Workshop invites military families to tell stories

Staff report

New castle

The New Castle Area School District will host a unique event for military families from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday.

“Voices from the Home Front: The Art of Telling Your Family’s Story” is a workshop that seeks to celebrate the art of storytelling by creating a “living archive” of the voices of military families in our community.

All military families — active or veteran — are encouraged to participate.

“Everyone has a story to tell,” said Jennifer Scott, co-founder of Muse-Art. “We want to give military families the opportunity to record, share and preserve the stories of their lives. It is our hope that this event will illuminate the power of storytelling. Stories are what make us uniquely human; it reminds us of our shared humanity.”

Participants will learn the fundamentals of storytelling and interviewing tips and strategies, and trained facilitators will work one-on-one to help each family create a multimedia story that is unique to each family’s life-story and the memories they want to preserve.

Throughout the evening, participants will engage in experiential learning and rotate through digital storytelling stations including narrative, audio, sound effects, photography, images and video.

Each family will have their family crest printed in color on high-quality parchment paper and framed.

They also will be given a Muse-Art DVD/CD ROM that will equip them with multimedia resources to help them continue to preserve and tell their family story.

Muse-Art will edit the materials from the storytelling seminar and mail each family their produced digital story.

“We are trying to create and strengthen meaningful connections in our local community,” said Timothy Mobley, co-founder of Muse-Art. “The stories will be collected and premiered at a public exhibit later this year.”

The workshop will be at the George Washington Intermediate School, 101 East Euclid Avenue, New Castle, Pa.

To register or for more information, visit www.muse-art.org/events or contact Timothy Mobley at 412-337-4859 or by email at tmobley@muse-art.org.

Participants must register by Tuesday.

The event is a pilot project sponsored by Muse-Art and the Midwestern Arts and Humanities Foundation.

The Midwestern Arts and Humanities Foundation is affiliated with Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV and supports the arts in schools and communities in Butler, Lawrence and Mercer counties.