INVITATION TO THE FOURTH ANNUAL TRIBAL STORYTELLING FESTIVAL AND SYMPOSIUM
NOVEMBER 13-15 IN PORTLAND, OR
The public is invited to attend the Fourth Annual Tribal Storytelling Festival and Symposium being held on Friday and Saturday evenings, November 13-14, 2009 at 7:30 PM. A Tribal Storytellers Symposium will be Sunday, 15 November from 1:30 – 4 PM. All events will be at Lewis and Clark College’s Agnes Flanagan Chapel, 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road, Portland, OR 97219 (for a campus map go to www.lclark.edu/visit/directions).
This year’s festival will celebrate storytelling season in the Pacific Northwest and beyond, featuring some of the region’s finest traditional Northwest tribal storytellers. Special guest storytellers from Alaska and California will also be presenting stories from their tribal heritage. Events will include tribal drumming, singing and inspirational messages from tribal elders.
The Northwest Indian Storytellers Association (NISA) was formed in October 2005 to encourage, preserve and strengthen traditional storytelling among tribes in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, and to share tribal oral cultural arts with the entire regional community. Funding has been provided in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, United Way of the Columbia-Willamette, McKenzie River Gathering Foundation, Regional Arts and Culture Council, and the Multnomah County Cultural Coalition. Festival hosts include the Indigenous Ways of Knowing Program at Lewis and Clark College and Wisdom of the Elders, Inc.
Tickets will be available at the door on a sliding scale (suggested from $5 to $20 per ticket). Our Silent Charity Auction will be held during the Friday and Saturday evening festival events for those who want to bid on Pendleton Legendary Design blankets & clothing, Native American arts & crafts, getaways, & other special items. Proceeds will help fund the festival and the emerging tribal storyteller trainings being held over the weekend by the Northwest Indian Storytellers Association.
We request that our friends forward this announcement to their communities, and print and post this announcement along with the attached poster at their work place and meeting places. Look for more information and announcements about the festival at this website shortly. For more info, you may also contact NISA (503) 517-9759 or e-mail NISA@wisdomoftheelders.org.
Master Tribal Storytellers Will Share Traditional Stories at the NISA Festival
Eight master tribal storytellers will share traditional stories at the Fourth Annual Northwest Indian Storytelling Festival being celebrated in Portland Friday and Saturday evenings November 13-14 at 7:30 PM, along with a Tribal Storytelling Symposium Sunday afternoon, November 15 at 1:30 PM at Lewis and Clark College’s Agnes Flanagan Chapel, 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road, Portland, OR (97219).
Among the storytellers will be S’Klallam storyteller from the Lower Elwah reservation, Roger Fernandes (view PDF), Woodrow Morrison, Haida elder, master storyteller, History Keeper, filmmaker, and attorney, and S’Klallam storyteller, Elaine Grinnell, who is also a basket weaver, linguist, and traditional cook from the Coastal Salish group on the Olympic Peninsula. You can learn more about these honored tribal storytellers, and about the NISA festival, in the PDF documents linked here:
ANNOUNCEMENT FOR TRIBAL MEMBERS:
The Advisory Council of the Northwest Indian Storytellers Association has also scheduled an Emerging Storytellers Workshop for tribal members of all tribal backgrounds (enrolled or stated). It will be held on the festival weekend on Saturday, November 14 from 8 AM to 5 PM and will be taught by master storytellers from Northwest tribes.
This is a great bargain! The $25 workshop registration fee includes a pass to attend the two festival events Friday and Saturday evening, the Emerging Storytellers Workshop on Saturday from 9 AM to 5 PM (following breakfast at 8 AM), an Open Mic for NISA members on Sunday morning and the Sunday afternoon Symposium, along with 5 meals from Saturday breakfast through Sunday lunch. The Cowlitz Tribe is generously contributing salmon for our Saturday evening dinner honoring both master storytellers and emerging storytellers.
If you are not yet a member of Northwest Indian Storytellers Association, any tribal member may become a NISA member. There is no charge. You can sign up online here, or contact us at NISA@wisdomoftheelders.org and we will e-mail it to you. Or you may leave a message at (503) 917-9759. NISA membership and event registration forms will be sent by e-mail to you if you leave your e-mail address. If you have no e-mail, we can mail it to you.
We are asking each NISA member attending the weekend events to provide an arts and crafts or other item for our Silent Charity Auction which will be held during the Friday and Saturday evening festival events. Everyone will be able to bid on Pendleton Woolen Mills blankets & clothing, American Indian arts and crafts, and other items. We are very grateful for this assistance from our members, as the funds benefit the Northwest Indian Storytellers Association and help us cover festival and workshop expenses.
Northwest Indian Storytellers Association
We welcome Washington, Oregon and Idaho tribal members, along with the region’s urban Indian storytellers from other nations around Turtle Island, to join the Northwest Indian Storytellers Association (NISA).
Sign up online to become a NISA member here.
NISA MISSION STATEMENT: NISA was formed in 2005 to encourage, preserve and strengthen traditional storytelling among tribes and urban Indian communities in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. In the spirit of race reconciliation, NISA shares tribal cultural arts with the entire regional community at our annual storytelling festivals.
You don’t have to be a master storyteller to join NISA. Emerging tribal storytellers and those who would like to start learning their tribe’s stories are also welcome to join NISA. You will have opportunities to get acquainted with master storytellers and fellow storytellers and learn from them during storytelling workshops we hold annually as part of our storytelling festival weekends.
We are contacting Washington State tribes in the next few months to see who is interested in serving as an annual sponsor and host so we can hold annual NISA Tribal Storytelling Festivals in the state of Washington.
We are also asking Northwest tribes to appoint a traditional storyteller who will serve as NISA Advisory Council member and be your tribe’s representative to NISA. We also ask that if funds are available, tribes sponsor them to join us during festival and retreat weekends and provide their fee and travel expense.
For more information, e-mail us at nisa@wisdomoftheelders.org
Seeking volunteers from Portland’s Native community
A partnership of Native American organizations and supporting organizations is developing the Discovering Our Story Project with multi-media curriculum and a television program that will be launched on Portland Community Media in 2010. We are looking for volunteers who will serve on one of these teams:
1. Recording Review Working Group: will listen to and comment on video and audio segments being considered for the curriculum and television program (starts later in September).
2. Take trainings to learn videography and be part of the Discovering Our Story Television team. (We pay the fee for this class, but we request a 3 year commitment to help us produce 26 one hour Native American television programs for Portland’s community) (starts in November 2009)
3. Take trainings to learn digital storytelling and be part of the Discovering Our Story Television team. (We pay the fee for this class, but we request a 3 year commitment to help us produce 26 one hour Native American television programs for Portland’s community) (Starts in November 2009).
More on the Discovering Our Story Project: Our partnership is developing multimedia curricula for Native American recovery, prevention and career pathway development, and is including the input of Portland-area Native American therapists and clients in the process using focus groups and pilot projects. Materials will overcome co-occurring mental health, addictions, domestic violence prevention, and Type 2 Diabetes issues. Multi-media materials will be developed using the audio and video archives (250+ recordings) of Wisdom of the Elders, Inc., plus specific new recordings.
More on Discovering Our Story Television: We also plan to employ public media as a catalyst to support recovery and prevention efforts within our community. We will launch a Portland cable access television program, Discovering our Story Television, that honors exemplary native elders and storytellers and their exemplary cultural values. Northwest Indian Storytellers Association will also participate by conducting tribal storytelling workshops for health and wellness each year of this project so Native American partners’ clients can learn storytelling traditions, identify more strongly with their tribal heritage, and begin to tell their own traditional stories. Master storytellers and therapists will especially emphasize the importance of passing down traditional cultural values, validating positive cultural identity, and strengthening self-esteem.
Partners: This project is a partnership with NARA, Cowlitz Tribal Health Clinic, Indigenous Ways of Knowing Program and Lewis and Clark College, National Indian Child Welfare Association, Northwest Indian Storytellers Association, Westview High School ESOL Program, Portland Community Media, Roger Burt, Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant, and Wisdom of the Elders, Inc.
All positions are on a volunteer basis. If you have questions or request an application, please contact us at (503) 517-9759 or e-mail liaison@wisdomoftheelders.org.
