Pictures & Memories of the Outreaches & Festival

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1 Pictures & Memories of the Outreaches & Festival MAY 22-25, 2017 STORYCROSSROADS.COM PO Box 274, West Jordan, UT

2 Story-Skilled Child Workshop Monday, May 22, 2017, 7:00pm Daybreak Community Center, South Jordan, UT Led by Sean Buvala Sean Buvala National Story Artist from AZ

3 Story-Skilled Child Workshop Continued Monday, May 22, 2017, 7:00pm Daybreak Community Center, South Jordan, UT Led by Sean Buvala Almost all the attendees were foster care families who received professional development and plenty of ideas on how to encourage literacy and storytelling in the home. Despite a smaller than expected audience (goal of 20 and we had 10), all commented on the usefulness of the skills learned and the enjoyment of the evening. You can see the make n take crafts for the kids. Plus, Sean Buvala was full of expression as he told stories to prepare for the activities.

4 School Outreaches Tuesday, May 23, 2017 Jordan Ridge Elementary, South Jordan, UT Lincoln Elementary, Salt Lake City, UT Performances with Q & As with Mara Menzies From Katie Lindquist, coordinator of Jordan Ridge Outreach [I] had a wonderful time listening to Mara tell her stories and engage with the students. At one point, she had them up and dancing as if they were monstrous giants, right before the sun turned them to stone. Mara told stories with three classes of 3 rd graders totaling 78 students at Jordan Ridge.

5 School Outreaches Continued Tuesday, May 23, 2017 Jordan Ridge Elementary, South Jordan, UT, 10:30am Lincoln Elementary, Salt Lake City, UT, 12:15pm Performances with Q & As with Mara Menzies From Jan C. Smith, coordinator of Lincoln Outreach I enjoyed some magical moments listening to Mara Menzies share stories with second graders. As part of an outreach by the Story Crossroads Festival, Mara visited several schools. This performance venue was a classroom at Lincoln Elementary School in Salt Lake City. Lincoln is a Title I school and has students from 27 countries who speak in many languages. They are a challenging audience. I know they may speak many languages, but it was obvious that they all speak story and love to laugh. Mara, who is from Kenya and Scotland, guided them on a storytelling journey. She showed them different ways of dressing around the world, she walked through the throng of seated children stopping to tickle them and play with them and ask them questions about the story. It was a celebration and the students and teachers were mesmerized. When Mara finished her selections, she invited questions from the students. They wanted to know more about the stories. One student raised his hand and made a comment, You speak elegant, he said. He had not missed Mara s enticing Scottish accent. The session ended with applause and smiles and students aching for more stories. Mara told stories with three classes of 2 nd graders totaling 70 students at Lincoln Elementary. Thank you, Mara.

6 Utah State Division of Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired Concert at Blind Center, Salt Lake City, UT Tuesday, May 23, 2017, 7:00pm Performance with Andrew Shackelford (Youth Teller), Gary Hansen (Community Teller), and Mara Menzies from Scotland Forty people came to hear Mara Menzies and the youth and community teller. A youth group of girls aged came as a field trip. We had Audio Descriptions available to those who were Blind. Everyone felt empowered at the end.

7 Festival Wednesday, May 24, 2017, starting at 9:00am Murray City Park, Murray, UT Featured Tellers: Mara Menzies from Scotland, Sean Buvala from AZ, Loren Niemi from MN Plus 15 Professional Story Artists & 50 Community Tellers (including Youth)

8 Festival Continued Wednesday, May 24, 2017, starting at 9:00am Murray City Park, Murray, UT Featured Tellers: Mara Menzies from Scotland, Sean Buvala from AZ, Loren Niemi from MN Plus 15 Professional Story Artists & 50 Community Tellers (including Youth)

9 Festival Continued Wednesday, May 24, 2017, starting at 9:00am Murray City Park, Murray, UT Featured Tellers: Mara Menzies from Scotland, Sean Buvala from AZ, Loren Niemi from MN Plus 15 Professional Story Artists & 50 Community Tellers (including Youth)

10 Festival Evening Concerts Wednesday, May 24, 2017, starting at 6:00pm Murray City Park, Murray, UT Rachel Hedman Founder & Director Rachel Ann Harding Story Artist from CO

11 Panel & The Big Secret Story Concert Thursday, May 25, 2017, starting at 6:00pm Gale Center of History and Culture South Jordan, UT We enjoyed the expertise from Dale Boam, JD from Utah Valley University in The Language of Story: Visual Languages on Stage followed by The Big Secret Story Concert with community tellers and Loren Niemi. Fata Morgana was the choose-your-own-adventure piece for teens and adults. Twenty-three people came to the panel while forty people were there for the concert. The trio picture features the UVU students who provided the ASL and Audio Descriptions throughout the event including for this evening.

12 Panel The Language of Story: Visual Languages on Stage Thursday, May 25, 2017, starting at 6:00pm Gale Center of History and Culture South Jordan, UT Dr. Dale Boam from Utah Valley University shared the differences of thinking of Hearing people and Deaf people. The Deaf community believes in telling what many think as the back story. In any moment of time, the present happenings are based on history. Some people become impatient as people who are Deaf share more information than the other people wish to know. Yet, it is important to absorb and experience all of the exchange. Dr. Boam also encouraged everyone to understand cultures by knowing what makes those cultures laugh. The Deaf like to make fun of their selves and how not being able to hear can actually allow one to survive longer. For example, Dale shared how a great hunter was able to take down any game until it came face to face with a Deaf Lion. To the left, those three pictures represent the A-B-C game that the Deaf community loves to play where stories are created using the alphabet symbols in order all the way to Z.

13 Panel The Language of Story: Visual Languages on Stage Continued Thursday, May 25, 2017, starting at 6:00pm Gale Center of History and Culture South Jordan, UT

14 Afterwards Thursday, May 25, 2017, when all was wrapped up Gale Center of History and Culture South Jordan, UT We breathed satisfaction as the memories flowed. The principal from the Joel P. Jensen Middle School said that they want this Festival to be an annual tradition as students have come on field trips for the inaugural and for this 2 nd Annual event. The Geography Honors teacher said he has three classes next year and plans to bring them. We did have some accompanying adults with the field trips wish for some interactive sessions with hands-on opportunities for the elementary ages. We already have some ideas for the 2018 event to reflect this feedback. As for the numbers, we had 1,267 (1,026 as field trip students) for the Festival day and evening times. We had our first senior center group from the River s Bend Center. We had 1,830 more people reached with the outreaches for the schools (Tuesday and Wednesday), the senior centers (Monday and Tuesday), and other events. The grand total for Story Crossroads was 3,097. Our Festival attendance, compared to the inaugural year, increased by 123 people. We look forward to connecting with more people in Thanks to our Festival Funders: Utah Storytelling Guild (fiscal sponsor), Utah Division of Arts & Museums, National Endowment for the Arts, Western States Arts Federation, Utah Humanities, South Jordan Arts Council, City of Murray-Cultural Arts, Nubian Storytellers of Utah Leadership, Utah Valley University, Synergy One Lending-Suzanne Hudson, Rachel Hedman, and many generous individuals. Photo credits: Sean Buvala, Loren Niemi, Janine Nishiguchi, Lynn Wing, Rachel Hedman, Annie Eastmond, and others anonymous.