Storyteller Seasonal Series: Spring
Adam, our Storyteller-in-residence at Scene & Heard, shares a diary of his work over the last 3 months. This is the third instalment of a seasonal series, featuring monthly reflections of his time working as a community storyteller.
March
This was a relatively quiet time for activities. At the start of the month I did my advanced Oral History Training online, which I enjoyed a lot. Then it was back to planning and organisation; necessary, but not quite the super-massive adventure-time that gets the heart racing!
Thankfully, we had some great creative workshops at Scene & Heard, where the young artists designed and presented their Climate-Saving devices. I was also lucky enough to get a free ticket to the British Library Fairy Tale exhibition :-)
Goals:
Develop and execute interesting climate-themed workshops
Plan 2 x community workshop events for April
Continue to build new relationships
April
This month was Workshop City! I learned some great clay sculpting and spray painting techniques (along with a history of graffiti and its evolution in east London), watched a lot of online art tutorials, and pushed myself to experiment with this new knowledge in my creative arts sessions.
Then, at last, I delivered my first two creative community workshops, and they were a great success! The bulk of the attendees had never been to Scene & Heard before, and they stayed for long periods at a time. The tidy up operation at the end of the last session lasted as long as the session itself but it was ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT! I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I returned home that day.
Goals:
Learn new art techniques to use in workshops
Promote and deliver two community-focused workshops
Keep meeting local community partners
May
I'm still going!
I was only able to fit in two workshops this month; a collage workshop, and an animal face mask session. Both were a lot of fun, and the animal face masks were enhanced with cloth from a textile donation I received from a local charity shop.
Some of my time was also spent planning a creative session for London Climate Action Week. I have a few non-Melting Metropolis projects on, so the most important thing for me to achieve is... balance! At times I've let my excitement for the project and the chance to meet new collaborators lead me to an overambitious diary. However, I am now a lot more measured, and clear about what will be possible and what will need to stay in the drafts folder.
Goals:
Explore more creative arts workshops
Continue planning for Climate Action week event
