Blackwood Meeks
JAMAICA CAN now add a storytelling festival to its ever-growing list of such events. The festival, dubbed 'Likkle Story Fest', is being organised by Amina Blackwood Meeks.
If the small launch, which featured mainly teachers and students, is anything to go by, then the festival should be an interesting addition to the social calendar. Meeks was quick to point out that the 'likkle' was used for ironic effect, since the festival will not be small, and to emphasise who the storytellers will be.
The festival will take place over a week, lasting from Sunday, May 11, to Saturday, May 17. Meeks pointed out that the festival will attempt to take in the different regions of the country, with events in Kingston (for the eastern region), Buff Bay (for the northern region) and visits to specific schools in the west and Mandeville.
THE LAUNCH
The launch took place at The Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre, on Hope Road in St. Andrew on Wednesday, with students and teachers from schools as far off as Port Antonio attending. Although some of the students had come prepared to tell their tales, this aspect of the afternoon had to be put off due to time constraints.
The structure of the launch emphasised the effectiveness of the artform of storytelling. The audience was gathered in a circle, seated around a lit candle. Marsha Hamilton and Delroy James handled the introductory aspect of the afternoon. They involved the audience in their discussion and interspersed giving information about the value of storytelling with funny short stories.
Sidney Bartley, the director of Culture at the Culture Division of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, was the guest speaker. He noted that the division gladly supports the festival because of the importance of telling our own stories. He argued that telling our own stories is essential to understanding the Jamaican identity, rather than simply accepting the one given by outsiders. He explained that Jamaicans need their own stories so that it can be told 'exactly how it did go'.
His words, in large part, echoed the ideas expressed by Blackwood Meeks earlier. "We are looking at our stories for their possibilities to get us back to a place of healing," she explained. She noted that our stories are essential to reclaiming our identity.
SOCIAL SKILLS
Meeks argued that storytelling helps to encourages several disciplines essential to rearing and educating children. She stated that it promoted sitting still, listening, understanding, recall and teamwork, among other social skills.
"If we are going to preserve our culture we have to invest in a very real way in our young," she argued. This was the reason for aiming the festival at the youth.
The festival will also include performances by three as yet unnamed international storytellers as well as golden-agers who are not established storytellers, but are living, breathing repositories of tales.