FEST CONFERENCE 14-16 June & Pannon StoryFest 16-17 June 2023, Veszprém, Hungary
From Spinning Rooms to Trendy Café's
FEST and Csűrdöngölő Cultural Association have the pleasure to invite the international storytelling community to the annual FEST conference 2023 in Hungary from 14 – 16 June 2023, followed by the Pannon StoryFest an international storytelling festival from 16 - 17 June. We invite storytellers from Europe and beyond to visit the vibrant 2023 European Capital of Culture, the "City of Queens" in Veszprém -Hungary.
Conference Venue
The event will take place in the Hangvilla Event Center, this is the newest multifunctional, community building that organises an area of different programs and events realised with unique features.
Travel
Arrival by airplane at Liszt Ferenc Airport, Budapest
Take the bus or train to Veszprém, press the button 'How to get there' for more detailed information.
Accommodations
For the 2023 conference FEST will not organise the accommodation. All participants will have to book their own accommodation.
The conference host has some hotel suggestions, where you can get a special rate with a reduction code these rooms are limited and will only be available until 10 May 2023. Upon your registration for the conference you will receive an email, within the week with more detailed information concerning the hotels and how you can make a booking.
Hotel suggestions:
Hotel Betekints
Prices between €60 and €170/night
20 min walk from Hang Villa
Address: 8200 Veszprém, Veszprémvölgyi u. 4.
Villa Medici Hotel
prices between €60 and €165/night
20 min walk from Hang Villa
H-8200 Veszprém, Kittenberger utca 11.
Budget option
The host organisation also secured a budget option for accommodation in the form of a hostel/dormitory.
Hotel Magister: https://kollegiumok.uni-pannon.hu/kollegiumok/veszprem/hotel-magister
Details:
- Shared rooms
- No air conditioning
- Price: approximately 30,00 Euro/room/night
Don't now what to expect?
Look at the recap of the previous FEST-conference Lithuania
Invitation FEST Conference 2023
Partners
Csűrdöngölő Kulturális Egyesület
European Capital of Culture
| 14:00 | Guest Welcoming & Check in |
| 19:00 | Conference opening event and dinner at the bank of the Sed - park near the hotel |
Hangvilla Event Centre
| 8:30 | Bus to Hangvilla |
| 9:00 | Conference opening |
| 9:30 | The Story of Traditional Hungarian Storytelling
Mariann DOMOKOS, PHD Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities |
| 10:15 | "Old tales – new events"
Ildikó Sándor, PHD Hungarian Heritage House (45min) |
| 11:00 | COFFEE BREAK |
| 11:30 | Workshops & Lectures |
| 13:00 | LUNCH |
| 14:30 | Workshops |
| 16:00 | COFFEE BREAK |
| 16:30 | Folk Craft workshop Festival united Story swaps |
| 18:00 | Bus transfer to hotel |
| 18:30 | Gala Dinner |
| 20:00 | StoryPub on the bank of Sed Folktale show |
Hangvilla Event Centre
| 8:30 | Bus to Hangvilla | |
| 9:00 | Plenary session - FEST network | |
| 9:30 | Hungarian Science Academy | |
| 10:00 | Open space workshop
exchange experiences - topics decided by participants Facilitated by Hungarian Facilitators' Association |
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| 13:00 | LUNCH | |
| 14:30 | Workshops / small group presentations | |
| 16:00 | COFFEE BREAK | |
| 16:30 | "Reborn folktale adaptations in Hungary" Zsolt PINTER president of Csurdongolo Cultural Association | |
| 17:15 | Plenary session - Conference Closing | |
| 18:00 | Dinner conference location | |
| 20:00 |
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Pannon StoryFest - International Storytelling festival
| Timing | 1. Dubniczay Palace garden | 2. Tegulárium | 3. Castle Galery | 4 Storytelling Yurt (Theatre garden) | 5. Óváros square (Hagyományok háza, Muharay) |
6. Vár street | ||
| 10:00 | Zalka Csenge The Dream of the Fairy Queen: Rare Hungarian Folktales (ENG) |
Old professions company - Handcrafting demonstrations
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Open Stage - International Storytelling
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Hungarian folktales
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Handcrafting market
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| 11:00 | Danny Bain The child living on the tree (HUN) |
Compagnia di Storytelling Raccontamiunastoria Sex and the City 1300: erotic tales from Boccaccio's Decameron (ENG, HUN) |
The tree of Sun - Tekergő Storytrail
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| 12:00 | Bokros Trió My happy life (MUSIC) |
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| 13:00 | Dr. Agócs Gergely (HUN) | Szabad Klitsie Boglárka, Bumberák Maja Scars and Smiles (ENG) |
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| 14:00 | Dijana Zoric, Kovács Marianna (ENG, HUN) The heritage of Dalmatia |
Once upon a time … Tales with dance and puppets - Paramisi Társulat | ||||||
| 15:00 | Tekergő Meseösvény Tales from around the World (HUN) |
Raphael Rodan, Erik Sjöholm Donkey's Jaw (ENG) |
Kuttyomfitty Társulat | |||||
| 16:00 | Danny Bain The child living on the tree (ENG) |
Thoose good old times - Bokréta Folk Ensemble, Szany | ||||||
| 17:00 | Csűrdöngölő Kulturális Association: The story of Josef Sobri (HUN) | I harvested a lot this summer- Bagi Muharay Folk Association | ||||||
| 18:00 |
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| 19:00 | ||||||||
| 20:00 | National Folk Ensemble: Market from Kolozsvar |
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| 21:00 |
Sugalló Zenekar-
Dancehouse |
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| 22:00 | ||||||||
Workshops & Lectures
Listen here storytelling folks, this here workshop is like a school for storytelling promotion. It's designed to teach ya how to use the Midjourney A.I. a tool to make professional looking images without needin' to have the fancy photography or design skills of an artist. You’ll make pictures. so pretty, folks will be lining up to hear ya spin a yarn!
*blurb rewritten by A.I. in the writing style of Mark Twain
Bio
"Well let me tell ya, Chris De Backer (from Belgium) has been spinnin' tales like a yarn spinnin' machine since 2000. At first, he was only tellin' stories to young'uns under the alias "De Belleman." But lo and behold, he discovered a new breed of young'uns, the adult kind. He's quite partial to tales with a twisty turny endin' ya see. But then the coronavirus hit and Chris had to get creative, like a fox. He started recording and streaming his tales, and even created a little project he likes to call "Wanderin' with Stories." Where folks can listen to his recorded tales through them fancy QR codes they find on a storytelling walk. And ya know what, his latest passion is usin' artificial intelligence like a pro, to give his storytelling a little extra oomph. And this here workshop is a prime example of that, combinin' A.I. and a storyteller's own powerful language to create beautiful, professional images that align perfectly with their yarns."
*Bio rewritten by A.I. in the writing style of Mark Twain
In everyone’s life, there are things we rather not want to talk about. Sometimes these things are so difficult, we even try to forget them consciously or unconsciously. In this workshop, I want to share my experience in using stories and storytelling in helping people to talk about things and themes they usually can’t talk about. I used and developed these techniques in my work as a psychologist, talking with people: adults and youngsters with psychological issues such as trauma, anxiety, … I also use them in my work as a family worker to talk with family members about difficult issues.
it will be an active workshop in which we experience on the spot how these techniques can work.
Tom Van Mieghem has over 20 years experience as a storyteller, performance creator and trainer. He is a qualified Psychologist with expertise in Psychodrama and Narrative therapy and works in schools and with families and individuals.
This interactive workshop will use the ancient Kalila wa Dimna, fables of animals speaking truth, to explore the role storytelling can play in social transformation. These fables carried their roots from ancient India into Persia, continuing into the Arab world before travelling into Europe. Coined as the first political science book ever written, the stories changed to suit each culture and time period. However, the message of friendship and loyalty as a way of achieving unity has always remained.
We will use our modern reality to analyse these ancient tales and how they apply to our current political and social times. By connecting the stories to our personal and familial reality, we will connect to the wider picture of social transformation.
Bio
Sarah Abusarar comes from a long line of storytellers on her paternal side. She tells stories to both adults and children. Sarah has told stories both nationally and internationally at festivals in Canada, United Arab Emirates, Bosnia and Croatia. Because, Sarah, grew up in several countries she tells stories from all over the world with the focus on Palestinian and Croatian stories where her roots lie. Her favourite stories are ones that promote social change. Sarah has also used stories in a therapeutic way with children in refugee camps and refugee children in Toronto, as part of their therapy. She works at the Parent Child Mother Goose Program using traditional storytelling to encourage parent child bonding. Sarah belongs to a collective called "Musical Story Studio" where stories and music are combined in performance and through workshops. Sarah tells stories so that she may go deep inside of the tales and find herself in far-away magical places, that she remembers, from long, long ago.
For every life event and change (breaking-up, marrying, departing, etc.) there exists a folk song which can deepen the feeling of that precise moment of liminality, when someone changes his or her life status, when something changes forever.
In this workshop I would like to share the tools that makes my performances more vivid: folk songs of my ancestors, illustrating the folk tales of my country, and also share my passion for folk songs – so that participants can also explore their folk songs and roots for their own stories.
Bio
Storyteller, writer, literature editor. Cecília Stenszky was born in Veszprém, Hungary, 1986. She has studied Hungarian literature, ethnography and folkloristics in the University of Szeged. She travelled to Finland, South Korea, Malaysia, Italy and all around Europe, including Erdély. She writes tales and tell stories since her son was born, and part of the Hungarian MythOff group. She has storytelling events near Veszprém, mostly for adults.
In this workshop we will explore what authentic or free speech in relation to storytelling, where it comes from and where it can lead. But especially how we can initiate and train it.
Short stories introduce exercises that are started in this workshop and can be continued at home.
The exercises are done in small groups around tables, sometimes writing individually, sometimes sharing in the group. In a rotating system, every 10/12 minutes one moves on to the next table to start a new exercise.
The workshop promises to be fun, thrilling and consciousness-expanding. It will certainly lead to further interesting conversations!
Bio
Veva Gerard is a professional ‘artist of the spoken word’. She graduated from LUCA in Leuven and from the Kleine Academie in Brussels and started as a presenter, recitation artist, and actress. In addition, she was an inspired and inspiring teacher in these domains for a long time. Later on, she discovered storytelling.
She lobbied for and ensured storytelling an official place in the renewed art decree for part-time art education by the Ministry of Education. Now, storytelling can be a subsidised course in all academies throughout Flanders, interested in organising it.
Her own storytelling course at the Podiumacademie Lier is well attended by students from Flanders and the Netherlands and colleagues from other academies, making her a full time storytelling teacher.
In both Belgium and the Netherlands she is often a guest lecturer and sometimes sits on juries.
For the Federation for European Storytelling, she worked on a competence model for oral storytelling, and she developed a toolbox to get started with this model. She also gave international lectures and masterclasses on this topic.
But of course, she also likes to perform on stage, preferably with her musical storytelling collective 'Zus en Zo'.
Peig Sayers (1873-1958) was first famous, then infamous, in Ireland. For roughly the first half of the twentieth century she was well-known to linguists, folklore scholars, learners of the Irish language, as an exceptionally clear and fine speaker of Gaeilge, and as a storyteller of extraordinary gifts and international acclaim.
But Unfortunately, a selective memoir taught in highschools and various other complex reasons, led the name of Peig to become used as a symbol for everything that was perceived to be wrong with Ireland and Irish education. The real Peig was known to folklorists, scholars, linguists, but to the general public she was a figure to be ridiculed and despised.
This Interactive session explores my research and development of Peig’s stories carried out in collaboration with a digital artist and scholar. Particularly the session aims to explore that area between story sharing in a personal intimate environment such as a fireside or a café and a larger performance space which makes it a theatrical event.
I believe storytelling is caught between those two stools, just as Peig Sayers was when she was caught between the joyful oral expression of her art as a storyteller and the tyranny of the printer's ink.
Bio
Nuala Hayes is a pioneer of the Irish Storytelling revival post 1990’s. Trained as an actor at the Abbey Theatre she subsequently set up Ireland’s first touring Theatre for Children: TEAM, the experience of which first drew her to storytelling as a performance art. She went on to co-found Two Chairs Company with Musician Ellen Cranitch and toured extensively, performing Irish myths, legends and folktales interwoven with music.
As time passed, she became aware of Storytellings broader context and its important social function to bring people of all ages together. So, in 1991 She organised the first International Storytelling Festival across Dublin county, Scéalta Shamhna, which ran for 10 years. She learnt so much from the global storytellers who performed, each one unique and talented in their own way.
Nuala was Artist in Residence in County Laois in 2002/2003 where she documented a body of folktales and folklore from the Midlands of Ireland, which became the basis for Laois Folktales published by the History Press in 2015.
In November 2022, she was invited to participate in The World Forum for Democracy at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, contributing to discussions on History and Politics and presenting on Storytelling and Democracy. She also told one of Peig Sayers’ stories in the Hemicycle to mark the end of Ireland’s Presidency of the Council. A Highlight !Nuala believes in Collaboration and has been a member of Storytellers of Ireland for many years and was instrumental in their integration into FEST. She recently stepped away from the role as Chairperson of Storytellers of Ireland, to continue her own exploration of stories and storytelling. Peig Sayers, The Queen of Irish Storytellers is her latest project and she is happy to be sharing the experience with members of FEST in Hungary in June, she would like to thank The Mermaid Arts Centre and Culture Ireland for their support.
This lecture is aimed at people who tell stories on stage, equipped or not. The participant
will be able to:
- acquire a better knowledge of what a scenic space is and how to fully occupy it
- give more clarity, more suspense, more emotion to the images of their stories
- The following questions will be explored:
- How can the storyteller shift his perception from this auto-pilot body to a sensitive one which can then turn into the most appropriate vessel to carry your story ?
- Is there such a thing as a body text - movement, gesture, composition, breathing, body percussion - which could possibly enter in dialogue with the words of your story ?
- How can the metaphorical dimension of these two texts - words and body - help the audience dive even deeper in their own imaginary world ?
Bio
Artistic Director of Vortex, Caroline Sire, is a storyteller, singer, movement actress, teacher and author. She was trained in classical and contemporary dance, medieval and sacred chanting and learned traditional singing in Ireland. She discovered the world of storytelling with Abbi PATRIX (Compagnie du Cercle) when she performed in his show The Wanderings of Grainne which was distinguished in 1992 at the Grand Prix des Conteurs of Chevilly Larue. Caroline joined La Compagnie du Cercle and worked there for four years.
In 2005, she discovered the work and body grammar of Etienne DECROUX via the Théâtre du Mouvement Company as part of The Lab Masterclass at the Maison du Conte de Chevilly Larue in Paris. She deepened her practice around the theatricality of movement with Yves MARC through several workshops. In 2007, they worked together to create the show Sheen's Wondrous Story and subsequently their two companies have gone on to organise artistic residences and workshops together in the Studio-Grange of Clavères (near Toulouse, France).
Caroline is also an author writing stories for young people, her first work La Nuit des Secrets was published by SYROS Publishing Co in April 2018. She participates in many international projects and festivals through FEST - Federation for European Storytelling and in partnership with the Raccontamiunastoria Company.
Caroline attempts to answer the question: how does a storyteller best serve the fullness of the story's numerous layers, especially the ones for which the simple meaning of words do not convey (body metaphor).
How do we encourage audiences to hear stories in languages they don’t speak? How do we use storytelling to promote, celebrate, and play with language and understanding in performance? How can storytelling support the development and preservation of minority languages – those that have historically been sidelined or systematically oppressed? What techniques can we use as tellers to play with understanding and enjoyment of story even when our audience are not first language speakers?
Beyond the Border, Wales’s international storytelling festival, will share an exploration of their experiments in working with “Mamiaith” – “Mother Tongue” – in conjunction with the Four Nations Project, which has brought together organisations from all four countries in the UK: Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. We will share our approaches to strengthening Welsh Language and multilingual storytelling, alongside an online conversation with Stéphanie Bénéteau and Michael Harvey, who are currently developing a new show for families in French, Welsh and English, commissioned jointly by BTB and Festival Interculturel du Conte de Montréal. There will also be an opportunity to take part in practical activities, experimenting with multilingualism and testing new ideas
Bio
Beyond the Border is Wales’ International Storytelling Festival – bringing stories and people together, from Wales and the World, through an inspirational biennial festival and projects which deepen connection through the power of stories. The festival is one of the leading storytelling festivals in the UK and showcases the best of storytelling from around the world and attracts visitors of all ages from across the UK and overseas. In addition to the Festival weekend itself, Beyond the Border also promotes a year-round programme of performance storytelling events, as well as a wide range of innovative education and outreach projects.
Storytelling training workshop with Davide Bardi. Each movement is rhythm and each rhythm is movement. Rhythm perception is an essential aspect of life and human communication and the sense of the rhythm connects human beings with the Earth. On stage, a Storyteller is a pure "rhythm maker": he his at the same time musician, instrument and dancer and whatever he does or says, it produces "rhythm". The workshop shall focus on the perception of the rhythm and on how the rhythm awareness can help us improve our stage presence. Through practicals exercises the participants shall train their personal rhythm sensibility. Please bring a story material from your repertoire to work on. Join the workshop and... keep the rhythm!
Bio
DAVIDE BARDI: Trained actor, voice actor, professional performing storyteller and musician multi-instrumentalist.
Davide has devoted his entire career to telling stories in all artistic forms (theater, film, television and music). A trilingual (Italian, French, English) multi-talented and versatile artist, he has been active on the Italian and international scene since 2009. He graduated in 2009 a B.A. with a degree in Performing Arts (Acting, Screenwriting and Directing) at the Link Campus University in Rome with a grade of 110/110 cum laude and graduated in acting at the European Academy of Dramatic Art - Link Academy in Rome and at LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art). During his training, he studied at the Riga Academy of Dramatic Art in Latvia as winner of the European Erasmus
Storytelling for children and adults are alike but of course there are things that differ; language level, lack of experience in seeing a staged situation and different frames of reference etc. During my years as a performer for kids there are a few things that I have found particularly important in order to succeed doing performances for young children.
- Presence is the key to ”be in the same world” as the children, to seek interaction which is important in order not to lose your audience.
- Improvisation is a tool that helps you deal with unexpected things that certainly will occur with children.
- Micro-acting or characterization is the tool you always have with you, i.e your body and your voice.
- Instruments, music and simple props can help the children understand when they lack of words and experience.
During the workshop I will perform a story using all the tools mentioned above. We reflect together and after that you work in groups to create a short story with the target group 2-5 years. I challenge you to use the tools.
Bio
Johan Theodorsson is an international performance storyteller. He works as a storyteller for both children and adults and as a teacher in storytelling and drama. Johan has worked five years as a drama teacher in pre schools in Stockholm where he told stories for children every day. The most notable work is his collaboration in Musikteater Unna with the musician Anders Peev. The duo's critically acclaimed ”Maria Johansdotter” has played over 250 shows in Sweden and at international festivals in Rome, Paris and Amsterdam, among others. Johan also performs as a solo storyteller in festivals around the world. In March 2023 he will debut as a storyteller in French at a storytelling festival for children 2-5 years old in Martinique.
In an experiential storytelling session we enter the world where not even the birds fly, our souls dimensions connecting with the collective knowledge.
The Hungarian story of the iron headed wolf will let us reflect on the questions: what addiction is, what it means on a personal level, how the boy/hero gets through the life threatening negative powers, how can we follow his example etc. Are there transgenerational patterns that function as a survival mechanism? Do we recognise where we are? Do we know about how to overcome?
As the folktales know, because they each life recipes for all the kinds of breakdowns, that humanity has ever experienced.
In this workshop, we will run through a Hungarian folktale to feel, sense, understand the wisdom of the folktales regarding life. Regarding connecting to ourselves, others, animals, plants, and all the surrounding Universe.
Bio
I am Szabó Enikő, storyteller and folktale therapist. I have been telling stories since my childhood, this being my family's survival method I learned and inherited the role of storyteller for life. I tell stories to children and adults and have organised a Storytelling Festival since 2016.
Since 2011, I have also been working as a therapist, but this also is a kind of storytelling. My university studies are in the field of psychology, pedagogy,and special needs education of children and adults in Romania’s and Hungary’s best universities. I also have post graduate qualifications, as a mental health specialist. However I will define myself always, as a storyteller and story therapist.
This lecture presents the volunteer storytelling program of the Világszép Foundation for Children in State Care. This program, initiated 7 years ago, uses oral storytelling as a way to connect with children and youth, support them emotionally while they are in the state care system, and provide them with the hope, acceptance, love, and attention that they often lack. Storytellers trained and vetted by Világszép visit state care homes on a weekly basis telling folktales, myths, and other traditional stories to children between the ages of 3 and 21.
This lecture describes the methodology of the storytelling program and the way storytelling sessions are conducted, as well as the selection and training process of the volunteer tellers. The Q & A session at the end aims to give practical advice to people who might want to bring storytelling into the state care system of their home country.
Bio
Dr. Csenge Virág Zalka is a professional storyteller and author from Hungary. She performs internationally in Hungarian, English, and Spanish. She holds an MA in Storytelling and a PhD in Culture Studies; her research focuses on the intersection of traditional stories and popular culture. She has published various folktale collections and storytelling guides in English and Hungarian. She currently lives in Budapest and works as the coordinator of the Világszép Foundation’s storytelling program.
An advanced workshop on performing Storytelling technique with Paola Balbi and Davide Bardi from Raccontamiunastoria Storytelling Company
Every performer belongs to an Element, as well as every character and the images of every powerful story: wondertale, myths, epics. Performer, characters and story might belong to the same element or be in contradiction. To use the power of the 4 elements in Performing Storytelling with awareness can create a deep emotional impact on the audience and help the performer to create "special effects" through voice and body connection.
The study of the 4 Elements is a very ancient performing technique, with roots in Homer and Aristoteles and revised in the last century by the famous Italian theatre director Orazio Costa in his "Mimesis" method.
Paola and Davide have been succesfully applying it to their performances for 17 years, starting from their theatre background and progressively adapting it to Storytelling.Here they will introduce it to the participants through a series of experiential exercises.
Bio
Bio
Paola Balbi (Italy) is a professional actress and storyteller with 20 years of experience. She is founder and co-artistic director of Raccontamiunastoria Storytelling Company, the leading storytelling Company in Italy and of the International Storytelling Festival of Rome. She has been a founding member of FEST (Federation for European Storytelling), serving on the board for two years. She travels regularly all over the world with her storytelling performances both for adults and children and is a renowned workshop leader and storytelling trainer on the International Storytelling Revival scene. Paola is invited on a regular base as featured artists to some of the most prestigious International Storytelling Festivals and has been performing- among others- at Beyond the Border International Storytelling Festival -Wales, U.K, Alden Biesen International Storytelling Festival- Belgium, M.Y.T.H.O.S International Storytelling Festival -Greece,Toronto Festival of Storytelling -Canada, Singapore International Storytelling Festival-Singapore.
A few years ago I did a project for the Dutch police force. This project is a perfect example of how storytelling can be applied in order to improve/change organisations. That is why I want to apply to contribute to the FEST conference. I think a lot of people can learn, not only by what kind of storytelling we’d apply but in what way it helped the professionals to be more open about their professional boundaries (I’m good at chasing criminals but I feel to vulnerable to ask a victim how he/she is feeling).
Another inspiring factor is the way we’d set up our project. We included all the relevant perspectives:
- The perspective of the victims themselves;
- The perspective of the police force (individual professionals);
- Victims from within the organisation (policeman/women who suffer from their professional environment. For example racism or bullying within the police force).
- Strategic stakeholders (partnering organisations).
With all these perspectives at hand we could see a relation between how police dealt with their own people as they dealt with victims of crimes.
Bio
As a storyteller- consultant Joelle Smout works with public organisations in the Netherlands for over 12 years to use the perspective of the public/inhabitants to improve services. This started with my own experience with public services. As a young single mom I was highly dependent on government aid. But there were a lot of ‘impossibilities’ I bumped into. Most civil servants wanted to make an exception but the ‘system’ always seemed to get in the way. As a student of Public Administration I found the mission to help public organisations and civil servants to help their inhabitants in a better and more fulfilling way. Therefore all of my projects start with stories. Stories of inhabitants with an experience related to the specific public organisation I work for. A story is a much stronger vehicle for change than feedback. It shows organisations what the impact of decisions is on people's lives. It also helps the professionals to open up more about why they ended up doing this job in the first place. Or to open up the conversation that they don’t naturally have with each other. While using stories, I help people in organisations to connect with their professional roots and give way to the undiscussed. In my practice of change management I discovered that it is essential to connect people on an emotional level with the subject that needs changing. Therefore storytelling is such an important tool for me. I plea for structural change, one story at a time. My mission is not over yet!
In the Fairytale studio storytellers, pedagogues, development psychologists, illustrators, and designers are joined to develop a firm storytelling methodology and storytelling tools to be used in kindergartens and schools. After the Covid time teachers are reporting a decrease in reading and verbal skills of children. Fairy tale studio has been trying to answer this need with a peaceful time and place for emphatic and creative storytelling in the classroom. Together with the teachers, we have been developing methodology, contents, and storytelling tools for the last five years to be used with kids' groups by storytellers and teachers on everyday basis.
We have developed a box of storytelling tools (storytelling dice and a fairy tale map to be put to market and available for schools in 2023); a pop-up Fairy tale studio as a movable space for storytelling (with storytelling objects like a light table and a fairy tale cupboard); various short- and long-term workshops for kids of all ages and educational training for teachers. After five years of work, the results are showing that besides supporting verbal and reading skills, narrative thinking, and active listening, our storytelling work with kids can also create a more emphatic environment in the classroom.
Bio
Špela Frlic is a storyteller, writer, and pedagogue. She has been working in the field of storytelling for the last fifteen years as a performance storyteller, dramaturge, and author of audiobooks. She holds a degree in comparative literature and a master's degree in folkloristics. Since 2017 she is the artistic director of the Slovene storytelling festival and the head and heart of Fairytale studio with the overall responsibility for the ideas and content of the project and bringing to the project knowledge and experiences from various fields she has been working in.
OP STAP a storytelling performance for baby’s and toddlers is a creation of Lieve De Meyer. In this workshop she will take you through the creation process with special attention for the difficulties and opportunities to work with these very young audiences. What to keep in mind when creating for small children, what kind of songs and stories worked, why use a decor in only red and white?
This workshop is a hands-on active workshop, where you will create your own short stories and songs specially for this age.
Bio
Lieve De Meyer is a master in educational sciences (Leuven Belgium) and drama teacher (Maastricht Netherlands). She is also a jazz-singer and director of theatre plays. For the last 25 years she tells stories and sings songs and performs for small kids up to adults. She made a lot of storytelling performances about special themes such as dementia and saying goodbye.
She’s a storyteller for the Province of Antwerp ‘ Sprookjeshuis’ (fairytale house) and creates different projects about storytelling and gives training.
Paola Balbi and Pauline Godson Oyoo will share their experience of combining performing and applied storytelling to deliver high quality educational programmes for progressive learning of a second language and teacher training.
Bio
Pauline Godson Oyoo is the proprietor and director of the Lighthouse Academy in Ontinyent Valencia, Spain for the past 10 years, which prepares students for international English exams such as Cambridge that will be useful for their future careers. Pauline was the pioneer of using storytelling as a tool of language learning in Ontinyent and worked together with the public library San Josep for six years providing storytelling sessions for both Parents and children which was a successful activity in the town. This led to being hired for storytelling sessions in schools, various libraries, theatres and activities provided to the public by town councils in the area.
She has given lectures and workshops for students at the University of Valencia and teacher training colleges in Valencia as well. She also provides training with CEFIRE which is a governmental institution that provides training to teachers in the public service.
Bio
Paola Balbi (Italy) is a professional actress and storyteller with 20 years of experience. She is founder and co-artistic director of Raccontamiunastoria Storytelling Company, the leading storytelling Company in Italy and of the International Storytelling Festival of Rome. She has been a founding member of FEST (Federation for European Storytelling), serving on the board for two years. She travels regularly all over the world with her storytelling performances both for adults and children and is a renowned workshop leader and storytelling trainer on the International Storytelling Revival scene. Paola is invited on a regular base as featured artists to some of the most prestigious International Storytelling Festivals and has been performing- among others- at Beyond the Border International Storytelling Festival -Wales, U.K, Alden Biesen International Storytelling Festival- Belgium, M.Y.T.H.O.S International Storytelling Festival -Greece,Toronto Festival of Storytelling -Canada, Singapore International Storytelling Festival-Singapore.
Whether we feel we are included, have a sense of belonging, a shared identity, often results from the way we relate to our surroundings, both as individuals and groups. Heritage plays a crucial role in this. The People, Places and Stories project (Erasmus+) investigated the mechanisms for building/improving (heritage) communities and the role storytelling can play in related processes such as: heritage identification, value definition, civic participation, sustainable development, interpretation…
Guy Tilkin will inform you about the outcomes of the PPS project: guidelines, toolkit, storytelling techniques …. We will also try to find out how storytelling & performing art can fit into the new Culture & Creative Industries (CCI) context.
Bio
Guy Tilkin has been European project manager and director of the Landcommanderij Alden Biesen, Belgium, an international culture and conference centre, based in a historic castle.
In 1996 Guy Tilkin started an international storytelling festival that grew to become the biggest festival in Europe, unique in the world in its multilingual approach. He also has been the coordinator of a series of European projects under the Lifelong Learning, Creative Europe and Erasmus+ programmes and gained special know how on e.g. applied storytelling, heritage interpretation, heritage competence development and validation of non-formal learning.
Guy Tilkin is chair of board of FEST, the Federation for European Story Telling and member of the European Commission Expert Group on Cultural Heritage.
In her performance Ildikó Sándor, introduces the connection of Hungarian revival storytelling with the Hungarian trends of folklorism. She will guide us through this presentation with the dance house method, and she reviews the most typical new storytelling occasions.
Bio
Ildikó Sándor PhD, professional leader of public education and science at Hungarian Heritage House
Ildikó Sándor became an employee of Hungarian Heritage House with an MA degree in ethnography and PhD in Hungarian and comparative folklore studies in 2002. Recently she work as a methodological and scientifical leader of the institution. At the same time she is an associate professor at the Hungarian Dance Academy. Her main research fields within ethnography are customs, folk poetry, children’s folklore and folk games. In addition to ethnography she is also interested in the theory and methodology of transmission of cultural heritage and ethnopedagogy.
Folk tales are one of the largest genre groups of Hungarian oral narrative poetry, which has been the focus of folkloristic interest for almost two hundred years. .During this time, considerable knowledge has been accumulated about folk tale genres, however, research results are not always available to the interested public. Because of this reason, the lecture will tell the story of gathering the rich treasure of Hungarian folk tales and also would like to present its scientific systematisation in a nutshell. What do we know about traditional storytelling?
How do we know how they used to tell stories in the past ? When and how was the written set of Hungarian folktale texts created? Who shaped it and for what purpose? Where can these texts be found nowadays? The presentation will address these questions to inform today's storytellers about some results of Hungarian historical folk tale research.
Bio
Mariann Domokos, senior research fellow at Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities (ELKHformerly Hungarian Academy of Sciences), ethnographer, folklorist.
Her main field of research is the history of collecting and publishing Hungarian folk tale texts of the 19th century, especially the appearance and spread of folk tales in popular literacy.Her doctoral dissertation on the history of collection and publication of Hungarian folk tales ,was published as a monograph under the title „Fairy tale and philology” in 2015.
She contributed to a critical edition of the classic Hungarian folk tale collection of László Arany (first published in 1862) Most recently, she published a book on the Hungarian translation of the Grimms’ tales which offers a fascinating insight into the world of 19th century Hungarian-language illustrated popular publications. („Grimm Tales in Hungarian Chapbooks 1850-1900”).
The popularity of Hungarian folktales has been very steady despite the disruptions that impacted the oral storytelling. In this short introduction we hope to show you how our folktales adapted to modern requirements while preserving the oral storytelling techniques. You will have a chance to hear about the “Hungarian folktales” animated cartoons, puppet shows, various stage performances, folktale trails or hunts.
Bio
Zsolt Pinter is the president of Csűrdöngölő Cultural Association and the founder of the country wide Folktale Festival (Hetedhét Hatvan Népmesefesztivál) He is a performance storyteller committed to preserve living folklore. He applies his 25+ years multinational leadership experience to support the creation and rise of the storyteller community in Hungary.
Let’s admit, one of the biggest challenges among storytellers is to assure everyone voices to be heard. The Open space Workshop is a methodology where the participants create the agenda themselves around the sharing good practices around storytelling. The process is designed to be highly participatory, inclusive and collaborative and will provide a fantastic opportunity for us to learn from each other.
Bio
The Hungarian Facilitators Association was created in 2021, with the purpose to raise awareness in facilitation, and to promote the facilitative mindset in all areas of society.
Our Lead Facilitator will Szilvia Zsargo who is a Qualified Facilitator®. This is what she tells about herself: “I am gladly supporting people, groups and processes to be able to get the maximum out of them.”
In Flanders there is a growing political and educational concern about less reading skills and less reading motivation of children and youngsters. The solution that the authorities and educationalists present is more reading, more texts, more exercises about written literature. But can we honestly wait till all children are able to read for themselves or till they feel like taking up a book voluntarily, to get them in touch with fantasy, stories, fiction, new ways and worlds...? I think that we need more than one way to enhance these aims.
As an experienced storyteller for many years I believe there are multiple options of presenting stories to kids and stimulating them to enjoy it. More than once I saw the so-called less academically successful or sometimes less focused children and youngsters keenly participate in storytelling sessions. Often to the pleasant surprise of their teachers. In the scientific literature about the effects of fiction, authors use the term of ‘narratives’. A way broader approach to texts than written literature. Narratives include comics in newspapers, audiobooks, films, series on Netflix, daily talks on the playground etc. And also oral storytelling. The key of success to the positive effects of fiction is ‘getting into the story’.
In my presentation I want to talk about why and how oral storytelling can play an important role in building a bridge between finding fun in listening and participating in oral storytelling on the one hand and stimulating curiosity and fun in reading books on the other. Connected to policies in reading education, scientific literature on the topic and my own experience as a storyteller in diverse contexts. Furthermore this may also be useful to try and change the opinion that storytelling is only for young children and not for teenagers or adults. A tendency I notice growing in Flanders.
Bio
Fresh, Fruity and Veerle
Veerle Ernalsteen has been telling stories for more than 20 years. Playfull and with a twist. Sensual and romantic. Dark and quirky. With humour and relating to the audience. She especially loves old and nearly forgotten versions of European stories and tellings from around the Mediterranean: always a mixture of different styles and origins, mostly a combination especially for the occasion. Her stories may be ancient but she tells them for an audience from here and now. Recognisable for everyone, even the words in an unknown language. Join in and have fun. If you want one more, no problem, Veerle knows loads.
Prices
Full conference pass - prices include conference entrance and meals.
| Conference pass FEST-members | €210 |
| Conference pass non-members | €260 |
Conference pass - Local participants
| Conference pass - no meals | €75 |
| Conference pass with lunch - no dinners | €100 |
Registration
Registrations for the FEST 2023 Conference in Veszprèm open on January 2nd 2023 and stay open untill May 14th.
Cancellation
Cancellation free of charges until 14th of May 2022
Cancellation after this date, a fee equal to 50% of the reserved arrangement will be charged and you will receive a 50% refund.
If the cancellation is made less than 14 days prior to the scheduled start date, a fee of 100% of the reserved arrangement will be charged, no refund.
Past Conferences
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FEST Conference 2022 – Vilnius (Lithuania)
FEST and SMK University of Applied Social Sciences have the pleasure to invite the international storytelling community to the annual FEST conference 2022 in Vilnius
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FEST Conference 2021 – Svendborg (Denmark)
The annual Federation for European Storytelling Conference is the biggest meeting of its kind, a unique and diverse gathering of storytelling professionals from all over Europe and beyond.
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FEST Virtual Conference 2020
Unfortunately the FEST 2020 Conference in Bursa was cancelled because of the COVID-19 outbreak and the national measures taken to fight this virus. FEST would like to thank SEIBA International Storytelling Center for all the hard work they put in the preparation of the 2020 conference. We can't meet in person but that doesn't mean we can't meet at all, that is why FEST decided to take our yearly international conference for oral storytelling online. The 2020 FEST VIRTUAL CONFERENCE will take place 24 -26 June 2020
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