Art of Storytelling Workshop and Participation in Thailand’s First International Storytelling Festival 2013

This is the first of two workshops on the art of Story-telling planned as components of SEAMEO SPAFA’s project on “Stories from Southeast Asia’s Revealed”under the Centre’s 6^th Five-Year Development Plan (2012-2016).  The first workshop was scheduled for early 2013; however, upon being informed by Mahasarakham University that it would host Thailand’s 1^st International Story-telling Festival in February 2013, the benefit of reaching a much wider audience by joining forces with Mahasarakham University has resulted in making this workshop a part of the said festival.

The inclusion of story-telling techniques in teaching methodologies, regardless of the discipline, is quietly but quickly gaining currency as its benefits are now being recognized by educators in many fields.  The problem is that most people feel inadequately trained to use story-telling as a teaching tool.  The Art of Story-telling Workshops would seek to begin to address this perception, and provide training for teachers at secondary and tertiary levels.  Although stories have always been around, many are not recorded because they belong to predominantly oral traditions.  The Art of Story-telling workshop would seek to record stories previously not found in print, that emanate either from people themselves or from material sites displaying visual depictions that tell a story or are in fact representative of a historical, archaeological, or social story.

Objectives

1. Train teachers and students in the art of story-telling
2. Record oral stories that are not found in print.
3. Highlight the importance and significance of traditional stories through story-telling performances

Methods to Achieve Objectives

The event comprises the following planned activities to achieve the workshop objectives:

1. 2 keynote addresses
2. 11 master class workshops on various aspects of folktales and the art of story-tellingand more
3. Two Story-telling Showcases
4. Story sharing and swap
5. One Story-telling Concertby traditional and international Story-tellers
6. A Story-telling Contest of Budding Story-tellers
7. A folktale-based picturebook contest
8. One story-telling concert by international story-tellers and award winning story-tellers

Collaborators:

1. The Pure Thai Project, Mahasarakham University’s International Affairs Division, Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty, Mahasarakham University
2. The Research Institute of Northeastern Arts and Culture, Mahasarakham University, Thailand
3. The Central University of Jharkhand, India

Target Group/Beneficiaries

At least 300 participants comprising teachers, students, story-tellers, and the general public.  Participants will include at least 20 ASEAN youths with interest and commitment in maintaining and revitalizing folktales and the art of story-telling, 100 MSU students, 10 international story-tellers, 20 traditional story-tellers, 50 educators, and 100 school teachers and children, and interested persons.

This workshop is the initial activity of SEAMEO SPAFA’s “Stories from Southeast Asia Revealed” programme, and thus will provide significant input for future activities.

It is envisaged that the Art of Story-telling workshop will complement a series of activities on story-telling at the Festival event, and reinforce the significance of using stories as a teaching tool as well as highlight the traditional wisdom to be found within the stories.  Previously unrecorded stories that are transmitted orally only will have been recorded for the benefit of future generations.

As the Festival is a major international event that will attract much attention from both the general public as well as the press, SEAMEO SPAFA’s visibility is significantly raised.