Our May Gathering

The 3rd Friday of the month rolls around and the storytellers gather, share a party piece, a little news or maybe it's just wave. We always come away feeling a little richer.

Dave Davies sharing a tale from the Canadian gold rush

Our May virtual gathering was a delight with storytellers checking in from as far afield as South Australia, Brisbane and central Victoria. Of course we miss being in the same space but the surprising and wonderful thing about the virtual gatherings is that people are able to participate from wherever they are in the world. It's marvelous to hear about the ideas and works in progress, listen to the fully formed, enjoy a song and there is always the update on Lily-Anne's chickens. We'll be back in June - details to be posted.

Lily-Anne is educating us all on the many varieties chicken

Invitation: Friday 15 May

 We're back for another virtual gathering - a night of story sharing.

We want to hear what you've been up to in the past month, listen to your stories poems and patter.

• We've learned that virtual storytelling can be tiring so we ask that contributions be no longer than 6 minutes. 
• We've planed for an hour but if we are still enjoying ourselves and wish to go over - our zoom account can accommodate an extension. 
• Musicians welcome; if you have patter or a story you wish to try out - we're all ears.

When you arrive we will spend a few minutes writing down your name and working out the running order and this will be posted on the chat stream. Please if you wish to tell a story, poem or simply share a work in progress,  arrive on time.

 

BYO cake and cuppa

TIME and DATE

Friday May 15

7.30 pm

 

DONATIONS

Newport Storytellers is a Newport Fiddle and Folk Club event. All the on-line sessions are free, so the club has lost an income stream. If you can donate, there is now a button on the front page of the website. It will take you to a PayMate payment form, the amount box blank, so people can fill in their own amount.

 

HOW TO JOIN (ignore if you are already a subscriber)

·      To the right of this blog you can see a small window that says FOLLOW BY EMAIL.

·      Enter your email

·      You will receive a reply from FeedBurner Subscriptions with a link to activate the subscription.

·      If you can’t see the FeedBurner email check you junk/spam folder

·      Once you are in the system we will be able to email you the ZOOM instructions so you can join in the fun

·      AND you will now receive the Newport Storyteller news.

 

COURTESY

When you are preparing your piece, be mindful that sexist, racist, homophobic and ableist stories, songs and comments hurt and exclude people. Please consider your material. 

 

Acknowledgement

We acknowledge we are connecting virtually across the traditional lands of the Kulin and pay our respects to the elders of all nations. In particular we hold in our hearts the First Peoples of Australia in the face of COVID -19. 

* Check out the Newport Fiddle and Folk Club calendar for all the on-line events. There is something for everyone.

Storytellers and Musicians Thumbs Up!

Our combined Music and Storytelling evening ZOOM was a success. It was lovely to see people checking in from across Victoria and as far away as South Australia.

We're planning to meet again on Friday May 15. Details to come closer to the date.

So start thinking about a story to share; 6- 7 mins seems a good length for zoom.

If you don't have a story, we're happy to listen to a tale of your life in iso or hear about work in progress. On Friday we enjoyed hearing about Lily-Anne's chickens and we got to meet Biscuit, a rather sweet fluffball.

Let's stay connected and keep the stories alive!

Storytelling and Music: A ZOOM

AN INVITATION

We’re mastering the art of ZOOM

Jackie Kerin (Newport Storytellers) and Greg Jenkins (Open Stage) invite you to a special one-off combined Storytelling and Music ZOOM evening.

Greg hosts Newport Open Stage – a chalkboard for musicians - every month for the Newport Fiddle and Folk Club and Jackie co-ordinates the storytelling wing of the Club. Following this  event, they will return to running their separate evenings with confidence and ZOOM flair!

DATE:  Friday 17th April

TIME: 7.30 – 8.45 (we will offer to extend the time for people who still have energy to share and chat however the ‘formalities’ will be 75 minutes).

THE VIRTUAL CHALK BOARD

Jackie and Greg will have a space for about 7 musicians and 5 storytellers

·      Musicians have a max of 4 minutes to introduce and share

·      Storytellers/spoken word people have 6 minutes max

·      And your hosts have a gong!

When you arrive they will spend 5 minutes writing down your name and working out the running order and this will be posted on the chat stream. Please if you wish to perform arrive on time.

HOW TO JOIN (ignore if you are already a subscriber)

·      To the right of this blog you can see a small window that says FOLLOW BY EMAIL.

·      Enter your email

·      You will receive a reply from FeedBurner Subscriptions with a link to activate the subscription.

·      If you can’t see the FeedBurner email check you junk/spam folder

·      Once you are in the system we will be able to email you the ZOOM instructions so you can join in the fun

·      AND you will now receive the Newport Storyteller news.

COURTESY

When you are preparing your piece, be mindful that sexist, racist, homophobic and ableist stories, songs and comments hurt and exclude people. Please consider your material. 

Acknowledgement

We acknowledge we are connecting virtually across the traditional lands of the Kulin and pay our respects to the elders of all nations. In particular we hold in our hearts the First Peoples of Australia in the face of COVID -19. 

* Check out the Newport Fiddle and Folk Club calendar for all the on-line events. There is something for everyone.

Practice your ZOOM and play along!

Online Theme Night - Freedom Songs

Our Mothership, The Newport Fiddle and Folk Club,  under whose wings we nestle and are guided, are launching their first virtual event on ZOOM.

Newport Storytellers are learning how to ZOOM and will be announcing a gathering soon.

In the meantime, grab your spoons, anything with strings, your old school recorder and join in this Saturday. Open this link, follow the instructions and join in. Its good practice.

Detailed instructions on how to download ZOOM and join in the fun HERE 

Corona pandemic: Storytelling Postponed

Well... this will come as no surprise.

Newport Storytellers are cancelling all events until further notice.

Here is an UPDATE on where we are at.

• Ed’s event has been cancelled at The Village. He had all the planning in place, so when this has passed, it should be a simple matter to make it happen.
• The Newport Folk Festival has been cancelled - Stories and Songs by the Fire will not go ahead.

GRANT
We followed through and applied for a grant from Hobsons Bay to make a podcast of our stories. This is to cover Matt as editor, Alan as music co-ordinator with Folk Club musicians, a project manager and a launch party. So fingers and toes crossed… something to look forward to.

STAYING CONNECTED
Cam and Jackie are looking into setting up a simple way of meeting virtually, but it will be a few weeks before we get that sorted. Will keep you posted.

IN THE MEANTIME
If you use Facebook, please like us and follow our page.

A GENTLE NUDGE
Now we are under the wings of the Newport Fiddle and Folk Club, it would be nice if you joined. It’s not mandatory but the club now cover our insurance, will auspice us and they promote our gatherings and events on their website and social media. Membership here.

Be safe and stay well wherever you are. As soon as Cam and I work out the easiest platform for virtual gatherings - we’ll be back sharing stories!

To lift our spirits and celebrate our storytellers. we'll be posting videos for you to enjoy.
Here's one of the incomparable Dave Davies at the Williamstown Literary Festival 2017

Coming up in March

Well Storytellers, we are back to business learning, experimenting, crafting stories; building confidence and repertoire.

Our February gathering was well attended, and it was wonderful to welcome new faces.

As well as practicing and trying out stories we had the chance to listen to a dramatised podcast being developed by Cam.  Cam has formed a production company with Andrew,  his creative colleague. You can follow their progress HERE.

We have a few poddies in our story family and we're learning from them and hoping, if the stars align, to make a series of our own.

Our other storyteller/podcaster is Matt McArthur. Matt has a particular interest in the human activity in Antarctica and his excellent work has been recognised with multiple awards HERE

We are back in the Newport HUB on March 20. Please join us.

For All the details about our gatherings, how to find us, future dates etc click HERE

World Storytelling Day

WSD is celebrated globally and there are many ways you can participate

Our friends in Singapore and the Federation of Asian Story Tellers  are setting up an Online Story Swap. They invite you to ...

'Join us and tell or listen to stories of seafaring folk, of brave, or foolhardy voyages to far-off lands. Or perhaps travel through your imagination to see what voyage this theme inspires.

Friday 20 March 2020, 7.30pm Singapore Time

This STORY SWAP is FREE and is open to anyone! You don't need to be a member of FEAST.

You can offer to tell a story, or simply sit back and enjoy your fellow storytellers as we swap stories.

We're looking for tellers to share a story on the theme of Voyages. (Maximum of 9 minutes)

When you register for the session, you will be sent a link so that you can join in. The link will ask you to download the ZOOM software which is very easy to install and use.

If you would like to tell a story or have any questions about the software, please contact the Swap Host - Roger Jenkins at rogerstoryteller@gmail.com

If you are chosen to tell a story, please make sure you can tell it in 9 MINUTES or less! We want to give as many tellers as possible a chance to share a story.

SO WHY WAIT? SIGN UP HERE: https://www.feast-story.org/event-3766565
Check the timing in your time zone here: https://tinyurl.com/VoyagesSwap'