Críticas Magazine

Loida García-Febo

Storytelling for Children and Seniors!
February 25, 2008

Hello from Copenhagen! Hej fra københavn.

This one comes to you from lovely Copenhagen where I am coordinating various activities from IFLA New Professionls Discussion Group for the annual IFLA conference in Quebec, and other future conferences.

The city and the people are amazing. But it is cold and windy. I started to think 'warm weather, sun, beaches, palm trees;' all type of dreamy things to keep me going. Next thing, I remembered a package received from Miami-Dade Public Library announcing their Art of Storytelling Professional Exchange Workshop and Internationa Festival Day to be held on May 2^nd at their Central Library in Downtown Miami.

This year, the schedule look fantastic! I am not aware of any other public library in the USA taking on a mammoth project like Miami-Dade's Storytelling festival. They are doing a great job promoting this beautiful art that bring so much joy to people from all ages. I was really happy to see a workshop titled, Reaching Seniors through Storytelling among the many events. Storytelling for Seniors- whoa! I wish I could send all my outreach staff to that workshop. Other workshops include Creating the Storytellng Classroom, From Salsa to Merengue: Hispanic Programs for Children and Tales & Techniques.

Workshop leaders include Connie-Regan Black (recipient of a 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Storytelling Network), Diane Williams and Dr. Caren Neile founding director of South Florida Storytelling Project at Florida Atlantic University.

The festival is the culmination of a year's work. In 2001, Miami-Dade PL established the Art of Storytelling which offers an international exchange program during which librarians, storytellers and cultural artists research and perform their craft in each other's country. The project ends in Miami-Dade County with a week-long series of branch visits, professional workshops and the International Festival Day.

Hellos to Maria Cotto and LIS students in Rhode Island. I am glad to know that you are following the blog and discussing it in class!

Posted by Loida García-Febo on February 25, 2008 | Comments (1)