Federation for European Storytellers
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Online Symposium Professionalising the storyteller

June 9, 2021 Wednesday,14:00    -    June 10, 2021 Thursday,20:00
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FEST is working to enhance the visibility and the recognition of storytelling as a performing art. We wish to contribute to the professional development of storytellers through a European approach, using different methods such as the analysis of training needs, residencies and performance opportunities for young storytellers and continued professional development for established storytellers.

According to research most storytelling training today happens through informal and non-formal practice. Very few institutions offer formal storytelling education/training. The research also showed that most of the non-formal and informal training are at basic skills level and that there is a lack of theoretical backing for storytelling training at the higher levels. FEST created an international team of experts to pick up this challenge, through surveys, in-depth interviews, online and live meetings/discussions, deskresearch and communication on different platforms.

The team created a competence model for oral storytelling and organised a master class for storytelling trainers on competence-based training and learning, in cooperation with SAMWD Lier, BE. Two oral storytelling pilot courses were organised, a first one on “Working with Stereotypes and Traditional Tales’, in cooperation with the University of Arts in Berlin, DE and the second one: “Oral Storytelling and Artistic Research” in cooperation with Oslo Metropolitan University, NO.

Fest wants to open-up the discussions and developments by organising this online symposium. Next to presenting the outcomes of our work we also welcome experts from different disciplines and education/training sectors working on related topics. This symposium will address the varied collaborative and individual working situations of contemporary oral storytellers.