Story Crossroads: The Newsletter Volume 10, Issue 10
Welcome to a short, more direct weekly newsletter * Week 1: Story of the Month - links with membership * Week 2: Upcoming
Events * Week 3: Cap's Off to You! - people/organization profiles * Week 4: Past & Future News
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Story Fortune Tellings - at two events at once
For the first time ever, Story Crossroads needed to be at two events at once to do Story Fortune Tellings (improv storytelling). We needed to
represent at the Zoo, Arts & Parks Summer Passport Party at Wheeler Farm in Salt Lake County, Utah as well as at the Utah Renaissance Faire at the Young Living Farm in Juab County, Utah. Holly Robison and Kira Larkin covered for the Wheeler Farm while Rachel Hedman and son as well as Elizabeth Myers and Kathryn O'Mara covered for the Utah Renaissance Faire Whew! We also had to split up our "Once Upon a Time" cards for both groups. We are glad we had two crystal balls already! We barely had enough Story Crossroads bookmarks between the two events. At the Utah Renaissance Faire, we did 275 Story Fortune Tellings while drawing cards from the following categories: place, character, event (trouble), and item. Often, we asked people to answer questions to build the story together. Holly and
Kira said that it was hard to keep up in handing out the tokens (pennies) at the end of each round of story fortune tellings! One probably-12-year-old
boy chose to return a second time in the same day to our canopy for more stories. He chose stories over jousting! He then told Rachel Hedman a story while drawing cards and without any help. Magical! This was our 5th time at the Utah Renaissance Faire. An adult woman said that the storytelling and puppetry were her favorite parts. She always seeks out our canopy.
We did our first-ever Story Camp through Story Crossroads during August 2020 with 6-feet distanced hula hoops to represent where kids could "hang" while being taught storytelling at the Peace Gardens. And masks, of course. We have since partnered with the Salt Lake City Library
System, specifically with Glendale Branch. For 2024, we had Nannette Guest Watts and Cassie Ashton teach youth. One youth said that she had never spoken in front of a group or crowd before. Yet, she was fantastic as well as the other youth for the showcase on the last day of the camp where family, friends, and neighbors can attend. Another youth had performed for our 2024 Summit & Festival yet wanted to expand her repertoire. She now has "The Three Wishes" as well as "One Wish" in her set.
Yes, she has a theme to continue to build upon. Congrats to all the youth, mentors, and helpers!
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Last-minute
adventures with Millcreek Arts Festival
About a week and a half before the Millcreek Arts Festival on August 17, 2024...and we got a call. An hour of spoken word performance was
originally going to be some poets. The committee never heard back for confirmations. One of the people on the Millcreek Arts Council said, "Hey, I know someone with Story Crossroads. We are in the ZAP cohort together." With some quick calls and texts, we had two youth tellers and two professional story artists/entities lined up featuring Kira Larkin and Annie & Dan Eastmond (Harvest Home). And the weather? Super wet! We had two different downpours with lightning. We took shelter from the outdoor booth we were offered for Story Crossroads as a nearby business called Vitalize Community & Healing Arts Studio. Yes, we were
vitalized! The sun came out just in time for our 1-hour show for the public. We had one of the largest audiences and comments from others that we need to be
an annual tradition.
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Each issue has a theme that people can connect to...or not. All past issues can be found on The Story
Beast website. We would love your submissions for our 2024 quarterly issues. We have an upcoming issue coming out September 15, 2024. Meanwhile, our next deadline for submissions is "Whirling Winds" ( due November 15, 2024). Though, we welcome any piece no matter if it links to the theme or not. While this is a different entity than Story Crossroads, we are pleased to see this e-publication that is available for
free for anyone and all over the world. All details can be found at storybeast.org. And...the Story Crossroads Executive Director happens to be the one that launched the idea and worked along amazing people to have it come to pass.
We already gave you hints as to the four of the six events that happened in the month of August. We always have at least two events each month...but six! Wow! Story Camp happened August 7-9, 2024. Millcreek Arts Festival was August 17, 2024. The ZAP Summer Passport Party was on
August 23, 2024 while the Utah Renaissance Faire was August 23-24, 2024. Read moments for each of these in the above sections. On August 3, 2024, Robin Bady taught us about power dynamics within stories and the importance of visualizing a "ladder of power" as we craft any story. People commented on the many ah-ha moments within this workshop. This workshop and other past ones can be ordered at http://storycrossroads.org/AllThingsStory. On August 19, 2024, Ted Erekson hosted (along with his wife, Meg) as well as performed in Providence, Utah. This is now our record for the most north location of our house concert series. The most south is currently Payson, Utah. We had 61 people attending...another record in
attendance. And...Executive Director Rachel Hedman had her 45th birthday and Ted and Meg sang a song before the stories commenced. You can explore past streams as well as the upcoming house concerts at http://storycrossroads.org/HouseConcerts.
As for future events, we have at least two every month. Kim Weitkamp will teach a virtual workshop (September 2). Nannette Guest Watts will be performing for our 84th House Concert
(September 20).
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Enjoy a hint of what to expect with Kim Weitkamp's workshop "Boost Your Business." See more videos at our YouTube
Channel.
If you or someone you know has a story video that you want us to see, then let us know by emailing info@storycrossroads.org.
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Story Crossroads - 501(c)(3) - To foster creative and compassionate communities through the art of storytelling.
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