1. Reminder: Membership Dues
2. Reminder: Clock Award Nominations
3. Reminder: Annual Meeting Schedule & Registration
4. Free WVSG Workshops!
5. SOCO & OSN Event Flier
6. Calls for Tellers (two!)
RENEW NOW! (If you haven’t already)
2020 IS A SPECIAL YEAR number-wise. It is also a special year for members of the West Virginia Storytelling Guild! As a perk of membership 2 mini workshops will be offered at the annual meeting at the Frank and Jane Gabor Folklife Center in Fairmont, WV on April 25, 2020. And on June 27, Kevin Cordi will be presenting a day long storytelling event in Weston, WV.
Many of you have already renewed your dues, and to you I offer kudos. But there are still a good many of you who have not. This is just a gentle reminder. We don’t want you to miss out on any of the advantages of belonging to the guild
To renew your membership please send a check for $20.00 made out to the WV Storytelling Guild to:
Otto Ross, treasurer
WV Storytelling Guild
102 Spinnaker Ct.
Ridgeley, WV 26753
This year in addition to paying by check, you may use the PayPal option. You can pay using PayPal on our website. We have a store here: http://www.wvstorytellers.com/tickets-shop.There is a button to pay for membership with PayPal on this site.
Otto, our treasurer, will be sending you a receipt by email. If any of your contact information has changed in the last year, this is the time to let us know
Thank you for your attention to this matter. You are important to us in the Guild!
Sincerely, Katie Ross, membership chair
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me by phone (304-738-2338) or email (okross40@gmail.com).
The Clock is Ticking...
2019 is history and now is the time to turn our attention to the Clock Award! Below youcan read about the award as it appears on our website at www.wvstorytellers.org
(members’page).
Please read the criteria carefully. Then send your nominations to Judi
directly at storytellerjudi@gmail.com with the Subject: CLOCK AWARD. In
addition to the name of the person you are nominating, please tag a 1-2
sentence explanation for that nomination. You can nominate more than one
person, too. See below for suggestions of how this has been handled in the
past. While we are looking for work done in 2019, a wide net often reveals
those who have worked tirelessly over the decades! The deadline for
submitting nominations is Feb. 21.
West Virginia Storytelling Guild’s Bob McWhorter Award
Affectionately known as "The Clock"
The West Virginia Storytelling Guild gives an award each year honoring a member of the Guild. This honor began in the year 2000 and is named for Bob McWhorter. Bob is passionate about storytelling and envisioned an annual storytelling festival in West Virginia. He drew together a dedicated group of volunteers who created the West Virginia Storytelling Festival at Jackson’s Mill 4-H Camp. For many years, the festival was a success and celebrated the art of traditional storytelling in the Mountain State. But, the festival did more than create an event. It solidified a cohesive storytelling community in West Virginia. The WV Storytelling Guild had existed prior to that first festival. But, the opportunity to meet on an annual basis helped to build a strong and vital organization.
To honor Bob’s vision, the WV Storytelling Guild created the Bob McWhorter Achievement Award. It is given annually to a member of the Guild that serves the storytelling community. The award is in the form of a clock and is presented each year to a deserving member at a regional or state-wide event.
Criteria:
The Bob McWhorter Achievement Award is given by the West Virginia Storytelling Guild to an individual who has served the storytelling community of the state. This honor is not limited to performing storytellers, or even to a member of the WV Storytelling Guild, but is open to anyone who has promoted storytelling and helped the storytelling community. Individuals who receive this award will be someone who has spearheaded a storytelling project, promoted West Virginia stories on a state or regional basis, or worked to make the art of storytelling and the WV Storytelling Guild strong. In general, the award is given to someone who is a visionary, a leader and exemplifies the spirit of service.
Recipients include:
2018: Fran Kirk: storyteller and educator, interim director of the WVF&JGFolklife Center
2017: Rich Knoblich: long time teller, officer and chair of clock award
2016: Judi Tarowsky: co-creator of the WVSG Festivals at Pricketts Fort and Grand Vue Park, creator of numerous events in the Greater Wheeling area, and fine teller of tales.
2015: Adam Booth: teller of a variety of style of story, founder of the Speak Story Series, and educator of Appalachian tales and folklore
2014: Susanna "Granny Sue" Holstein: tireless promoter of storytelling in WV who is a teller, blogger, and fine singer of many traditional ballads
2010: Jason Burns: In addition to a storytelling performer, Jason has served as Guild Webmaster and founder of West Virginia's Spectral Heritage Project
2009: JoAnn Dadisman - Editor-in-Chief of the WVSG book, From Our Mountains, and one-half of the storytelling group Mountain Echoes
2008: Bil Lepp - Nationally-recognized full-time storyteller with numerous awards and credits, leading teller of tall tales
2007: Suzi “Mama” Whaples - Mountain Women founder and performer of many original tales
2007: Paul Lepp - Six time winner of the WV Liars Contest held during the Vandalia Gathering music festival
2006: Betty Cross - Storyteller who is one of the leading authorities of WV supernatural phenomenon and historical tales
2005: Tiffany Turner - Organizer of the Strand Theatre Storytelling Festival
2004: Ilene Evans - Founder of Voices From the Earth and History Alive presentations
2003: Bonnie Collins - Winner of Vandalia Award and numerous other storytelling awards
2002: Karen Vuranch - Well known storyteller of original and adapted tales
2001: Judy Byers - Director of the Folklife Center at Fairmont State University
2001: Jodi French-Burr - First president of the WV Storytelling Guild and responsible for making it a nonprofit organization
2000: Susanna “Granny Sue” Holstein - Past president of WVSG
2000: Betty Bea Cox - Original cofounder of the WV Storytelling Festival
2000: Bob McWhorter (for whom the award is named) - Cofounder of the WV Storytelling Festival and patron of the WV Storytelling Festival
2000: David Mann - past director of the WV Storytelling Festival and former director of Jackson’s Mill
2000: Joe & Anne Hutchison - Original cofounders of the WV Storytelling Festival
Questions? Please send them to Judi at storytellerjudi@gmail.com. Do not use REPLY to this message. Thanks, one and all!
Reminder of Annual Meeting Schedule
2020 is shaping up to be a very special year for the West Virginia Storytelling Guild. It is the year of growing stories, growing telling, and growing friendships as we network, travel and learn throughout the coming months. Your board has chosen this year to give the gift of professional development to all guild members, so…..
April 25 (our annual meeting in Fairmont) will kick off the pro dev opportunities with TWO one hour mini-workshops. The first starts at 10:00 and teaches us how to incorporate audience participation into our presentations. The presenters are Katie and Otto Ross. At 11:00 you will be able to learn from Judi Tarowsky how to research, build and tell a historical story!! Conversations can continue over our BYOL (bring your own) lunch.
Come at 9:45 for coffee and a chance to claim your seat. The day has time and space for 2 workshops, the annual meeting, Storyswap and concert! We can all meet for dinner when we leave at 5:15 or so before we head home in daylight!
If you are ready to register for the classes, please let Katie Ross know via email at okross40@gmail.com. While registration is not required, your presenters will appreciate knowing the size of the group.
Those who are not guild members may also attend, but they will be charged a nominal fee, in the hopes they will see the benefits of membership in the WVSG.
FREE WORKSHOPS
NOT ONE, NOT TWO, BUT THREE FREE WORKSHOPS OFFERED TO GUILD MEMBERS IN THIS SPECIAL YEAR 2020
The first workshop, Invitation to Participation, starts at 10:00 on April 25 at the annual meeting. Katie and Otto Ross will teach us how to incorporate audience participation into our presentations. Katie aims for this workshop to be interactive, fun, and informative.
In the second workshop at 11:00 at the annual meeting you will be able to learn from Judi Tarowsky how to research, build and tell a historical story in her workshop entitled Long Form of Historical Narrative!! Conversations can continue over our BYOL (bring your own) lunch.
The third workshop is a day long event taking place on June 27, 2020 at the Louis Bennett Public Library in Weston, WV. The title is The Power of Play—Reviewing, Refreshing, and Reviving your Storytelling Skills by Kevin D. Cordi. In this active intensive workshop, Kevin draws upon his 25 years as an international/national storytelling consultant, coach, teller and teacher, and professor to model and equip you with new and innovative tools to shape your story development as it is being constructed. These techniques are not common in storytelling circles and will help you develop new directions in your telling ability. This event will run from 10:0 0 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. further details will follow in a few weeks. Stay tuned.
PLEASE LET KATIE ROSS KNOW NOW IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND ONE OR BOTH MINI WORKSHOPS AT THE ANNUAL MEETING. (okross40@gmail.com.) In a couple of weeks Katie will send out an additional email about the Kevin Cordi workshop in June.
Bill Hairston is sharing this flier about an event co-sponsored by SOCO and OSN. Click here to view the flier.
Calls for Tellers
Post-Annual Meeting Storytelling Concert CFT:
Following our annual meeting on April 23 at the West Virginia Frank and Jane Gabor Folklife Center in Fairmont, we will be featured in an hour-long concert from 4:00-5:00. We hope to showcase the talent of the guild as it supports this year’s theme: Swing into Spring with Tales from the WVSG”. Stories could be a bit spicy and tangy, can tickle the funny bone, or just produce a broad smile on the faces of the audiences. You will have about 15 minutes (or perhaps a bit less) to spin your tale.
If interested, please submit your name and the story you would like to share by Feb. 28. Include a sentence about your story. Send to your secretary, Jo Ann Dadisman at jdadisman@aol.com.
Mountain State Art and Craft Fair CFT:
The Mountain State Art and Craft Fair has invited the guild to tell stories at Cedar Lakes on July 2, 3, and 4. We have 3 slots daily (12, 2 and 4), with at least one hour dedicated each day to children's stories. Who is interested in telling? So far, we have Fred Powers, Mikalena, Mike Kubichek and Traveling Thomas. You could share an hour with another teller or tell for the full hour. Or two. Hopefully we can get lots of exposure. If you have questions or want to throw in your hat, please email Jo Ann at jdadisman@aol.com.
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