Community Involvement. The organization of a festival requires community involvement, instigating a mutual “buy-in” process: the community to its members and members to their community. By working together on such a politically neutral project, lines of communication develop, an atmosphere of hope grows, and individual involvement in the community increases.

Community Focus. A festival provides a focal point for your community which increases the sense of community and unifies the community as a whole.

Community Identity. Community identity is enhanced when stories of the area and community are remembered and passed on. A local festival encourages these stories to be shared and maintained by providing a public arena for their performance and in references to them in festival publicity such as magazine and newspaper articles.

Community Entertainment. A storytelling festival provides quality entertainment designed specifically to meet the interests of your community. It is your community. You know the audience and their interests. You create the program to match your audience.

Tourism A festival shows off the best in your community and festival organizers and volunteers provide a ready-made welcoming committee. Festival visitors usually plan side trips to local and regional points of interest. Businesses or groups in charge of these areas may be natural support groups, or even sponsors, for your festival. For example, California’s East Bay Regional Park District provides the setting for the Bay Area Storytelling Festival (www.bayareastorytelling.org). Contact your local Conventions and Visitors Bureau for area maps and local lodging or camp sites for out-of-area visitors, listings of other community events which might tie into or conflict with your festival, and for specific financial and publicity support for your festival.

Individual and Family Benefits. (Link to Web Site Section on Family and Personal Storytelling)

Educational Benefits. Using Storytelling in Teaching The importance of storytelling in teaching, learning and understanding is the subject of the book, Tales as Tools: The Power of Story In The Classroom by The National Storytelling Association. “In nearly every culture, the storyteller also plays the role of teacher. That role is rooted in the almost instinctive understanding that real learning takes place when both intellect and emotions are brought into play. We remember those things we care deeply about, and we understand those things we can see clearly. Storytelling has the power to teach us to care deeply and to think clearly. Some educators promote its use in order to interest children in literature, whereas others see its broader applications as a vehicle for communicating concepts, a way of providing perspective on topics that would otherwise be inaccessible to the student, a means of depicting the rich potential of the human mind, or a springboard for students’ own creative endeavors.”

Storytelling Promotes Literacy. From the enjoyment of beautifully presented oral language, to whetting the appetite for reading literary stories and inspiring the writing of new stories, storytelling celebrates the power of language to communicate the experience of mankind. After attending the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival (www.timpfest.org), Rex E. Lee, former U.S. Solicitor General, said “I cannot think of a better way to encourage people of all ages not only to read more but to broaden the scope of what they read.” And though speaking specifically of the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, Amy Owen, Director of the Utah State Library Division, stated that a storytelling festival reaches “thousands of parents and parents-to-be, reminding them that reading and sharing stories and books within families should never stop.”

Storytelling Encourages the Sharing of Heritage and Culture. Augusta Baker, noted storyteller, author and past librarian at the New York Public Library, states, “…Children need to hear stories—perhaps even more so today. At a time when our nation is experiencing another great wave of immigrants and there is racial and ethnic tension throughout the work, folktales—the stuff of storytelling—remind people of the oneness of humanity. Children need to hear stories that give them a sense of their own culture was well as stories that introduce them to other ways of thinking and doing, and that inherently teaches respect for other cultures.” As globalization brings the peoples of the earth in closer contact with each other, increased awareness and understanding of other cultures grows even more important for adults as well as for children. Authentic stories and storytellers provide a window through which listeners can glimpse a culture other than their own.

Festivals—A Training Ground for Educators and Parents. Storytelling festivals and associated workshops provide training and idea gathering opportunities for teachers, librarians and parents. The energy of a storytelling festival makes festival performances some of the best and most entertaining examples of storytelling both students and adults will enjoy, and an excellent example is the best teacher.

Who Comes to a Storytelling Festival? Aren’t stories just for children? Yes, for the child in all of us--the childlike part in each individual that is not afraid to dream, to learn, to imagine, to remember, and to change.

The Festival Audience While a storytelling festival can be designed for any audience, most community festivals are directed to older youths and adults. Libraries and schools typically provide regular storytelling activities for the young child. The longer programs of a festival are geared to reintroduce storytelling to adults, to help adults rediscover their memories and their imagination.

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