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StoryConnect is a project of storytelling performances, workshops and in-services in area schools (K-12 + college and university, and general public), dealing directly with the issue of commonality and those activities which cause division: violence, racism and prejudice.
If you are interested in a StoryConnect storyteller please click on the event nearest you:
 Through StoryConnect performances, students and community members are introduced to top-notch storytellers from a variety of cultures. These artists perform works that speak to issues of character, critical thinking, participation in and responsibility to community, and the discovery of one's voice in order to fulfill one's own potential, respect the contributions of others and to take action towards a better future.
StoryConnect is a collaboration between storytellers of diverse ethnic backgrounds and local teachers and coordinators/librarians serving young people from the ethnic groups represented by the tellers within those ethnic groups. Each year one professional storytelling artist is selected to function as the performers/teaching artist for the project in Lincoln and another teller is chosen for Omaha. And occasionally, we are also able to offer other tellers who happen to be passing through Nebraska. Cultures selected reflect the ethnic minority cultures in Nebraska. Tellers are chosen because they have already developed quality works out of their own experiences, research, and awareness of the cultures and needs of the target audiences.
 StoryConnect will also produces high-quality teacher in-services and hands-on workshops in area schools and community centers. Teachers, counselors, ministers and youth activity facilitators are all overworked and overstressed. It is impossible for them to speak to the needs of all their constituents at all times. Importing a powerful and accessible storyteller using vibrant performance work serves to inspire teachers and local facilitators and enable them to focus dramatically on specific learnings related to the stories. Storytelling is essentially FUN because it immediately touches the heart. It fires the imagination, awakening dreams and desires of acceptance and communication. Storytelling is an antidote to lecture and lesson even if the story itself embodies a lesson. Storytelling has the ability to enliven and awaken. All good teachers are storytellers and already know this, so they are natural partners to this project.
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