Our 5th Storytellers’ Conference held in Chennai (24/25 September) was by all accounts an outstanding success with 122 participants, who came from the USA, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Egypt, Germany, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Nepal, Australia, and of course many delegates from India, especially from the thriving storytelling communities Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai.
The keynote by Margaret Read MacDonald addressed the variety of storytelling styles and encouraged us all to develop our own style while embracing and remaining respectful to the global diversity of story-types and styles of telling.
This theme was evident in three story showcases presented during the conference. Two evening performances featured Indian storytellers: the first had seven tellers from Chennai itself, and the second sampled the wide variety of stories from other regions in the Indian subcontinent. The second day began with a memorable international showcase featuring Alton Chung and Margaret from America, Colin Irwin (Ireland), Rebecca Lemaire (Belgium/Spain), and Wong Swee Yean (Singapore).
Every conference participant had the difficult but rewarding challenge of choosing four workshops out of twenty offered by a slate of facilitators, both from India and from the international storytelling community.
The conference closed emotionally with a ceremony at which thanks were given to sponsors and to our wonderful local partners who hosted us, Springboard Tales, a cooperative formed by nine Chennai storytellers who did a truly excellent job in laying the groundwork. They showed great creativity and resourcefulness in packaging a goodie bag with items to reflect Indian culture and provide storytellers with take-aways we can use in future. Their design of the conference passport – our key to enter every event/workshop - was inspired by a traditional oolai, a book written on a series of palm leaves tied together with a string. Vasugi Ram Manohar created exquisitely hand-drawn, painted lanyards to wear, identifying who we were and forming a fabulous souvenir.
The final item on the Conference agenda? Announcing the host city for the 6th Storytellers Conference. And it is . . . Butuan City in north Mindanao in the Philippines. We were delighted to have two representatives attending the Conference, to imbibe its vibe and to begin the process of preparing for making the next an equally exciting and affirming event!
So many wonderful words have been shared about the power, the impact, the love, the inspiration, the gift that the Chennai storytelling conference has been for all the participants. I too share all those words of gratitude. What else could I add? Apart from words I also wish to offer silence . . . the space to let all that wonderment sit . . . a space to reflect on and feel all those affirming wordsc . . . The SBT and FEAST teams were amazing. Congratulations! The participants created a rich, pulsating energy which was so life-giving I can still feel it. May our memories and stories continue to vibrate. – Christine Carlton (Australia).