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!