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September 2, 2020
What can I expect? The Story Circle is made up of 8 participants in addition to a volunteer facilitator. The story prompt is shared in advance, but no preparation is needed. Participants share their stories in a spontaneous way and may be sharing a story with community members for the first time. Each person has three minutes to share, and the facilitators (who will also tell a story) will keep time and invite questions or brief comments after each story. On August 12, we have availability for 16 people.
Who is facilitating? Rebecca Starks (Richmond) and Jessica Handrik (Bolton) share a belief in the power of stories to strengthen relationships and build community connectedness. Let us know if you’d like to facilitate Story Circle; we’d like to expand this event and offer it every second Wednesday of each month.
How are Story Circles connected to RREA’s efforts? We envision Story Circles as a long-term effort, building trust in the community and laying a groundwork that we hope will reduce polarization and improve civic discourse and engagement, and provide more fertile ground for racial equity work. Our hope is that as people feel heard telling their own stories, they will be more open to hearing the stories of others.
Will ongoing Story Circles continue with the same 8 people? We are envisioning a mix of ongoing participants with some turnover each time, as new people sign up. We plan to offer a new sign-up each month, and if there are enough people on a waitlist to warrant it, we will look for a facilitator to offer another circle that month.
What is the story prompt/topic for August 12? Share a story about a time when you experienced a sense of connection with a fictional character. You can be any age when this occurred. It can be from any medium (book,TV/film, play, radio/podcast, etc).
How do I sign up? Email Rebecca Starks to receive the Zoom link: rstarks@gmail.com
To reduce barriers to participation, we will look to raise donations so that we can offer ASL interpretation and language translation services if requested upon sign-up.
For folks looking to financially support BIPOC-owned businesses, here are two that offer storytelling programs:
Vermont Abenaki Artists Association http://abenakiart.org
AllHeartInspirations https://www.instagram.com/allheartinspirations