Watch the video:

Storytelling for Community Planning – Training Video from Orton Family Foundation on Vimeo.

Watch the slideshow:

SO, how, and who is taking a stab at it?

The Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) is one group that is building knowledge through communication — using hi and low-tech efforts to engage youth on a global issue. ACE has developed a dynamic presentation for schools that focuses on explaining what climate change is and how youth can become part of the solution in their communities. A school assembly that is cool? Really? YES! Check it out:

What’s most impressive, is the way ACE utilizes social media in a presentation that is fun, informative, hands-on, and digital. Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, ACE is informing and keeping the lines of communication open, and striking a balance between giving and getting information on the digital and keeping it real in the person-to-person.

Is ACE scheduled to do a presentation at your school – let us know how it goes. Are you using digital and social media in your work to further engage youth inside or outside the classroom on an issue or a project? Videos, photos, blogs, what are you using? What’s your approach, or where are the opportunities?

Summer at Digital Explorations

We offer a sampling of our innovative, experiential workshops here in our Vermont barn. If you’re interested in exploring the rich promise of storytelling and social media join us. Be inspired by our surroundings and our creative exercises and expertise. We tailor our workshops to meet the needs and interests of our participants.

Ask us about our Workshops-to-Go!

Connections, Conversation and Creativity: A Social & Expressive Media Workshop July 8 – 10

How do we harness the connective and creative potential of online practices in our communities? How do we move beyond simple information sharing to fostering creativity and sustained collaboration? In three days of discussion and hands-on activities, we cover a range of social and expressive media practices to enhance communication and collaboration, to foster creative culture, and to engage our communities actively in our work. Limited to 10

Storytelling in Our Communities July 30 – August 1 October 1 -3

In this workshop, we explore storytelling in community-based efforts. We help participants design storytelling projects for civic engagement and participation, using a range of old and new media to enhance bonds and build bridges across community while creating a vision for the future. We cover traditional and digital storytelling methods in an experiential, fun-filled three days. Limited to 10

The Whole Story: Deep Creativity and Balance August 6 – 8 September 17 – 19

During three days of storytelling, movement and meditation, we will deepen our practice as artists, activists and citizens. Learn to listen deeply and actively, to share stories, and to incorporate the serious play of creativity into your life. Workshop Leaders: Barbara Ganley and Cynthia Fuller-Kling

Workshop Leaders:

Barbara Ganley, Director and Founder of Digital Explorations. Known for her energy, her creative exercises, and her deep knowledge in the field, Barbara brings over twenty years of teaching writing and creative thinking, and eight years working in the worlds of social media and digital storytelling to our workshops. Read more about her on our About Us page. Remy Mansfield, Storytelling Fellow. Remy brings his great skill in digital storytelling, in designing and leading storytelling workshops for youth, and his gifts as a photographer to the workshop setting. Read more about him here. Cynthia Fuller-Kling: Cynthia joins us for The Whole Story workshops this year. A former modern dancer, she has been a noted yoga teacher for twenty years and artist who draws upon movement, photography, video and language in her installations and performances.

Daily Schedule for All Workshops:

9:00 -noon Morning session noon-1:00 Lunch 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Afternoon Session

Location:

Tucked away at the end of a long dirt driveway, and yet just two miles from the center of Middlebury, Vermont, you’ll find our barn studio, fields and patios set in glorious surroundings with pastoral views reaching to both the Green Mountains and the Adirondacks. Workshops meet in the barn studio and porch, and, as weather permits, out on the nearly 70 acres around us. At the end of the day, you’ll have time to explore the countryside (lakes, mountains, villages) by foot, bike or car.

Lodging & Meals:

For overnight accommodation, many charming inns and bed & breakfasts dot the area. Contact us for recommendations. As a college town, Middlebury has an array of dining options. We will cook and eat together the first evening; Digital Explorations will provide local-ingredient based lunches.

Costs:

$400 per three-day workshop includes all instruction and materials, three lunches and one dinner. Lodging not included. Take a peek at our setting through this Flickr slide show. For more information: Email: Barbara@digitalexploration.org Phone: 802 989 1885

What we believe:

• Employing social and expressive media practices strengthens bonds and bridges between people and communities;
• Bringing together individuals, local informal and formal groups and institutions within a downtown third place enhances a sense of community;
• Coming together within an informal place of creative exploration develops reciprocal apprenticeships across community divides, offers new ways to approach lifelong learning, builds local creativity, and provides opportunities for collaborative planning for the community’s future.