will see how quickly this experience builds you into a qualified environmental storyteller. We have no shortage of need for more eco-tellers.

Eric Wolf, a.k.a. Brother Wolf, has an M.S. in Environmental Education from Lesley University. He lives and gardens in the Vale, the oldest (1940s) residential nonreligious land trusted community in the United States. He also produces “The Art of Storytelling”at http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com/category/environmental-storytelling/

This Article was previously published in the Late Spring Issue of Story Times, Florida’s Storytelling Organizations Ezine.

Press Play to hear Ruth Stotter speak on working with props in storytelling performances on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.
(Link was broken NOW fixed - sorry about that.)

Ruth Stotter Writes....
I love the idea that as a storyteller, you travel light. A "bag" of stories takes up no room and is easy to carry around. But I also love interspersing stories with props - both as a folklorist carrying on old traditions and as a way of adding a visual component. Puppets, masks, and origami are among my favorites. You asked why I am currently so intrigued with string stories and I will try to answer. It never ceases to amaze me that with a simple loop of string you can make hundreds of figures, and that these string designs can be used to tell stories.I think they were the first picture books. Tellers in traditional cultures twisted and turned the string to make illustrations to accompany their oral texts.

When I went to Easter Island, where they still hold an annual string story competition, I found that they were using a rough hewn string from a plant and told stories in the old Rapa Nui language, not the modern Rapa Nui, nor Spanish, which is the official language. In Fiji I met a man who easily copied my string figures. I found it difficult to learn his, as I am used to book illustrations. Besides stories, of course, the loop of string is used for stunts and magic tricks.

Organizing the String Gathering in San Francisco in 2004 I was happy to meet other members of the International String Figure Association. This organization sends members a monthly string figure-design as well as various newsletters and books. Several of the people who attended the Gathering brought power point presentations of their experiences collecting string figures from Yupik Eskimoes, Navajos, and various Oceanic Rim countries.

I was pleased to be invited to write the section "String Figures" for Storytelling: An Encyclopedia of Storytelling and Folklore, edited by Josepha Sherman. That led to my writing A Loop of String.

So, you see, my friends, all of my interests - origami, puppets, magic, folklore and storytelling - coalesce in this seemingly simple folk craft! I guess the bottom line (literally in this letter ) is that as a storyteller I find it challenging and irresistible to adapt and adopt string figures as part of my storytelling performance.

Bio: Ruth Stotter's kaleidoscope activities in storytelling include telling stories at a local Rennaisance Faire for six summers, producing and hosting "The Oral Tradition" radio program on KUSF-SF for six years, directing the Dominican University storytelling program for 14 years*, teaching and performing in Portugal, France, England, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, India and Africa. She is the author of About Story, More About Story, The Golden Axe, Smiles: 101 Stunts and You're On!. She has chaired and presented papers at meetings of the American Folklore Society and for several years served on the ASF Aesop Committee, which selects the best children's books based on folklore. Her honors include the Reading the World Award from the University of San Francisco, a regional award from NAAPS, and most recently an Oracle Lifetime Achievement Award from NSN. She is listed in Who's Who in American Education, Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in the World.

M.A. Stanford University - Speech Pathology
M.A. Sonoma State University - Storytelling
University of California, Berkeley - Teaching Credentials

Left out:
Conducted workshops at National Conferences of NAPPS and NSN: Tandem Storytelling, Story Adaptation, Storytelling with Props, and at the 2010 conference July 2010, Storytelling with String. Performed at Storytelling Festivals in Canada, MA and California. Monthly performances for two years at College of Marin bookstore.

*Dominican University
Classes taught: Beginning Storytelling, Intermediate Storytelling, Advanced Storytelling (putting as program together), Pre-School Storytelling, Analyzing Stories, Storytelling with Props, Critique Clinic.
Workshops taught: Tandem Storytelling, Creating Original Stories

Non-storytelling:
author of Little Acorns: A Guide to Marin County Plants
Kayaker - from island to island in Fiji, in Baja, Florida Keys and San Francisco Bay.
Hiker: walked from Zurich to Geneva over 5 mountain passes. Annapurna trek. Peru trek, John Muir trail form Yosemite to Mammoth
Married over fifty years with three children
Competitive Croquet player (and has won several trophies). Current handicap is 13.

about string stories:
Ruth finds it amazing that with a simple square of paper or a loop of string hundred of figures can be created and stories can be told and notes that both of these are traditional art forms in other cultures. In 2004, Ruth hosted the first String Gathering for String Enthusiasts in San Francisco, and stringers attended from 13 states.

Bio: Katharine (Kathy) Hansen, Ph.D., creative director and associate publisher of Quintessential Careers, is an educator, author, and blogger who provides content for Quintessential Careers, edits its newsletter QuintZine, and blogs about storytelling at A Storied Career. Kathy, who earned her PhD from Union Institute & University authored Tell Me About Yourself (April 2009), Dynamic Cover Letters for New Graduates, A Foot in the Door, Top Notch Executive Interviews (fall 2009), Top Notch Executive Resumes; and with Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., Dynamic Cover Letters, Write Your Way to a Higher GPA, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Study Skills.

4. How do you describe the benefits of storytelling to other people in the business world?

I call upon the gurus who evangelized storytelling long before I did — people like Annette Simmons and Steve Denning and others, early pioneers who wrote books that have become the foundation for current business narrative/organizational storytelling.

Simmons characterizes the effectiveness of stories in business in her landmark book, The Story Factor (Chapters 2 and 5):

* Story creates power.
* Story is a form of mental imprint.
* Story is a dynamic tool of influence because it gives people enough space to think for themselves.
* In a complex environment, people listen to whomever makes the most sense — whomever tells the best story (Simmons’s followup book is titled Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins.)
* Story makes sense of chaos and gives people a plot. People need story to organize their thoughts and make sense of things.
* Story invites people to creatively reframe their dilemmas, while rules alienate people who want to think for themselves.
* Change people’s stories and you change their behavior.
* Story is like mental software that you supply so your listener can run it again using new input specific to the situation.
* Story is uniquely equipped to touch you and help you touch others in this place that cannot be understood, explained, or reduced to a flow chart.
* Story builds connections between you and those you wish to influence.
* Story helps the brain remember.

And from the Australian consulting firm, Anecdote:

* Stories reveal what’s really happening in your organisation
* Stories inspire us to take action
* Stories stick in your mind much better than [bulllet] points and clever arguments
* Stories connect us to a purpose and improve our performance
* Stories share and embed values

Finally, Marguerite Ganat very recently posted (http://www.talentculture.com/digital/the-chemistry-of-storytelling/) this list rationales for story in business:

* We don’t just buy a product, we buy the story behind it.
* We don’t just join a company, we join because of its story.
* We don’t just join a cause, we join the story behind it.
* We don’t just vote for a presidential candidate, we buy into his story of what the future holds.
* We don’t just follow the leader, we buy in to the story behind her vision.
* We don’t learn best by hearing a theory or concept, we learn best by hearing stories that demonstrate the concept.
* We don’t just see a movie or read a novel, we lose ourselves in a good story.
* Based on the fact that we buy stories, it’s not the best product that will sell; it’s the product with the best story behind it. It’s not the best employer that attracts the most candidates; it’s the one who knows how to tell a story through its employment brand.

5. How is applied storytelling different then performance storytelling or traditional storytelling?

I think storyteller Sean Buvala’s definition of storytelling provides a good starting point for answering this question. He writes:

“Storytelling is the intentional sharing of a narrative in words and actions for the benefit of both the listener and the teller.”… ‘intentional’ means that not everything we do is storytelling. Storytelling is a planned activity and process. ‘Narrative’ means what is being talked about has a beginning, middle, and end. ‘Sharing’ means that there is an audience in front of the teller which can be one person or thousands. ‘Benefit’ means both the listener and the teller leave the sharing of story as a changed person.”

So, in my mind, many types of storytelling that DO NOT fall into that definition can be classified as “applied storytelling.” (I should note that Sean would not agree; he feels that if a communication does not fall into his definition, it’s not storytelling. For example, he does not consider digital storytelling to be storytelling.) Storytelling that is missing one or more elements from Sean’s definition is still storytelling in my book, but it’s applied storytelling. Examples of applied storytelling include: organizational storytelling/business narrative, journaling/memoir writing, blogging, social media, digital/multimedia, transmedia storytelling, journalistic storytelling, visual storytelling, fictional storytelling, storytelling for movies and TV, comic-book storytelling, and more, including my personal crusade, storytelling in the job search. Not every bit of communication in these venues is storytelling, but storytelling is possible within these venues.

I once proposed that all storytelling can be broken down into just three purposes: storytelling for identity construction, storytelling for change, and storytelling for sense-making/learning. Even performance storytelling can fit into this rubric in that the audience changes from an un-entertained state to an entertained (or enlightened, moved, etc.,) state.

Storytelling for identity construction can range from storytelling in social media to storytelling to establish a brand identity for products and services. Storytelling for identity construction is also what I advise job-seekers to do to make themselves stand out memorably to employers.

Storytelling for change is often the impetus behind business narrative — using story to help workers cope with and buy into organizational change.

Storytelling for sensemaking is what we automatically turn to when we seek to make sense of unexpected, tragic, or confusing events. Similarly, storytelling is effective for learning because stories are so good at illustrating concepts and making them memorable (Look back at Annette Simmons’s statement that “Story helps the brain remember.”)

6. Given the detailed exploration you have done of the applied storytelling community. Break down for us the different schools of thought that exist currently in the business world relative to applied storytelling – where do your various guests fall in these fields?

This is a very big question, and I turned to the no-cost e-book I compiled, Storied Careers: 40+ Story Practitioners Talk About Applied Storytelling, looking for an an answer. Or, I should say, a partial answer, because I am not attempting to be comprehensive here; I’m sure I’m leaving practitioners and their schools of thought out. I hope they’ll forgive me and/or comment on this entry.

Gabrielle Dolan, co-founder and director of Australian consulting firm One Thousand & One, supports helping to embed storytelling into an organization’s culture: “We normally work with clients on two levels,” she says. “Firstly we normally skill the leaders in organisational storytelling through workshops and then help them embed this skill. What we mean by that is finding ways that they can continually find and share stories and apply their new skill of not only storytelling but story listening.”

Leadership consultant Susan Luke’s focus is corporate mythology, and she calls herself a corporate mythologist: “To my knowledge,” she notes, “I am the only ‘corporate mythologist’ using that title. I coined the descriptor in trying to put some definition around who I am and what I do. Corporate mythology has two aspects — the stories of/about the organization (history, philosophy, values, vision) and the stories of the individuals who make up the organization.

Author Cynthia Kurtz upholds the idea of respecting the integrity of the raw story: “Raw stories of personal experience are far superior to crafted stories for the things I
care about when working with stories,” she says. “For the purposes of advertising products and services, delivering specific purposeful messages, and entertaining people, crafted stories are often (but not always) best. But for the purposes of helping people learn, think, make decisions, get new ideas, grow, and get along, I’ve found that there is nothing better than a raw story.”

Authors/speakers/consultants Lori Silverman and Karen Dietz evangelize the notion that storytelling is a critical skill that should be taught in business schools. Storyteller Sean Buvala agrees with this sentiment, saying, “Corporate folks must take this storytelling skill seriously. To really be an effective corporate storyteller, you need to be devoted to being the best storyteller you can be.”

Speaker and consultant Thaler Pekar emphasizes story sharing rather than storytelling.

Your question really got me thinking about developing a taxonomy of applied-storytelling schools of thought. I guess the foregoing is just a little taste of that.

http://katharinehansenphd.com/

http://astoriedcareer.com/

Press Play to hear Laird Schaub speak about The Application of Story to Group Facilitation and Community Living on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf

Laird Schaub Writes...
"As a consultant, I'm often asked to work with groups that consider themselves stuck. In helping them understand how they got there and the choices they have to move through it, I always start with the stories-the way in which each person makes sense of their reality as a member of the group. Invariably, the stories don't all match. Sometimes the realities are mutually exclusive. Still, I believe them all and do my best to help everyone in the group understand how each person's actions make sense from that person's perspective. Once I've established a bridge of understanding among the various players, it's then possible to build a new story, where each person's reality is now a little bigger and can hold aspects of other's realities as well.

The key to this is to not ask a person to change their core beliefs, change their personality, or change the way they work with information. I just ask them to change their story, and then to adjust their behaviors accordingly. I ask them to make shifts that are in their interest; ones that will help them be better understood and be less triggering for others. I ask them to make changes that will help them build relationship.

Often, people in the group will be in pain. Being stuck doesn't feel good, and if you cannot see past your own story it often appears that others have taken actions that are purposefully hurtful or disrespectful. Ouch! In this sense, pain is a symptom of a problem, and very useful in helping to diagnose where the stories are not in alignment. Because you want to be treating causes and not just symptoms, it's important here to resist the impulse to alleviate the pain as your priority. It's a better strategy to view the pain as an important source of information and explore it for the purpose of surfacing the clues you'll need to build a story where everyone can feel held and respected."

Brief Bio:
Laird has lived 36 years at Sandhill Farm, an income-sharing rural community in Missouri which he helped found. He homesteads there, has raised two kids, and has developed a flair for preserving food and celebration cooking. He is also the main administrator of the Fellowship for Intentional Community, a network organization he helped create in 1986, and that serves as a clearinghouse of information about North American communities of all stripes.

In addition to being an author and public speaker about various aspects of community, he's also a meeting junkie and has parlayed his passion for good process into a consulting business on group dynamics. He's worked with about 75 different groups around the US, many of them multiple times. His specialty is up-tempo meetings that engage the full range of human input, teaching groups to work creatively with conflict, and at the same time being ruthless about about capturing as much product as possible. In 2003, he pioneered a two-year training in Integrative Facilitation that he's delivered four times and is now marketing across the continent.

You can read his thoughts on his blog at http://communityandconsensus.blogspot.com/

1.What is Storytelling? and why are you interested in it?

I am among the storytelling fans who do not like to be boxed in by a specific definition of “story” or “storytelling.” I’ve found in the more than 57 interviews I’ve conducted with storytelling practitioners that most of them, perhaps surprisingly, prefer not to define “storytelling.” (However, a few feel a strict definition is vitally important.) Of the definitions offered by the practitioners who prefer to define story/storytelling, I’ve liked some more than others. One of my favorites is: “Story is context.”

I think I have been interested in storytelling for most of my life, but I didn’t really recognize the passion until I began my PhD program. I was taking an organizational-behavior course that focused on postmodernism. While researching the concept of postmodernism, I discovered an entire academic (and applied) discipline I had never heard of: organizational storytelling. This field instantly resonated with me, causing me to realize how much I had always loved storytelling, going back to reading the anecdotes in Reader’s Digest as a child. I was so intrigued by organizational storytelling that I made it the centerpiece of my doctoral dissertation, which combined my professional background in career management and job search with storytelling.

While in my PhD program, I started my blog, A Storied Career (http://astoriedcareer.com) as part of my coursework. As I completed my doctoral program, my storytelling interests began to expand. Organizational storytelling was too narrow to encompass my interests, so I broadened the blog’s scope — and my own passions — to the field of “applied storytelling,” a term I first heard from Michael Margolis.

My work on the blog was sporadic for its first three years; I would go long stretches without blogging. But in February of 2008, I made a commitment to blog 7 days a week. I have mostly lived up to that commitment, although I have skipped some days during my recent major, cross-country move.

2.On your blog (Astoried Career) you interview a wide variety of story thinkers what characteristics attract you too a potential interviewee?

When I first began sending out invitations for the Q&A series in the summer of 2008, I focused on applied-storytelling practitioners that I knew, or knew of, and admired. I was familiar with them through their books (for example, those of Terrence Gargiuolo and Annette Simmons), through their presentations at conferences (for example, Madelyn Blair, Michael Margolis, and Svend-Erik Engh), and through encountering them on the Web (for example, Shawn Callahan and Stephanie West Allen). Once I had invited all the best-known story luminaries — and most of them accepted the invitation and participated — I didn’t really have to search hard for new interviewees. I encountered them through my ongoing research for blog material. I’m excited that for the most recent series of Q&As, I’ve received nominations and self-nominations of people who want to participate or want to recommend a participant. I had always hoped that would happen, and I’m thrilled that is has.

In the interview series, I have tended not to focus on oral-performance storytellers, people involved in transmedia storytelling, storytellers in film and TV (such as screenwriters and people who teach screenwriting), people in comic-book storytelling, and folks into the storytelling of gaming. It’s not that I’m not interested in these areas. I just feel that other bloggers and writers — like you — do a good job of covering those fields and their practitioners, so it’s better for me to have a narrower focus. So many forms and uses for storytelling exist, and I can do a better job if I don’t try to cover all of them.

3.What is postmodern storytelling and how does it have anything in common with traditional oral narrative culture?

I view the current storytelling movement as an outgrowth of postmodernism. Postmodernism is characterized by critique, irony/ionic humor, mockery, parody, playfulness, disorientation, things that are symbolically rich and meaningful, multiple perspectives, conflict, the discontinuity of traditions, contradiction, ambiguity, paradox, metaphors, a strong aesthetic dimension, diversity and multiplicity, fragmentation, as well as questioning pre-established rules, values, expectations, right vs. wrong, good vs. bad, and underlying faith in reason and science.

In part, story becomes a way to make sense out of and find meaning in fragmented postmodern life.

Postmodernism means seeing organizations as texts, narratives, discourse, stories. David Boje, arguably the scholar who has most significantly connected storytelling with postmodernism, writes that “Stories are not indicators [of an organization], they ARE the organization.”

Boje writes (http://division.aomonline.org/rm/1998_forum_postmodern_stories.html):

The postmodern turn has several key method assumptions. First, humans as storytelling animals act toward their organization and environments based upon their storied interpretations of self, other, organization, and environment. Second, story making is a collective process of social interaction in which story meanings change over time. Third, story meaning changes with the context of the telling as storytellers select, transform, and reform the meanings of stories in light of the context of the telling. Fourth, in [storytelling organization] theory the individual is part of the collective enterprise of constructing and transforming stories told to the world and stories of the environment being constructed. This is different from a structural-functionalist model of organizations in which story functions as measures of variables of an abstract structure. Fifth, the inquirer is a story-reader who upon entering the story-making world changes the story-making processes by being there at all.

Postmodernism also means fusing modern techniques with traditional concerns, which is where the second part of your question comes in. We can never get away from traditional oral narrative culture because we think in story; that’s how our brains are wired. But a postmodern view says that story does not come from an authority on high but belongs to everyone. It’s collective and distributed, and many people and perspectives participate in constructing stories (think about social media and blogs). Postmodernism also means rejecting the idea of an objective “reality;” there is only the reality we construct with others through discourse — by telling our stories.

Probably my best attempt at connecting postmodern storytelling with traditional oral narrative culture is in this essay I wrote as part of my PhD program: http://astoriedcareer.com/story_synthesis.html.

Having said all that, I am less interested in postmodernism than I used to be. Postmodern theory provided my entry point into storytelling, and my blog still carries the tagline “Kathy Hansen’s Blog to explore traditional and postmodern forms/uses of storytelling,” but it’s not a big part of my current thinking.

http://katharinehansenphd.com/

http://astoriedcareer.com/

Press Play to hear Michael Reno Harrell speak about American Folk Music and it's effect on American Storytelling Community on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.

Michael Reno Harrell Writes...
People like to be talked to. Well, if you have something interesting to say, they do. It's in our genes. All of mankind's knowledge was passed on through storytelling until very recently as things go. And it's a good bet that music started out as a part of that storytelling at about the same time. The two are as closely intertwined as fishing and talking about fishing.
I've been playing the guitar and writing songs for longer than I care to admit. And having grown up on folk and bluegrass, the songs that I tend to write are apt to be the kind that tell a story. And as a singer/songwriter I tend to do a whole lot of solo performances and am lucky enough to do mostly concerts. That is to say, where folks sit and listen to what I'm offering.

I found out a long time ago that an entertainer needs to connect with his audience on every possible level, so I started talking to my listeners. So, what do you say other than, "Thanks for coming out" or ‘The title of this next song is…"? Well, I've found that people have an interest in the story behind the song. So, I began to tell a bit about what I was doing or thinking about when I wrote a particular piece. That grew into writing a story that would lead into the song. Pretty soon the stories were longer than the songs, but my audiences didn't seem to mind.

Now when I do music festivals and someone comes up after a set and says something like, "Man, I really dig your songs, but I love the stories", I say, "Dude, you need to check out a storytelling festival!" (Hey, I only say "dude" if the guy says "dig".)

About Michael Reno Harrell

Michael Reno Harrell is an award winning songwriter, as well as a veteran storyteller and entertainer, and he's from the South; the Southern Appalachian Mountains to hone it a bit finer.

One could compare Michael's performances to his granddaddy's pocket knife: well warn and familiar feeling, but razor sharp and with a point. His brand of entertainment appeals to a very diverse audience. A typical day for Michael might include a program for 4th graders in the afternoon and a concert for a mixed audience that evening.

Michael's recordings top the Americana Music Association charts year after year. His original songs and stories have been described as "Appalachian grit and wit" but, as his writing shows, Michael's awareness is much broader than the bounds of his boyhood home or even the Southern Experience. Having toured throughout the British Isles and much of Europe, as well as most of the US, the songs he writes and the stories he creates reflect an insight into people's experiences that catch the ear like an old friend's voice.

Michael's natural knack for storytelling, in print, song and spoken word has earned him praise from not only the music community but from the literary and storytelling worlds as well, having had the honor of being a Featured Teller at the National Storytelling Festival and to be Teller In Residence at the International Storytelling Center, as well as performing at major music events like MerleFest and the Walnut Valley Festival. Along with his performances, Michael often conducts workshops in songwriting and storytelling as well.

Michael's recordings have for years received and continue to garner awards in Country, Americana and Folk circles. His humor and wit, as well as the emotional depth of his work, keep his fan base growing and staying tuned in for whatever comes next. Don't miss the chance to experience what those faithful fans keep returning again and again to enjoy.

http://www.michaelreno.com

I will not share or give away your email address.

And don’t forget to subscribe by iTunes or your browser to The Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf so you can get bi-weekly inspirations from Bother Wolf direct to your desktop. Read the info on the right to find out how. It’s free and it’s super simple.

Press Play to hear Brother Wolf speak with Tejumola Ologboni on Walking the Talk with Street Storytelling.

A little more on the Artist…

Teju of Milwaukee, Wisconsin is a master storyteller and folklorist of international renown. He draws listeners into stories with gestures and movements, and sometimes with music made on traditional Africa instruments. Some of his stories are filled with magic and mystical characters, like “the Possum and the Hare;” others are fact like the story of Joshua, a runaway captive who escaped to Wisconsin, and whose case went all the way to the Supreme Court, when a bounty hunter tried to capture and return him to being enslaved. Serious or humorous, political or festive, Teju’s stories reflect on longstanding and contemporary cultural perspectives to capture and return him to being enslaved. Serious or humorous, political of festive, Teju’s stories reflect on longstanding and contemporary cultural perspectives to give listeners greater understanding of the profound influence of African heritage on our traditions and identities. Come listen to this culture keeper and be enlightened and inspired.

He is also an author, teacher, consultant, poet, writer, actor, dancer, percussionist, and “verbal illusionist.”

“Storytelling is the most ancient of ancient arts.” -Tejumola Ologboni

Whether in your schools, concerts, festivals, libraries or community centers, bring Teju the Storyteller to your stage for a memorial cultural experience.

Tejumola F. Ologboni
P.O. Box 16706
Milwaukee, WI 53216
(414) 344-6656

You can learn more about Teju at http://www.yourfavoritestorytellers.org/teju.html

Many iPhone listeners of this show have complained that they can not listen to the back catalog (Shows 1 through 60). But now via this iPhone application they can listen to every episode that previously was only available on the website. Over one hundred hours of information and interviews on venerable art of storytelling.

You can purchase this iPhone application in the iTunes store here.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-art-storytelling-show/id359696135?mt=8

If you purchase this application please review it in the iTunes Store. I will add published reviews in the iTunes Application Store to this post here –

Review by Dianne de Las Casas

“If you loved listening to Brother Wolf’s show, The Art of Storytelling via iTunes, you will love this new app for the iPhone. Episodes are easy to find using the search feature and the shows are clear as a bell on the iPhone. This new app gives me tons of new listening material, especially since I am always on the go. Great job, Brother Wolf!

Thank you for advancing the art of storytelling around the world! - Dianne de Las Casas, Award-Winning Author & Storyteller, Author of The Story Biz Handbook: How to Manage Your Storytelling Business from the Desk to the Stage (Winner of 2010 Storytelling World Award)”

Review by Gregg Morris

Gregg Morris over at his blog “What’s Your story” wrote glowing review of this application and you can listen to it here -Art of Storytelling iPhone Application review .

Rate this application on yahoo rating service….
http://www.appolicious.com/education/apps/208501-the-art-of-storytelling-show-podcast-app-wizzard-media

Press Play to hear Brother Wolf speak with Limor Shiponi on striding towards storytelling mastery on the Art of Storytelling Show.

Limor Shiponi writes…

Mastery is an ambiguous word raising the impulse of ownership and recognition, resonating something standing apart while representing a form of wholeness. What is it about mastery and mastery in storytelling that keeps me at this issue for so long?

For me, mastery is about inspiration, a northern-star I can dream about and act upon. I want to help my audiences, including myself, touch our stars for the sake of joy in life. I believe mastery leads that way and therefore I seek it, investigate it, I want to understand.

This is what I know: mastery lives in the physical world and it has an age; It lives in people. Mastery is not a degree or a title but rather a state of being, formulated by the work of a person who turnes his search and art into his walk in life without even knowing he is on the path to mastery; until one day, it arrives.

How do you know? You feel one with story, with listener and nothing stands in the way anymore. Time gives-in to your ability to craft it with each word, gesture or sound you make while traveling through a story told so many times before – told once again with the special group of people sitting in front of you. When you seek mastery, they are your companions sharing the path you are unraveling underneath their feet.

When mastery is present the story transcends its documentation, set free into full life. I see mastery in storytelling as magic – a performing art that entertains by creating suspension of disbelief in front of what is seemingly impossible or supernatural, using purely natural means like skill, knowledge, wisdom and love.

Since very young age I’ve been trying to understand how it is that people are fascinated from what seems to be there while it is not, trying to pass through the curtains and reach the back-stage of imagination. Eventually I found myself standing there and I can tell you what I know: mastery lives in the real world in the form of your own kindness, enchantment and glint in the eye. You get there if you are willing to acquire the skill and knowledge, walk the path and share the magic of life.

Bio

To make a long story short…

I tend to tell powerful stories that kick you out of balance and then help you land in safety. I execute my work through performances, workshops, talks, consulting and writing for various formats. I’m constantly and deliberately pushing toward excellence in storytelling and receiving the recognition it deserves. Why? Because I think there is not enough amazing storytelling to go around. I believe humanity deserves its soul back, the permission to do our best and help each other speak the truth. I’m also deeply interested in the connection between high science, storytelling and politics. That’s on the blade side. To the Chalice: I love people and love listening to people. The amount of compassion people stimulate in me makes me an easy weeper, in joy and in sadness.

I prefer being my best and influencing others to be their best. It is the core of everything I do through the main disciplines I’ve studied and practice – orchestra conducting, storytelling & coaching. I feel at home in both eastern and western environments, conflicts are my play-ground for finding balance. Very few matters can leave me speechless or unwilling to participate, one of them is deliberately hurting and neglecting children, another is humiliating a person in a ‘friendly’ way.

I do many things in many fields which people find hard to believe until we meet and actually work together. This is not about boasting but about delivering the nature of my work and the way it is perceived by my clients. I’m curious about almost everything and thank goodness, this trait has not killed me until today. It just helps me to see a problem from many angles and find solutions.

Translating the above into professional jargon…

Some of the issues I speak about – social media and marketing, managing in time (you can’t manage time, it’s the other way round), storytelling and politics, branding (including self-branding and how to do it the right way), organizational culture, woman’s issues in the 21th century, learning.

Some of my storytelling programs – medieval stories, the nine female characters in Arthurian Legends and what we can learn from them, Israeli stories (different from Jewish stories), Mediterranean love stories, wine and bawdy stories, folktales from many cultures, wisdom tales. Most of my audiences are adults and at the same time I love telling to children over the age of four, teenagers and adolescence.

Smart Storytelling Systems™ – include ‘The Quest Master’ & ‘The Key’. The Quest Master is a tactical tool for generating better decision making between high profile professionals. The Key is a process for eliciting great sales stories, brand culture and language and fresh customer service.

Business & organizational consulting – marketing strategy, social media, buzzing, brand language and organizational culture. These are broad issues that narrow down according to the client’s request or my recommendation.

Writing & experience design – I teach copywriting from a storyteller’s point of view, write and evaluate copy, cooperate with experience design and interactive specialists.

The amount of storytelling projects and initiatives I’m involved with will make this text way too long to read. My links will show you the way if you want to know more.

And… I have a request or a serious invitation really. I’m looking for people from the gaming industry that will be wild enough to design a new game from scratch, beginning from storytelling. Not story nor script, storytelling. What do I mean? Contact me.

Limor’s Storytelling Agora
You may find a discussion on this episode between several listeners and Limor here.

SB: And you’ve done over a hundred, haven’t you?

BW: There are 103 online, with 17 more waiting to be uploaded.

SB: And is it mostly an American audience?

BW: I view the podcast as an International project. 44% of my audience is overseas. I’ve been working really hard to connect with international potential audience when they’re in the United States.

SB: So, the podcast is a big part of what you do?

BW: Yes, definitely. One of the things that’s started happening recently is that people are starting to come and say “interview me,” but it really doesn’t work that way. I’ve only ever done that twice, and both times I regretted doing it….
One of the things I struggle with is that a lot of podcasts that are very successful aim at an audience that is very tech savvy, but my target audience (storytellers) is almost the opposite. What that means is that the build is much slower than with other projects of these type. It’s one of the great frustrations of the project for me. And recently I rebranded it, which makes that process even slower. That’s why I’m always quick to say to anyone “if you like listening to it, let other people know, or people at your institutions know,” That’s the biggest way my audience grows…

SB: And I actually brought that up when speaking with Dale Jarvis as well. He’s quite successful at using social media, he does a lot of traditional storyteller-type reaching out to people as well, so he’s getting a kind of synergy going there, but he often has to think about bridging the gap between people who are traditional storytellers and are often over 40, and potential storyteller audiences who might not even be aware of the storytelling world unless he reaches out to them using social media.

BW: You use the term “traditional storytelling” a lot. I wouldn’t describe most of the storytellers I know as traditional storytellers. I would say “performance storytellers I know” or “community storytellers,” but I wouldn’t say “traditional tellers” unless I was talking about Native Americans, people from Africa, like the Griots from Africa, places where they still have a living tradition. Though it’s true that most of them are over 40 because it takes many years to master the tradition… Community storytellers doesn’t get as much respect in the U.S. and you can see this in their promotional materials, which often don’t even use the word “storyteller.” The storytelling brand is badly damaged; it’s associated with children and librarians reading books to children. That’s why I recently re-branded my podcast. (From “The Art of Storytelling with Children” to “The Art of Storytelling.” —SB)

SB: What do you think listening to stories does for people?

BW: I think that human beings are community animals. Not in the sense of lower, but in the sense of us being biological. Storytelling arises out of that need to build and structure community. When we know the people in the room, we’re really creating opportunities for connecting with them. In diplomatic relations, there’s a technique for using storytelling to prevent the hotheads from getting out of hand. Tellers are used to using metaphor and simile to speak to each other.

SB: What has being a storyteller done for you?

BW: The creator of the world makes us storytellers – it’s part of why I’m on earth.

SB: Would you say that storytelling is your calling?

BW: I would go beyond a calling; it’s part of the very fiber of who I am.

SB: How did you get started as a storyteller?

BW: When I was 8 and my sister was 4 I told her class the story I made up of how the old man’s shoes flew off and the class was all terrified, they loved it and wanted me to come back. This is what I always return to. But that’s not really important – what I think you want to hear is… Let me tell you three pieces of advice for a storyteller; the three things that made me a lot better as a storyteller.

SB: Okay, what are they?

BW: 1) When you tell your first story to a new audience, it’s always a story you’ve done many times before. Never start with new material. Always show them who you are in your best setting. That was the biggest step for me. Your second best story is your last one in a performance.
2) I stopped explaining everything. Bad tellers, they leave no stone unturned, no thing unexplained.
3) To be good you have to be practiced. I have a local/closed group, we’ve been practicing for five years. Sometimes it’s just a matter of doing it a lot. You need to focus on one genre and really do it.

SB: How does technology and storytelling interact?

BW: I feel like there’s been a real revolution in terms of technology in the 21st century but I think lots of people are having trouble wrapping their heads around it. Hardly any storytellers are aware that you can use Tunecore, CDBaby or CafePress and you can sell your storytelling CDs one at a time. If you have an amazing story… if you have a following of 300… then chances are half of those have iPhones or iPods. We’re leaving money on the table. We are missing opportunities to build relationships with audiences. We could do what Disney does. There’s so much crap out that… but it’s so loud and so viral… Susan Boyle, for example. We think we can’t compete, but because of Google we can compete. We’re better… we’re SO much better.

SB: I will interview Margaret Read MacDonald next week.

BW: Oh, she’s great. She was one of the very earliest supporters of this show, one of the first people I interviewed. So in a sense she’s been a real early adopter of this technology.

SB: Thanks for talking with me.

BW: My pleasure.

Writer’s Bio: Stephanie first learned the art of storytelling in 2005 and has been telling at schools, libraries, cafes and festivals ever since. She specializes in Alberta history, tall tales, and biographies, but her repertoire also includes silly, salty and spooky stories from many parts of the world. Stephanie is a member of T.A.L.E.S., The Alberta League Encouraging Storytelling, and can be contacted through them. This interview was conducted as part of her graduate course work in 2009.

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Press Play to hear Brother Wolf speak with David Ambrose on the foundation and running of the International Storytelling Festival of Wales.

Picture a fairytale castle perched on a cliff-top on the romantic Welsh coast; at the foot of the castle, a medieval jousting field, fringed by woodland, the tower of an ancient Saxon church rising above the trees. Terraced gardens slope gently down from the castle to the sea. In every garden, there is a tent. And in every tent, a storyteller….

This is St Donats Castle, the setting for Beyond The Border Wales International Storytelling Festival, which I set up with the help and encouragement of leading UK storyteller Ben Haggarty in 1993. Ever since then, BTB has been dedicated to exploring and celebrating the world’s rich heritage of oral tradition, bringing to Wales an unparalleled selection of storytellers, epic singers and musicians from the four corners of the earth, and creating for itself a worldwide reputation as a unique haven for traditional story. The result has been the growth of a remarkable quality of listening. Where else could you find several hundred people sitting in a Mongolian–style yurt, listening in rapt attention to the mesmerizing recital of a 1,000 year-old Kyrgyz epic, while acrobats and fire jugglers entertain hundreds more on the castle Lawns, a European Wonder Tale unfolds to cello accompaniment in the Rose Garden, and in the magnificent Great Hall of the Castle, an audience is spellbound by a tale from the Arabian Nights? Unfortunately for that loyal audience of listeners, the changes of funding that often upset arts events like this forced the festival to take time off over the last couple of years.

But the good news is that Beyond the Border is back! In July this year, Britain’s leading international festival of storytelling returns to its spiritual home of St Donats Castle, on the beautiful S Wales coast, for another spectacular weekend of stories by the sea!

For three glorious and magic-filled days, the grounds of our fairytale castle will echo with the sound of stories from Wales and the World…Silk Road stories….travellers’ tales….stories and songs from Celtic Britain…1001 Nights….stories & music from West Africa & The Caribbean…..Tales To Sustain….
A stellar line-up includes storytellers and musicians from Italy, Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Armenia, Georgia, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Nigeria and from right across the British Isles.
Together they will entertain and illuminate, amaze and amuse an audience drawn to St Donats Castle from across the UK and from around the globe, an international audience attracted not only by the breadth and quality of the programme, but also by the magnificent, other worldly atmosphere of the location. To visit Beyond The Border really is to be in a fairy tale come true. We hope you can join us. To learn more about Beyond The Border 2010 and find out how to get tickets and join the BTB email list, visit http://www.beyondtheborder.com

DAVID AMBROSE
Storyteller, Festival Director

“Kept children and adults spellbound. People cheered and cried for more.”
The Guardian

David Ambrose has been at the forefront of the storytelling revival in Wales for the past 20 years, as a promoter, a performer, and as Artistic Director of Beyond The Border Wales International Storytelling Festival .

Born in England in 1950, David Ambrose first worked as a promoter and performer as part of the Guildford Arts Laboratory in the late 60’s, before studying Drama at University of Hull and touring Britain for several years with Hull Truck Theatre Co.

He also worked as a farmhand, milkman, music journalist, reggae promoter and community theatre director, before moving to Wales in the 1980’s to be Director of St Donats Arts Centre for nearly twenty years.

For much of that time he has been involved in encouraging the revival of performance storytelling in Wales, presenting storytelling events in and around St Donats Castle on the South Wales coast, and in 1993 co-founding the Beyond The Border Wales International Storytelling Festival with storyteller Ben Haggarty.

As a performance storyteller, he tells for both adult and children’s audiences, performing regularly in theatres, community centres and schools across Wales, and appearing at international festivals around the world. He is also a founder member of the Tales From Beyond The Border Storytelling Company, with Megan Lloyd, Francis Maxey and composer Peter Stacey.

Festival appearances include Festival interculturel du contes du Quebec, Chepstow Festival, Toronto Festival of Storytelling, Vale of Glamorgan Festival, Fabula Storytelling Festival in Stockholm, Alden Biesen Festival in Belgium, and Healing Words Festival, Israel.

David has recently worked with The National Museum of Wales on a programme of Storytelling and Music Events as part of the UK Festival of Muslim Cultures, and has also been responsible for a series of innovative intergenerational storytelling projects taking place in communities across S Wales. He is currently working with 180 schoolchildren in a project for Young Storytellers in the S Wales town of Barry.

BEYOND THE BORDER
Wales International Storytelling Festival

Founded in 1993 and dedicated to celebrating the world’s oral traditions, Beyond The Border grew out of the activities of St Donats Arts Centre, which began to pioneer performance storytelling events in Wales in the late 1980’s.

Beyond The Border is now regarded as the leading festival of its kind in the UK, bringing together some of the finest storytellers and tradition bearers from around the globe to perform in the grounds of St Donats Castle on the S Wales Heritage Coast.

In addition to the bi-annual Festival weekend at St Donats, which attracts several thousand visitors from across the UK and overseas, Beyond The Border has also worked closely with other venues to create a wide-ranging programme of storytelling events taking place in Wales and England, including London’s Cric Crac Club, The Barbican Centre, The Centre For Ancient Technology, Coed Hills Rural Arts Space, Theatr Mwldan, Wales Millennium Centre, and numerous schools, colleges, hospitals and residential homes in South Wales.

www.beyondtheborder.com

The best part of this report is half way in… but worth watching…

Here is quote from the man in 1993…
Do you feel you’re carrying a message from Africa?
Let’s be modest. Africa is vast, and it would be pretentious to speak in its name. I’m fighting the battle with words because I’m a storyteller, a griot. Rightly or wrongly, they call us masters of the spoken word. Our duty is to encourage the West to appreciate Africa more. It’s also true that many Africans don’t really know their own continent. And if you forget your culture, you lose sight of yourself. It is said that “the day you no longer know where you’re going, just remember where you came from.” Our strength lies in our culture. Everything I do as a storyteller, a griot, stems from this rooting and openness.

From Sotigui Kouyaté : The wise man of the stage Interview by Cynthia Guttman, UNESCO Courier journalist

Press Play to hear Brother Wolf takes questions from his audience on the Art of Storytelling Show on being a professional storyteller. This is 3 of 3 shows commemorating the 100th Anniversary episode of the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf Show. This Episode is podcast in 128 bit rate – this higher bit rate costs more to cast online – if you enjoyed listening to the higher quality show – perhaps you would consider purchasing your next download through the website….

This picture is called a Wordie – it is picture of the words people used when they wrote their thoughts on the 2010 National Storytelling Network Oracle Award..
What People are saying about the Art of Storytelling Show…

I would like to thank the following people for contributing there time and energy to the 102ndt Anniversary Episode….

Harvey Halbrun – Show ID – http://hdhstory.net/
Steve Otto Show Introduction http://www.i-tell.net/
Ellyce Cavanough Introduction of Brother Wolf – http://www.freespiritnaturecamp.com/
Fran Stallings – Oracle Award Committee - http://www.franstallings.com/
Michael D. McCarty – Invitation to attend the National Storytelling Conference in LA in July/August in 2010 – http://www.storynet.org
Jean Luster – Art of Storytelling Ipod Testimonial – The Cleveland Association of Black Storytellers
Buck P Creacy - http://www.buckpcreacy.com/
Heather Forest – Defining Storytelling http://www.storyarts.org
Journey Sandeers – How does one become a professional storyteller? http://www.jostory.com/
Dale Jarvis – International Conference in 2010 in Canada – International Perspective – When storytelling and when is it a tradition? http://www.sc-cc.com
Margret Endinburg – How do I go about telling stories for pay? http://www.kuumbastorytellers.org/MargaretEdinburgh.html
Rob Mcabe – How do I get Grant Money? – http://www.robmccabe.com/
John Daily who lives in Hawaii – bi-noral sound.
Mary K Croft Working with Open Mic’s
Margaret & Noel-Lewis-Watt storytellers http://www.aroundtowntellers.com/
Captain Bob Milller Invites us to fist the South sure Near Boston. LANES Website and Karen Chace story cafe…
Jenni Cargill Strong – Itales ve Itunes – Her company selling storytelling CD’s