Thirteenth International Conference on The Arts in Society

Abstract

This showcase focuses on creative tools to help participants discover their power as social creators. These tools can also be the starting point for creating written or performance work. Specifically, we can use fun, interactive activities that help people learn about each other’s different perspectives and practice the skills of empathy, witnessing, and collaborative thinking. Rather than focusing on the writer/performer, these games keep the focus on the gestalt of creative work - which includes audience. These activities can be applied with theatre or writing groups, but also in leadership development, facilitation and team building. They are appropriate for experienced artists and those who don’t consider themselves artists at all. In specific, the presenter will provide pedagogy, rationale and an opportunity to practice (both as participant and facilitator). These storytelling prompts - and their variations - focus on “early memories” of personal events like “remembering someone expressing patriotism,” “realizing what an immigrant has endured,” “being aware of your own race.” The prompts offer participants an opportunity for “safe vulnerability” about moments when personal and social constructions meet. Participants will have the opportunity to play and discuss, learn various applications for games connecting people to their abilities as social creators, and facilitation techniques for these activities in a variety of settings. Participants leave with instructions on how to create their own set of “story-cards” from template provided.