· Welcome to the storytelling conference in Switzerland, Aug 5-7 2009
· Background to F.E.S.T.
· Short report from the conference in Oslo 2008

Welcome to the storytelling conference in Switzerland, Aug 5-7, 2009

About the event
The 2009 edition of FEST-conference will be organised by Swisstales, the platform for storytellers in Switzerland. Storytellers and organisers from countries all over Europe will come together in Lausanne in Agust to exchange knowledge, build networks and start cooperations and projects across all borders. Lausanne represents a suitable link between all Swiss cultures as well as a symbolic middle point of Europe.

Contact
For questions to the organiser, write to Deidre Foster: info@swisstales.ch
Do you want the newsletter for F.E.S.T click here: www.swisstales.ch
You can join the F.E.S.T-group on Professional Storyteller: http://professionalstoryteller.ning.com/

Background

Since the early eighties storytelling is having its renaissance all over Europe. Professional artists tour around the countries with performance storytelling. Clubs for enthusiasts are organizing local events. New applications for storytelling are being developed among educators, in health care, businesslife etc. International festivals are organized in many countries. Special educations for storytellers are being developed. Large storytelling projects for young people is part of the scene.
Through the years organizers and groups around Europe have cooperated on projects and exchanged artists and experiences across the borders. Since 2002 efforts have been made to create a base for full European exchange between storytellers. In August 2008 a conference was held in Oslo with sixty representatives of nineteen countries and regions. Discussions were held on how to cooperate on a larger scale, and how to organise. The following report mirrors the discussions and ideas of FEST.

Short report from the F.E.S.T conference in Oslo 14 – 16 Aug 2008

Report and Thoughts from Martin Manasse, Society for Storytelling, England
The events of the three days of the conference were quite intense and it has only been since I returned to England that I have really sensed what a wonderful and significant event took place there. This report is a spontaneous summary of my recollections and impressions while they are still fresh. An official report from Oslo will follow in about three months time. If your memories differ from mine or you have others to tell me I will delighted to hear from you.

The Conference
The fact that this conference took place at all is a tribute to the energy and tenacity of Heidi Dahlsveen (University College, Oslo) who rescued it from the wreckage of the original Stavanger symposium that was cancelled after an abrupt withdrawal of funds from the local authority. Heidi single-handedly organised meeting spaces, sleeping places, eating and socialising venues, agendas and a series of e-mail bulletins to ensure that everyone knew what they needed to know. This report is likely to be one of many papers, recordings, photos and videos that she will draw upon to make the official report.

The acronym FEST stands for “Federation for European Storytelling” and was attended by over sixty representatives of nineteen countries: Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and Wales. The first day was entirely given over to reports from each country so that we learned of the many issues our colleagues face and the extent to which those mirrored or differed from our own.

There are significant differences between countries in terms of how much activity in storytelling is going on, how it is organised and whether there are National societies, regional societies or, in some cases, no societies at all. In some countries state support is virtually non-existent, in others there are governments that are actually hostile towards culture and, for many delegates, involvement with FEST was seen as a possible means to change attitudes in their countries. Some delegates had had little contact with other storytellers, let alone those from other countries, and found a great sense of comfort and support from the knowledge that their difficulties and ambitions were shared and understood by their colleagues.

Armed with this information we then met on the second day to receive a very useful talk on European Union funding from a representative of the Norwegian Arts Council. We learned that there are three specific objectives that must be met in order to succeed, these being:
Transnational mobility of cultural operators
Transnational circulation of works of art and cultural goods and artistic products
Intercultural dialogue.
Applications will only be considered from properly constituted non-profit bodies or the Governments of EU or EU related countries.

Now it was time to examine the idea of FEST, the brainchild of Abbi Patrix (France) and Mats Rehnman (Sweden). There were inevitably many important topics and these were broken down into five main categories, which were then discussed simultaneously by the delegates in five groups who then reported back.

After lunch, the reports were summarised into five key subjects and again the delegates divided for discussion and returned to report. There followed, until time for the evening meal, a wide-ranging discussion on why there should be a European organisation, how it might be set up and what it should be. This left for the final session on Saturday morning the real question of “what happens next, if anything”. Although work for the day was technically over, this question for Saturday formed a major part of the informal talk over dinner and drinks on Friday evening.

Outcomes

It is probably easier to describe where we got to than to say how we got there.

Question: What is FEST? Answer: FEST is both an idea and people.
Question: Why FEST? Answer: Because the fact that so many delegates came and offered enthusiastic support demonstrates the desire for international contact and cooperation and FEST is perceived to have great potential to strengthen and broaden knowledge and understanding of storytelling.
Question: How to make FEST? Abbi, Mats and Heidi have between them lit a torch we could liken to the Olympic torch, so it must stay alight and be carried by successive relays of torchbearers.

There were many more questions and more discussions in groups. In order to see what each delegate might offer to do, Mats drew a great Viking boat, a storytelling dragon, on a huge sheet of paper and there were heads and shoulders visible and lines representing an oar from each figure. Each delegate than wrote their name and country on a figure and a message of their intended role, however great or small, on the oar and this was photographed and will, we hope, be available electronically to us all.

Next Conference:
Deirdre Foster and Marie-Jeanne Bucher-Isenmann from Switzerland have offered to host the next conference in August 2009. Several colleagues have volunteered to form a committee to assist and there is already talk of a site in Lucerne near Lake Geneva possibly with camping facilities. A few days of workshops or seminars in the days running up to the conference are also proposed.

Communication:
The delegation from Greece has offered to take on electronic communication so that FEST can have web pages and an e-forum for the exchange of news, information and ideas as well as a site to place the images from 2008.

There were many other topics highlighted and these were narrowed to key headings that would, as it were, form the trunks of trees whose branches would then form the sub-headings. Certain delegates have already committed to leading on the topics and a list of these contacts with e-mail addresses will undoubtedly be issued in due course. Key topics were:

Administration:
How to administer FEST is still a matter for discussion but a number of issues arose: “Money divides” – a wonderful thought from Abbi about making sure that great care be taken in being transparent and even-handed in all financial matters. There is a strong desire to keep any system of administration simple, to avoid over-ambitious tasks and definitely to avoid bureaucracy.

Education:
Sub headings: Storytelling for children and young people, training people to become storytellers, training the next generation of young storytellers and, possibly, training storytellers and teachers to work together both in terms of giving teachers storytelling skills and highlighting the differences between the functions of teachers and storytellers in the classroom and how they complement each other.

Festivals:
A group of delegates involved with some of the European festivals will lead an international exchange of information on ideas, techniques, dates, venues and any other aspects of festivals. They also intend to ensure that a comprehensive list of festivals appears on all European storytelling websites.

Healing:
Subheadings: Health, therapy, learning difficulties and autism, storytelling in prisons or secure units.

Language:
Language was seen as a very important issue. It was recognised that the use of English as the conference language might well have kept some countries away. It was also made clear by the Arts Council representative that a successful EU application would have to be multi-lingual. In many countries there are ethnic differences that give rise to several languages or regional dialects and it was felt very strongly that nobody should be able to say, “FEST does not speak for me” on the grounds of language. Delegates have already volunteered to cooperate over information dissemination to ensure that, at the very least, official bulletins from FEST will be in English, French, German and Spanish.

Stories:
Much emphasis was set on the exchange of stories and there was an idea for a Europe-wide project to tell a specific story in many different languages in many different countries. There is already a volunteer to lead on Norse Mythology. Other areas of discussion touched on the possibility of an international library of stories (electronic?) and an archive.

FEST has been born and will, we hope and intend, both continue and grow. It is an honour to be part of it.

Martin Manasse August 2008