It is truly wonderful when fortune smiles on you and the goddesses of fate let out a little more thread. Suddenly you can reach a little further, you are reinvigorated, reconnected – your life takes a turn for the better. A bit Pollyanna I suppose, but this seems to have happened to me more than once in my lifetime. Since shifting focus to my digital storytelling practice in 2010, it seems to have happened to me more frequently.
While I am not sure of the reason for the increased frequency, I am acutely aware of what it has meant to the success of my work. Success, as with all work in the arts, is not measured in dollars and cents, but in the sense of accomplishment – the knowledge your work has touched someone deeply or contributed to a betterment of the world.
I don’t go about my life willy-nilly, at the whim of fortune and fate. In fact, I believe we create opportunity by listening to our hearts, doing the work we are most passionate about, making a sincere effort be the best we can at the work we choose and reaching out to connect to the community around us. These are the broad brush strokes that colour my work; the richness of the colours comes from the depth of the relationships I make.
The partnership I have the Latitudes Storytelling Festival through the Latitudes and Longitudes Digital Storytelling Project is one such enriching experience. Through this collaboration I have conducted a series of community-based digital storytelling workshops in 2011 and 2012 and created Made In Kitchener, an interactive walking tour.
Both projects have allowed me to develop the skills and techniques I’ve applied in my work with community agencies such as House of Friendship, Community Justice Initiative and ArtsSmarts Waterloo Region. More importantly though, I’ve connected with amazing people and we’ve created and shared many stories. It’s, in part because of this I’m able to pursue the work I love – exploring the eternal connection between our stories and the place we call home.
Now, it’s time to pay forward this good fortune and help other explore the thread of life.
Fundraising Workshop March 23
On Saturday, March 23, 2013, I will donate my time to facilitate a one-day digital storytelling workshop in support of Latitudes Storytelling Festival. The theme for the fundraiser is taken from World Storytelling Day 2013 – Fortune and Fate.
The workshop fee is only $75, all of which goes the Festival.
I invite you to join me to share your personal stories and to support this important community organization.
Visually Speaking 