Storytelling Fellowships
As part of the Aberdeen Storytelling and Theatre Festival, the Scottish Arts Council is funding the first ever Storytelling Fellowship for Aberdeen City Schools. The post is shared by two professional storytellers, Margot Henderson and Cathy Low, both of whom will be available to city schools throughout the year.
The fellowship will be officially launched at the beginning of this year's Festival and will run for 14 months, through to the end of the Festival next year.
The storytellers, though based at Northfield Library, will spend most of their time working in schools throughout the city developing a number of storytelling projects. Both storytellers have a wealth of experience and have a wide-ranging repertoire of local stories as well as tales from all over the world.
The fellowship will also enable Cathy and Margot to develop their craft and research stories, as well as allowing them to encourage school children to become interested in the art of storytelling.
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Margot has a background in Community Arts, and trained in dance, drama, art therapy and ceremonial tradition.
She brings her storytelling to life by combining it with music, song, dance and poetry and has been creating and telling stories ever since she was a small child, using a garden shed as a storyhouse. |
She and her friends used to dress up in their mothers' clothes, and made up stories and plays, which they performed for the neighbours for 3d!
Now a professional poet and storyteller, Margot has worked with people from all walks of life, and in a wide range of settings. These have included schools, day centres, hospitals, prisons, psychiatric units and homeless shelters.
As well as telling folk tales and myths, Margot likes to create her own stories to celebrate specific occasions and locations. She also reanimates local stories with the aim of making people gain a greater understanding of the area in which they live.
A range of organisations have commissioned Margot to create and perform her work, including Scottish National Heritage, the Findhorn Foundation, Ballet Rambert, the Barbican Centre and the Tate.
Margot says 'I am thrilled to be a Storytelling Fellow in Aberdeen. I feel the post has a lot of scope and breadth and depth to it. It is a great opportunity to get to know the city, its people and the stories held in these granite stones. I am really pleased to be sharing the fellowship with Cathy, as there's more than one way to skin a story and it is a chance to collaborate and share good practice...gathering stories, blethering stories.'
Like Margot, Cathy's storytelling began when she was a child. She always loved listening to stories, and always asked her mother for 'one from her heart' when asked what story she would like to hear! These stories of nature, life, homes and relationships, fuelled her imagination and soon she was telling stories to her sisters. Through time she learnt how to develop the stories and how to use her voice to make the stories more exciting and to capture the audience.
Cathy is a powerful storyteller who always engages and delights listeners of all ages. Her repertoire is wide-ranging, encompassing traditional Scottish traveller tales, ancient myths, stories from nature and contemporary tales.
Many of her stories are based on the local environment and history of her native Deeside and she uses real characters to bring the past to life.
Cathy also teaches French, English and Drama and combines storytelling with these, always bringing enthusiasm and a sense of fun to her sessions.
Cathy says 'I am very happy that Aberdeen now has a Storytelling Fellowship and I look forward to a great adventure with my fellow Storytelling Fellow. We set out to listen to the stories we will hear all around us and to bring stories from far and near to the hearts and minds of people we will meet along the way.'
| Margot will be telling stories in the Art Gallery as part of the Multi-Arts Days and Cathy will be telling stories in the Central Children's Library as part of the programme with Citymoves. Cathy is also available to come to your school and tell stories of the sea, from Sri Lanka (where she recently spent some time) to Scotland. For further information on events or on the Storytelling Fellowship please contact Annette Murray either by telephone on 01224 346029 or by email. | |