Memories and Breath – Professional Storytelling in England and Wales

1 Memories and Breath – Professional Storytelling in England and Wales An unofficial report conducted via e-mail survey by Ben Haggarty Autumn 2003 Published 2004 by CRDTS The Centre for the Research and Development of Traditional Storytelling [email protected] Informal Survey of Storytelling in England & Wales (cv) 2 Informal Survey of Storytelling in England & Wales (cv) 3 Contents Preface p.5 Introduction p.5 What is Storytelling? p.6 Part One – the Compiler, Storytelling & the Genesis of the Report: The Compiler p.8 Storytelling as Contemporary Art p.9 Storytelling & Performance Literature p.10 The Artist’s Call p.12 Survey Genesis p.13 Preliminary Reflections p.14 The Presentation of these Findings p.15 The Subject of this Survey p.16 Part Two – Introducing the Storytellers’ Geography, Repertoire & Economy Year Covered by Data p.18 Number of Respondents p.18 Anonymity p.19 Gender of Respondents p.19 Age of Respondents p.19 Ethnicity of Respondents p.20 Regional Distribution of Respondents p.20 Experience of Respondents p.22 Financial Aspects of Storytelling p.23 Self-definition p.23 Professional Earnings Derived from Storytelling p.24 Overseas Earnings p.24 Repertoire p.25 Personal Beliefs p.27 Part Three - General Data Educational & Libraries Work p.29 Targeted Community Work p.30 Publicly Accessible Work p.31 Invisible/Visible Storytelling p.31 Productivity Totals & Extrapolated Figures p.31 Informal Survey of Storytelling in England & Wales (cv) 4 Part Four - Detailed Analysis: Educational Data Introduction p.33 Primary School Work p.35 Secondary School Work p.35 The Welsh Writers in Schools Scheme p.37 Private Sector Schools p.37 Special Needs Schools p.38 Tertiary Education p.39 Teacher Training p.39 Further Comments on Storytelling in Education p.39 The Storyteller’s Economy within the English Education System p.40 Educational Work on Library Premises p.41 Site Specific Educational Work p.41 Part Five – Detailed Analysis: Community Work Data Introduction p.43 Work with the Elderly p.44 Health Work p.44 Youth Work p.45 Adult Special Needs Groups p.45 Work with Community Associations p.45 Special Interest Groups p.46 Work for Self-defined Ethnic Community Groups p.46 Children’s Community Groups p.46 Offender’s Institutions p.47 Private Functions p.47 General Comment on Community Work p.48 Part Six – Detailed Analysis: Publicly Accessible Work Section a) – Adult Events Data Arts Centres & Theatre spaces p.49 Indoor performances in Other Venues p.51 Outdoor Events p.52 Public Events in Libraries p.52 Literary Festivals p.54 General Arts Festivals p.55 Storytelling Festivals p.56 Storytelling Clubs p.57 Other Club Appearances p.58 Informal Survey of Storytelling in England & Wales (cv) 5 Section b) – Families & Children’s Events Data Arts Centres & Theatre Spaces p.59 Other Indoor Performances in ‘Found’ Venues p.51 Outdoor Events p.52 Events in Libraries p.61 Children’s & Family Book Festivals p.62 General Arts Festivals p.62 Site Specific Work for Adults, Families & Children p.63 General Comment on Public Work for Families & Children p.64 The Economics of Site Specific Work p.64 Part Seven – Training Data Introduction p.65 Publicly Accessible Training & Workshops p.65 Weekend Workshops & other ‘one off’ sessions p.65 Extended Courses p.66 Professional Development p.66 Other Courses p.66 Academic Study p.67 Part Eight – International & Collaborative Work, Media International Work p.70 The Media Profile of Storytelling p.71 Cross-discipline Artistic Collaboration p.72 Part Nine – Funding & Agency Support Direct Grant Applications p.73 Funds brought to Arts Activities from Other Sources p.74 Literature Development Workers/Officers p.74 Standards in Storytelling p.74 The Public Image of Storytelling p.76 Part Ten: Summary of Survey Findings, Data & Statistics Summarised figures p.78 Part Eleven: Conclusions & Recommendations The Need for Subsidy p.80 Specific Funding Recommendations p.81 Appendices Recommended Further Reading p.84 Acknowledgements and Contact details p.84 Informal Survey of Storytelling in England & Wales (cv) 6 Preface Crick? Crack! I’m going to tell you a story Let’s hear it! It’s full of lies… Is it? But there’s truth in it. Good! This is the first statistical report on the state of frontline professional storytelling activity in England and Wales. It is an unofficial document. Its aim, expressed in the codes of contemporary terminology – and therefore with tongue held firmly in cheek as far as the language is concerned – could be formulated thus: to bring visibility to a highly accessible re-emergent art that is centred on genuinely sustainable popular literature that promotes global citizenship whilst actively developing individual imaginative faculties and oral communication skills. Its objective is to be the catalyst that will compel an official body to undertake a further audit bearing the authority of independence. This is a fairly lengthy report based on hard information collated by means of an ‘informal survey’ that consisted of 31 pages of questions. Being committed to the search for a greater understanding of everything, I believe that it’s worth making the best effort possible to be thorough in order to set both precedents and standards alongside which further work can be compared and developed. Also, in keeping with the process of tradition and its intrinsic generosity of spirit, I value the active politic of putting this information in the public domain so that others can freely copy, adapt or develop these models and templates. This is offered as a first step to laying some groundwork for the building of an infrastructure that will support and develop excellence in professional storytelling. Informal Survey of Storytelling in England & Wales (cv) 7 Introduction The report is based on data returned by 38 out of (at least) 100 surveys circulated by e-mail. Professional statisticians advise me that a response of 38% is above average for such an exercise and can therefore be considered successful. It seems probable that the respondents do represent a true and fair cross section of storytelling artists working in England and Wales. Having examined the findings closely and measured them against my first hand knowledge of the subject, I believe the sample is diverse enough to paint a fair picture of what is happening in terms of paid storytelling activity: when, where, how and on what scale. The data provided by the survey demonstrates that the collective achievement of professional storytellers based in England and Wales is remarkable in terms of productivity, versatility and ingenuity. What is Storytelling? All the narrative arts tell stories, and so playwrights, sculptors, filmmakers, cartoonists, novelists, librettists, etc all obviously count as storytellers. But the ‘storytelling’ this survey focuses upon is that which a world wide movement that began over 30 years ago would define as being: the telling of stories through the primal oral form of the spoken word – and most of the stories told are sourced in what UNESCO terms ‘intangible cultural heritage’. This type of storytelling is a content driven art form that is warmly relished by those who encounter high calibre practitioners. Audiences find it meets a profound need for communal listening and attentive gathering. At the same time it directly nourishes individual imagination with a highly evolved form of metaphorical material that can rarely be found elsewhere. Several years ago, one of the most highly respected figures in the English literary establishment attended a storytelling performance and afterwards asked the storytellers who did their writing for them. The person thus revealed a widely held misunderstanding about the contemporary oral storyteller’s art: there is no writing. The body of storytellers at the centre of this study are genuine spoken word artists. They are not actors reciting a text written by others (nor are they generally reciting a memorised text that they have written themselves). Their storytelling is work of pure orality put to the service of the transmission of material that is intended for further transmission by others; that is, they see themselves as a link in a chain that extends from the past to the future. Oral storytellers are simultaneously the authors, performers and directors of their own adaptations of (on the whole) pre-existing ancestral narratives. If one learns how to listen, these stories carry the whole material and psychological history of humanity in their vast ocean of genres. The verbal and corporeal language of each story is re- composed for every new and specific audience through an immediate improvisation, based on deep research and knowledge of the narrative. Storytelling is an art that thrives on variables: the same story cannot be told the same way twice because the Informal Survey of Storytelling in England & Wales (cv) 8 audience, the context and the psychic state of the teller can never be the same. Its processes of re-creation-in-performance are perhaps akin to jazz. The re-composition of a tale requires an expert knowledge of how to deconstruct and reconstruct using invisible stitching. Sustaining a two-hour long public performance demands intensity, skill and adaptability, and that in turn comes from the mastery of many grammars such as iconography and dramaturgy and their translation into communicative language. Once mastered, storytelling is an art that permits as much self-expression as the artist wishes. As with any art form, the exponents of storytelling can of course range from the brilliantly inspired to the lacklustre. Professional storytelling has developed as an underground art form in Britain during the last 20 years. It tends to operate at ‘grass roots’ level and is therefore seldom visible to the public and media. Given a history of low-prioritisation by the arts funding bodies and correspondingly meagre and, at best, arbitrary support, the tenacity of storytellers is impressive.

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