Regional Networks Auckland Telling and Sharing our Stories of Community-Led Action and Change
Telling and Sharing our Stories of Community-Led Action and Change |
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AUCKLAND COMMUNITY-LED DEVELOPMENT NETWORK FORUM OCTOBER 2010
The Telling and Sharing our Stories forum was held on 5 October 2010 at Te Mahurehure Marae in Pt Chevalier. Inspiring Communities co-hosted the workshop with two highly experienced communicators – Anna Kominik from Ideas Shop and Andrew Melville from Spoke Communications. The 80 diverse participants ranged from local residents, to researchers, to people from local and central government, and community development organisations - all keen to strengthen their skills in storytelling. The message of the day was that we are all storytellers in our own ways. Andrew Melville said “Let's not put storytelling on a pedestal – you are the best people to tell stories.” Download this article to share The concept for the workshop came from a growing acknowledgement of the important role that community stories now play in helping to capture, communicate and celebrate community-led action. In her presentation, Inspiring Communities Auckland convenor Megan Courtney reminded the group about how stories complement and enhance the more traditional monitoring and measurement tools. “The reality is that with the complex challenges many of our communities face, we don’t know what solutions will work so we’re trying a lot of things. Stories are a great way to help reflect on and make sense of what’s happened, to demonstrate progress and assist in working out what next steps to take”. A recent Auckland CLD survey identified community story telling learning priorities as:
The fundamentals of storytelling
Tools & Techniques for storytelling
Great venue for workshop October 2010
The forum began with the question ‘What is a story?' Participants then turned to the person next to them to discuss their ideas of what stories were before feeding back to the group. Key themes that emerged were: • the multiple purpose and intentions of stories: whether to entertain, inform or inspire • a way for people to share and communicate meaning – naming things that often remain unsaid • stories are about a journey - with a beginning, middle and end • stories have the power to connect the heart and mind – to make the ordinary extraordinary and vice versa, to evoke the imagination towards ‘what’s next?’ • there can be many versions of the same story through different people's perspectives and interpretations of events • stories are shaped just as much by the hearing of them, as the telling • stories can at once make history, and hold history and cultures It was acknowledged that stories can take many forms depending on the audience and intention behind them. Stories are also not just written words but may be performance, paintings, oral histories, songs, poetry and pictures. To create a memorable story we must be aware of the purpose – are we wanting the audience to feel something? Learn something? What are the patterns and connections the story makes? What rises to the surface in the telling of the story?
Channels for capturing storiesDigital storytelling – Video/Sound/Image Great tool for capturing the progression of projects and for very visual and participatory projects. If you are documenting your story digitally in a public place then you do not need to ask peoples' permission. However this can be construed as unethical in some circumstances so it is often a good idea to have release forms. Written storytelling – Print and online Journalists no longer have time to search out stories – if you send them a good pre-prepared story it is likely to get picked up. Your local paper is a good place to start as compelling stories often get picked up from there by mainstream media. Social Media Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Youtube are now recognised as legitimate and powerful communication tools. Facebook is now only behind China in terms of population! Social media allows you to connect directly with your market or audience and also harnesses the power of ‘crowd-sourcing' to gather your stories i.e. others send pictures and stories to you! Challenges with social media are that it requires significant pre-planning and lead-in time to build an online community. It is important that you establish a communication routine and stick to it – post something once a day or week and then stick to this routine. It’s also good to remember that you can't control the messages that get fed back in response to your stories. Telling stories is no longer relegated to entertainment purposes. Stories are recognised as a powerful tool to communicate beyond a factual level to engage the audience in a compelling way. Anna and Andrew shared tools and techniques for effective storytelling and spoke about the different channels stories can be told in. There was a lot of interest in the use of social media sites such as Facebook and discussions about how this can be used practically to reach new audiences and engage people to participate in the stories. The workshop concluded with a group exercise where participants were asked ‘What’s the Story?' Groups were given a photo that related to Neighbours Day 2011 – which will be held nationwide on March 26/27th next year - and asked to write the first two paragraphs of a story for a community newspaper. They then had to think about what other channels the story might be suitable for and what other information they would need to collect in order to tell the stories through these channels. After sharing many entertaining and creative stories about Neighbours Day, Megan Courtney from Inspiring Communities offered an opportunity for forum participants (and others in the Auckland CLD network) to write and share stories about what is happening in their communities. Inspiring Communities will collate contributions into an “Auckland community stories” publication which would be circulated across Auckland communities before Christmas. Judging by the stories shared during the day there should be some inspiring contributions!
Treasure hunt in Pt. Chevalier
Through visiting different places and participating in activities, the 350 local residents who participated on the Hunt discovered a new understanding of the ‘treasures’ that existed in their suburb. As part of the Treasure Hunt, people were invited to answer the question 'To make Pt. Chevalier a better place than it already is I would...' then hang it on the wishing tree. This exercise effectively helped tell a story of the future. In another example, Finn talked about an activity station down at Pt Chevalier beach (Rangi-mata-rau), where families were invited to engage in a game of “Taiaha, tangata and taniwha" (a Maori version of scissors, paper, rock) as they learnt about the mighty battle between Ngati Whatua and Ngati Paoa which took place on the site in 1793. Knowledge from Kings
Through interviewing residents in their own homes about their life in Kings Road, a rich collection of experiences emerged and were published as part of the Tamaki Transformation Programme. By working through a process of co-authoring the residents' stories, the legacy of the place and the story of the Kings Road ‘community’ was captured. People felt moved and proud to have their stories told and Housing New Zealand staff learned more about the key elements of ‘community’ through a grass roots lens. Learning stories
Learning stories are a great Kiwi approach to assessment within the early childhood education sector – resulting in a portfolio of stories about a child , their learning and development. Learning stories are written on a credit based model, where the focus is on what the child "can do" rather than what she/he "can't do". As learning stories are written, the strengths and interests of the child become more evident. There are usually three parts to a learning story. 1. The actual story about the learning. .. and the underlying intention 2. An analysis that highlights the learning and changes 3. What next? The opportunities and possibilities to develop strengths and interests further. In adapting the education learning framework in communities Denise says the same three parts of the learning story apply, with the focus on the community initiative’s vision and plan, and what it "can do" rather than what it "can't do". Again the process of writing the stories will highlight important and unique aspects of the situation or community via an open, group process. |
Be clear about the core components of your story that won't change
Te Mahurehure Marae, a Ngapuhi whanau marae, was a great venue for a story telling workshop – with the first Maori production of The Merchant of Venice created and produced on the marae.
Finn Mackesy from Transition Pt. Chevalier shared their experience of how a community story of the future can be created through an effective community visioning exercise as carried out during the Pt Chevalier Community Treasure Hunt held in November last year.
Rebecca Harrington shared her experience in documenting the stories of the residents from the Kings Road pensioner flats that were scheduled for demolition in Panmure
Denise Bijoux, Learning and Outcomes Convenor for Inspiring Communities described the process she is involved in to help develop a new ‘community learning stories’ approach – an approach that starts with the intended change.