Emerging Tribal Storyteller Workshops
15 – 16 October 2011
Portland State University’s Native American Student and Community Center
Storytelling has been with us since time before remembering. Through it we have shaped our identities, our actions, and our societies. Tales that have been passed on from generation to generation withstanding the test of time and all the changes it brings. Now you have the chance to learn the techniques of this ancient and honorable craft at this year’s Northwest Indian Storytelling Festival Emerging Tribal Storyteller Workshop!
Tribal members who live in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, plus surrounding regions are encouraged to join the Northwest Indian Storytellers Association (NISA) and attend the NISA Emerging Tribal Storytellers Workshop on Saturday and Sunday, October 15-16. Saturday’s workshop starts with breakfast at 8:00 AM and ends with dinner at 5:00 PM, followed by the festival evening from 7:00 to 10:00 PM. On Sunday, we start with breakfast at 9:00 AM and the workshop ends at noon with lunch, followed by the Emerging Storytellers Matinee from 1:00 to 3:00 PM.
Whether you are enrolled with a Native American or Alaskan Native tribal, or self-identified as Native American, you are welcome to join NISA. Membership in NISA is free and the link to the workshop registration form is below. At the same time, you can also attend the festival weekend which culminates in the Emerging Storytellers Matinee on Sunday.
The workshop is $30 plus an auction item for our silent auction. This registration fee provides you with 1) a free pass to the evenings of the festival, Thursday from 7:00 to 9:00 PM, and Friday and Saturday, 14-15 October from 7:00 to 10:00 PM; 2) the Emerging Storytellers Workshop and Matinee on Saturday and Sunday, 15-16 October; and 3) 5 meals (3 meals on Saturday and 2 meals on Sunday). Sponsors include Northwest Indian Storytellers Association, Portland State Univ.Indigenous Nations Studies, Native American Student and Community Center, and Wisdom of the Elders, Inc.
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. Among American Indian tribes throughout America, winter is storytelling time. Knowledge and wisdom, traditional cultural values and spiritual qualities, as well as tribal oral history and prophesy, are all imparted to younger generations through storytelling from generation to generation during the winter months.
The workshop and storytelling festival will be held at the Native American Student and Community Center located on the South side of the Portland State University campus at 710 SW Jackson St., Portland, OR, 97201 (corner of SW Jackson and Broadway). A map of the PSU campus can be found at http://www.pdx.edu/campus-map.
You can fill out the application or print it, fill it out and mail it along with your check for $30.00 to WISDOM, 5518 SE Flavel Drive, Portland, OR 97206. More information on the weekend of festivities will be sent to you prior to the festival and workshop. Let us know if a scholarship is needed. We are hoping to have scholarships available and will know more soon. No one turned away for lack of funds.