Attention Youth Tellers: PTA wants You!

Thanks to Julie Barnson, Patsy Chandler, and Jean Tokuda Irwin for granting permission to share their comments from interviews conducted September 30th and October 1st of 2008 as well as pictures shared of Brenna and Julie Barnson.

The cell phone buzzed and a breathless storytelling friend, Julie Barnson, exclaimed, "I had to call someone and I asked myself, 'Who would be most excited to hear the news? Rachel!'"

Storytelling was part of the announcement, though I wondered to what degree?

Barnson had received a packet from her daughter Brenna's school on PTA Reflections, an art recognition program for students. A couple days later, one of the 5th grade teachers, Ms. Coupe, pointed out the Theatre category so Barnson scanned the guidelines. "We saw that there was storytelling in Reflections this year and my jaw dropped," said Barnson.

She clarified that this Theatre category was only available in Utah and shared, "Other states may have a theatre category and I have no idea of what made them pick up storytelling, but it makes me happy! It's so nice that storytelling is recognized as an art. That's a big deal."

Ms. Coupe knew her student was a finalist of the 2008 Youth Tall Tale Contest. Brenna had created and shared a story on how the Great Salt Lake was formed involving a girl, a tiger, and a riddle contest.

Even before realizing storytelling was a possibility for the PTA Reflections, Barnson and Brenna went to the library weekly to find possible stories to audition for the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival and other youth-friendly events. Barnson laughed, "She usually chooses the first story she sees."

Barnson had to remind her daughter, "Choose a story that moves your heart, makes you laugh, or gets some kind of emotion from you." Barnson felt her daughter "doesn't quite get that yet."

At least the PTA Reflections program is a learning adventure for kids. Barnson boasted, "We participate every year." Now with storytelling offered, that tradition will continue.

Barnson and Brenna are not the only ones who wish to thank the PTA. In fact, over 10 million students need to thank Mary Lou Anderson, former National PTA board member, for inspiring the Reflections program in 1969 through art contests in Literature, Music, Visual Arts, and Photography. Several PTA websites have declared, "The excitement and enthusiasm that the Reflections arts recognition program generates for children, parents, schools, and communities is unmatched."

Jean Tokuda Irwin, Arts Education Program Manager for the Utah Arts Council, molded the Utah PTA Reflections program by adding Dance, Theatre and Film/Video while she served as Utah PTA's Individual Development Commissioner. The next Utah PTA Individual Development Commissioner, Margaret Wahlstrom, added yet another category of 3D in the Visual Arts.

Each year a theme is chosen such as "Suddenly I turn around", "My greatest wish for life is. . .", or the 2009 theme of "Wow. . .". The kids then transform a concept into creativity.

Utah had almost 70,000 submissions in 2008. With such a response, the National PTA sometimes turns to this state to pilot new categories such as what happened with Dance and Film/Video, which were categories officially added to the national list in 2006. Patsy Chandler, Utah PTA Individual Development Commissioner, shared, "Utah started with these categories and national liked the results."

In the meantime, Utah has two state-specific categories: Theatre (which includes Storytelling and Mime) and 3D Artistic Creations. Depending on the number of entrants, these two categories may share the same destiny as Dance and Film/Video though it would probably take five years, ten years, or more to happen.

When Jean Tokuda Irwin, who was then on the PTA Board, asked National PTA why there were no categories for dance, theatre, etc. They told her it was a question of money. She argued that money was not an issue in relation to having more art forms accessible for children. She asserted that if the situation involved kids with disabilities, they would not be allowed to use funding as an argument. She further stated that in the case of Reflections, some kids (dancers, actors, storytellers, videographers) were unable to participate because their art form was not one of the original PTA Reflections categories.

In fact, Irwin's own arts education assistant said, "I thought I never had any talent. If I could have entered in Dance, I would have participated in Reflections." National PTA encouraged Utah PTA to "pilot" the new categories and Utah has never looked back.

Though Theatre then became available, Irwin admitted that Theatre could be hard to understand and grasp for the non-trained individual. Most of the confusion was with Theatre and Film/Video as Irwin pointed out, "The kids could not tell the difference between Film/Video as an artistic tool versus just recording something." Chandler mentioned the same problem and said, "We try to clear those lines by saying 'This is Theatre' and 'This is Film and Video'."

In the storytelling community, often defining "storytelling" is difficult. It is almost comforting that long-standing arts like Theatre face the same issues.

When Irwin was on the PTA Board, she traveled throughout Utah with artists and videos demonstrating the differences between Monologue, Mime, Storytelling, One-Act Play and so on. When it came to storytelling Irwin noticed, "Kids don't tell stories anymore unless they are lucky to be in a storytelling family. They have television instead." The Barnson family seems to confirm this statement.

Irwin and Chandler may not personally know the Barnsons, though they have witnessed some fantastic storytelling performances in the past five years to the present time.

Chandler remembered one of the kids had dressed up like what her grandmother had wore when she crossed the plains into the Salt Lake Valley as a pioneer and received the Honorable Mention at state level for the performance. Chandler also saw a little girl tell "The Three Little Pigs" using puppets placed on Popsicle sticks.

Irwin attributed the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival and the Utah Storytelling Guild as influences to most amazing storytelling-related submissions. With access to this event and organization, there are qualified judges.

Sometimes parents unfamiliar with the art are unsure how to share stories with their kids. Irwin encouraged the parents to pick a character and make up a story. "A few would look at me with the most stunned looks on their faces adn ask, 'How do you do that?'"

Irwin sees her mission as teaching others how to create their own stories through dance, music, theatre, visual arts and creative writing. Since 1991, she has served as the Utah Arts Council (UAC) Arts Education Manager. The UAC's Arts Education mission is to promote active engagement and arts learning. Their mission is served by grants to schools and organizations, technical assistance and outreach programs.

In relation to Theatre, Irwin lamented, "A lot of kids have never seen live theatre before--at least that is how it is these days." Irwin continued, Most children today are growing up on a diet of television and videos so they don't have the opportunity to see live theatre in action or live storyteller in action. They just don't understand the medium."

From people like Barnson to Irwin to Chandler, there are many who support the arts. We can join in this advocacy through the annual PTA "Start the Art" Week, which is October 6-11, 2008 by contacting community leaders and government officials on how we feel. Or at least some friends and family.

So. . .is your cell phone ready to share the news with others?

Other Online Resources--

• Julie Barnson's blog post "PTA Reflections include Storytelling!"
• 2008 Utah PTA Reflections Guidelines
• Fall 2006 Reflections Program Newsletter
  

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller

Storytelling Nonprofits in a Changing World

Dedication and thanks goes to Anthony Radich, Executive Director of the Western States Arts Federation (Westaf), for giving permission to post the picture of us as well as to apply his workshop session “The New World of the Nonprofit Arts: Adapting to a Shifting Landscape” to storytelling nonprofits on May 9, 2008.

Technology and social trends have changed the environment for the average nonprofit organization so that members within these groups must decide to either continue with standard procedures or to merge with new tools and structures available. Storytelling nonprofits share the same decision.

The National Storytelling Network (NSN), one of the largest storytelling nonprofits with 2,600+ members, has announced the need to make major changes for the first time since the 1973 creation of the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. This is not to say that new programs and ideas were never implemented in the last few decades. However, technology or out-of-the-box thinking were never fully embraced by the membership or by the Board besides the basic website and a few member grants.

When Dianne de Las Casas started the Professional Storyteller social networking site, the amount of members surged to over 350 in three months. Dianne was surprised by the rapid growth and wondered what other possibilities could be unlocked from this group.

Some people grumbled that the NSN stamp was not to be found on Professional Storyteller despite the fact that a NSN member created it. These people talked as if NSN had to be the leader of any progress-moving idea versus being a participant in it.

However, the online world is not the place for any one storytelling nonprofit or for any one nonprofit for that matter. The Internet has global impact and could build collaboration rather than strictly self-promotion, whether of individuals or organizations.

Almost in response, the NSN Board took a big yet simple step in creating a forum and a blog to promote open communication on issues and concerns. Few members know of its existence, though slowly the site and activity grows. The features available are limited, though actions are being taken to make it more inviting.

With perceptions of NSN fighting to stay alive (as most nonprofits do nowadays), perhaps the Board falls under the “Heroic Model”. Anthony Radich, Executive Director of the Western States Arts Federation, warned against this model as he believed it to be prevalent with most struggling nonprofits.

Common traits of the “Heroic Model”:
• Highly Orthodox
• Based on Classical Management Theory
• Mechanistic in Character
• Dominant
• Guilt Producing

Compare to what Radich called “Functional Success Model”:
• Functions are more important than process used
• Regular negotiations regarding how coalition will accomplish functions
• Flexibility in approach is highly valued

With the “Functional Success Model”, Radich explained that people on the Board could still have titles and be over certain areas though people could, at any time, switch duties depending on strengths.

He urged nonprofits to be aware of the ways people enjoy art in determining how to evolve the nonprofit structure. The Board model may need a mix of the “Heroic Model” as well as the “Functional Success Model”.

Radich commented, “People are not always willing to go to a building in the old way that opens at 8:00am and closes at 5:00pm.” Whether this applies to offices or to events put on by nonprofits, it certainly shakes the need of a physical place and tests the flexibility of any organization as often shown in the “Functional Success Model”. Radich did not suggest to get rid of the nonprofit’s location, though an open mind for having a stronger Internet presence could reach potential members, sponsors and new audiences.

People have the same level of interest today in the arts as was found in the 1960s and 1970s when the “socio-cultural inertia” started, resulting in new programs and grants. Attendance is down for many symphony concerts, theatre shows, and storytelling performances. As a result, interest seems invisible because people enjoy their arts beyond the traditional “Let’s go to the theatre” attitude.

Radich warned, “If the only metric used to gage success of your event is in how many are sitting in the seats, then you are in trouble.” This comment assumed that at least one tool like webcasting, podcasting or blogging were used to broadcast or display art beyond the building. (Explore the site The 59 Smartest Orgs Online put out by Squido.) Otherwise, counting people in their seats would be the only statistic for nonprofits to report when writing grants.

To determine the 59 Smartest ones, Squido asked the following questions:
1. What does the org's website look like?
2. Does it just ask for donations?
3. Do they have a way for members to share their stories?
3. Do they have lenses or Groups on Squidoo?
4. Do they have MySpace groups?
5. You Tube videos?
6. Flickr sets?
7. Do they value microdonations or only $1000 and more?
8. Do they run contests or challenges to engage their members?
9. Do they send out weekly or monthly newsletters?
10. Do they have RSS feeds?
11. Are people blogging about the org?
12. Are they stuck in the land of direct mail, control, and offline fundraising?
13. Are they optimized for the new cadre of young philanthropists?

After reviewing the technology and Board structure possibilities, the nonprofit may consider another way to label itself:
• For-profit Organization
The profits become more important than the social, cultural, and/or political causes.
• Temporary Advocacy Organization
If a particular project is needed, then a group is formed with the knowledge that it will be disbanded as soon as the goals are met such as in two, three, or more years.
• Cooperative
Controlled and owned by all members and they act as creators and consumers of any products or projects.
• Venture Capital Approach
Tends to have a group of wealthy individuals who finance ventures and have greater say in the future of the group as well as taking on any risks or successes.
• Nonprofit with a For-profit Subsidiary
Allows for the group to participate in moneymaking ventures, especially when significant profits are expected, that may or may not relate to its main purpose.
• Out-of-Business
Doors are closed and the group “dies” and may be reborn in the future.

As a National Storytelling Network member, I prefer the Nonprofit with a For-profit Subsidiary structure. We have causes that benefit our communities as well as services that people would be willing to pay for to keep programs running.

If the National Storytelling Network developed a storytelling library/museum of world-class renown, a gift shop or rental of computer equipment to stream live storytelling performances, then we would have other forms of revenue and not have to rely as heavily on membership dues and conference attendance.

Check out the article "Four Reasons Why You Should Consider a For-Profit Subsidiary" by NFP News.

Whatever is decided, I agree with Radich when he said, “Learn from the Past. Operate in the Present. Imagine the Future.”

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman
Professional Storyteller
Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance
(801) 870-5799
info@rachelhedman.com
http://www.rachelhedman.com
http://www.yesalliance.com

***Several comments have been made to this post at Professional Storyteller. Click here to read them.