Wow!  Summer is here in full effect.

The fires have arrived and the smoke is thick in parts of Missoula Valley. I hope you all are staying cool, creating new stories and getting out of the smoke when you can.

My intention at the beginning of 2017 was to send a newsletter each month with some updates about what Tell Us Something has been up to, maybe some links to some storytelling articles. I fell out of that habit because, well, summer, right? This is not to say I haven’t been working hard to continue helping people share their stories.

Let’s catch up.

Teaching Artist

The spring of 2017 saw me in the classroom at Washington Middle School teaching storytelling to eighth graders. I’m hoping to return there again in the spring, and have tentative plans to be at C.S. Porter teaching storytelling to sixth graders this fall.

With that in mind, I attended a Spark training called “Teaching Artist Training “Mapping the Journey: Planning Effective Residencies for Students”. Basically, we spent two days learning how to better write residency plans and lesson plans. It inspired me to do better this year in the classroom than I did last year and it’s always exciting to grow and learn new things.

The June 20 live event at The Wilma was a success by all measures. When the doors opened at 6PM, I was confident in all of the storytellers and thier stories. One thing I was uncertain about was: would anyone show up? June has traditionally been the least attended Tell Us Something event of the year, and it was, after all, the Solstice. It was a beautiful day, and on the longest day of the year, around 410 people came out to support live storytelling in their community. What an incredible night. If you missed it, subscribe to the podcast, as those stories are trickling out now. 

Tell Us Something hosted our first adult non-performance based workshop in Helena at the Lewis and Clark Public Library.

We also launched our very own YouTube channel. The channel will feature storytellers’ stories from the past 6 years. Expect to see two stories each week on Mondays and Wendesdays. Subscribe to the YouTube channel if you haven’t already!

Tell Us Something is partnering with the In the Footsteps of Norman Maclean Festival to bring you a night of storytelling and I’ve been working hard prepping for the September 10 live event on the theme “Up the Blackfoot”. Looking forward to seeing you at The Wilma for this evening of stories that closes out the Festival. Tickets are available now at the Top Hat box office, Rockin Rudy’s or thewilma.com