Open call for an English speaking Roma oral storyteller, ideally of Slovak or Czech background (not essential), to deliver two storytelling sessions in person as part of a forthcoming community outreach, participatory art-making project in southeast Kent. This is a paid opportunity.
About the Project
Mother Trees Connect the Forest will launch in February 2023 (Arts Council England grant funding depending). The participants will be Slovak and Czech Roma mums and their children who attend a community support group in Dover. Through conversation, story and paint, a series of artist-led artmaking workshops will provide an opportunity for participants to reflect on their own lived experiences. We will draw inspiration from Slovak and Czech Roma literature to explore telling our own stories and a Roma oral storyteller will join a workshop to deliver a storytelling session. The emphasis will be on promoting wellbeing and opening up a dialogue through spending time being creative together. We will share our discoveries with a public audience through a presentation, in conjunction with a further storytelling session for a community audience, at a public art gallery in Margate.
Project Theme:
Mother Trees Connect the Forest is inspired by the work of ecologist, Suzanne Simard, whose work shows mother trees play a critical role in the
survival of forests by channeling resources to seedlings. These trees are able to recognise and channel more resources to their own offspring when they are sick. Project outcomes will be shaped by the parallels that can be drawn between the life of the forest and the project’s themes, i.e. motherhood,
collaboration between mother and child, harnessing talent, nurturing the creativity of the next generation, and exchanges of knowledge through art,
writing and storytelling.
Project Aims:
- Increase representation of Roma voices in the arts
- Celebrate the richness of Roma culture and specifically oral culture through oral storytelling and the portal of literature in translation
- Challenge negative stereotypes and attitudes towards Roma in the UK
- Highlight we are all citizens of the world and migration is central to human existence and life on Earth.
Timeline
Spring/early summer of 2023 (dates to be confirmed). It is expected that the first session in Dover will take place on a Wednesday afternoon (4-
6pm) in March and the second session, in Margate, will be in May or June.
How To Apply
Interested applicants are invited to submit a 1 page CV (including a personal statement + links to websites/social media/ workshop recordings etc.) and a
statement of application (300 words max) by 26th January.
- Your statement should include your narrative strategy and show how your ideas for the sessions connect with the project’s themes.
- Your application should also demonstrate your ability to provide an empowering, engaging and inspiring experience and involve the active participation of the audience groups.
If your application is successful, you will be working in collaboration with the lead artist in the project to develop your proposal, and plan and
deliver the sessions. Please specify whether you have an enhanced DBS check certificate.
