Hey Everybody,
I wanted to let all my Storytelling Family know that my finest hour will be this Wed. August 12, 2009 at the Old Schoolhouse (behind the Library) in Jonesborough, TN from 7pm to 8 pm I hope you all can make it. I do apologize for being so late with this information. So please come and let me tell you my Stories... Hope you all are doing well.. Take care,,, Kenny
Monday, August 10, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Response to David's Post
Your post regarding "following your bliss" is disconcerting. Many of us have followed our bliss by entering this program, hoping to apply what we have learned in some sort of marketplace. If storytelling is as fundamentally valuable as we have been led to believe, certainly that value must apply to any period of time. Relevance, utility and service have always been criteria for evaluating a business. The question must be: Should storytelling be considered a viable business? If so, perhaps we need to look at how our profession stacks up against other businesses. Should we be learning more about entrepreneurship? What exactly does it take to obtain recognition and credibility? What exactly do we offer that the general public needs and do they recognize that need? How can we create a perception of value when so many storytellers are willing to work for little or no pay?
In my short experience at ETSU, these issues come up but don't seem to be important enough to demand answers. The value of storytelling seems to be altruistic first and foremost. As I end my studies here and contemplate some sort of application, I am befuddled in regards to how to overcome these obstacles. In my opinion, the answer lies in combinatorics and grass roots marketing - both of which we discussed in class. Storytelling must find its relevance to other art forms and hitch its wagon to those somehow. A storyteller needs to be more versatile and have a variety of artistic abilities that combine to add variety. The public has developed a certain standard through its exposure to the whatever artistic diversity is available in the mass media. It is a media of immediacy and impatience. Though storytelling provides balance, it must also be competitive in this regard.
The idea of doing house concerts - reverting back to the Salons - makes a great deal of sense to me and I plan to start those immediately. The need for community is huge, as demonstrated by all the on-line communities. Since that idea is so popular, why not bring that community into reality through storytelling. Bringing people together in neighborhoods through storytelling would fulfill a great need.
Collaboration is another way to expand the definition of storytelling and provide the audience with more variety. Collaboration among storytellers would be one way, but I also think collaboration with other types of artists would be wonderful as well. I'm headed that direction.
Let's keep discussing this - I'm anxious to hear other opinions!
In my short experience at ETSU, these issues come up but don't seem to be important enough to demand answers. The value of storytelling seems to be altruistic first and foremost. As I end my studies here and contemplate some sort of application, I am befuddled in regards to how to overcome these obstacles. In my opinion, the answer lies in combinatorics and grass roots marketing - both of which we discussed in class. Storytelling must find its relevance to other art forms and hitch its wagon to those somehow. A storyteller needs to be more versatile and have a variety of artistic abilities that combine to add variety. The public has developed a certain standard through its exposure to the whatever artistic diversity is available in the mass media. It is a media of immediacy and impatience. Though storytelling provides balance, it must also be competitive in this regard.
The idea of doing house concerts - reverting back to the Salons - makes a great deal of sense to me and I plan to start those immediately. The need for community is huge, as demonstrated by all the on-line communities. Since that idea is so popular, why not bring that community into reality through storytelling. Bringing people together in neighborhoods through storytelling would fulfill a great need.
Collaboration is another way to expand the definition of storytelling and provide the audience with more variety. Collaboration among storytellers would be one way, but I also think collaboration with other types of artists would be wonderful as well. I'm headed that direction.
Let's keep discussing this - I'm anxious to hear other opinions!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Bliss or Bust?
Reading my horoscope in the local free paper, the writer advises "follow your bliss and the money will come."
If you have studied the Heroes' Journey you are probably aware of Joseph Campbell's dictum to "follow your bliss." This idea was embraced by the culture in the 1980's following the popular series of interviews filmed just before Campbell's death.
From 1986 to 1996 I followed my bliss into storytelling and prospered, working for The Lincoln Center, The LA Music Center, the Disney Company and being featured many times at The National Storytelling Festival. The past decade, however, has been a constant toss of the dice as the former prosperity parts from the path of bliss. I am now convinced that the cultural moment was right for Campbell's dictum in the 1980s but the self-centered pursuit of bliss is not what the present moment wants. Today the determinations of value are Relevence, Utility, and Service. If you fail to meet these criteria, following your bliss may lead into a folly of blindness.
What do you think?
If you have studied the Heroes' Journey you are probably aware of Joseph Campbell's dictum to "follow your bliss." This idea was embraced by the culture in the 1980's following the popular series of interviews filmed just before Campbell's death.
From 1986 to 1996 I followed my bliss into storytelling and prospered, working for The Lincoln Center, The LA Music Center, the Disney Company and being featured many times at The National Storytelling Festival. The past decade, however, has been a constant toss of the dice as the former prosperity parts from the path of bliss. I am now convinced that the cultural moment was right for Campbell's dictum in the 1980s but the self-centered pursuit of bliss is not what the present moment wants. Today the determinations of value are Relevence, Utility, and Service. If you fail to meet these criteria, following your bliss may lead into a folly of blindness.
What do you think?
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