The 2009 Web Festival is the culmination of several years of storytelling development work in and around East Staffordshire spearheaded by the Community Arts Team at East Staffordshire Borough Council, with support from Arts Council England – West Midlands. Each year, the festival showcases work which has been happening in and around the borough, as well as inviting some of the best storytellers in the UK to share their craft with us and inspire us all for the year ahead!
For 2009, we’ve been inspired by the themes of local roots and local stories, celebrating stories which are inspired by East Staffordshire, the place and the people. We’ve commissioned Maria Whatton and Peter Chand to create a special performance for us at Burton upon Trent library on Saturday 16th May from 6pm to 8pm called The Waters of Life. This unique storytelling event will offer a mix of traditional and real life stories which the storytellers will have gathered over the last couple of weeks in the borough and from their own extensive library of traditional tales. The evening will reflect the diversity of stories in the borough, from the story of the Trent itself and the history of the borough, to people’s personal stories of how they have come to live in this place and what stories mean to them.
If you’d like to know more about how you go about collecting stories, Maria and Pete are running a FREE workshop on Saturday 16th May from 10am to 2pm at the Brewhouse Arts Centre, giving you the opportunity to find out about techniques and ways of working with real life stories.
If participation is your thing, there are lots of opportunities to get involved with stories at the festival. On Saturday 9 May you could tell a story in public at the Open Night at the Brewhouse in Burton upon Trent, or on Thursday 14th May a night of Tall Tales is on offer at Uttoxeter Library, with the addition of some gentle workshop exercises to get you started. On Saturday 23rd May, wonderful storyteller Jan Blake is running a full day masterclass for up and coming storytellers – not to be missed!
If you prefer to listen to others telling stories, then don’t miss Friday 22 May, A Night of Storytelling with Jan Blake. Tickets are going fast for this event, which is the culmination of the festival event programme. Before that, there’s a free Sunset Story Walk with Graham Langley and ample opportunities for families to enjoy stories together – with Sally Tonge running an After School Story Time at Burton on Trent library and Giles Abbott travelling round the world with stories at Uttoxeter Library.
If you’d like a full brochure for this year’s event, or any other information about the festival, contact Naomi Wilds on 0775 352 8919.
