StoryTelling – African Stages

Story-Powering Our Youth (SPOY) Workshop

Comfort Ero — Sat, 28 May 2016 04:59:49 +0000

Story-Powering our Youth Workshop (SPOY) is a project for youth of any kind but mostly new-comers, or at risk who are in need of guidance. The SPOY workshops are sponsored by the Province of British Columbia. The Province of British Columbia is supporting this on-going project since 2012. Also, African Stages get grants and sponsorship from other bodies of government and private sector. This year, 2016, SPOY got sponsorship from two sources: The Province of British Columbia and the City of Surrey – Cultural Grant.

The Story-Powering our Youth (SPOY) is a combination of different ethnic performing arts and modern theatre which the process of rehearsal will help the youths with self-exploration of their abilities, gaining self-esteem while performing on the stage, and experiencing peer-support during dance and drumming practices and team-work for theatre. The process is put together by Comfort Ero, the founder of African Stages Association of BC.

Comfort Ero, the former high school principal from Nigeria with Master Degree in Education, and Narges Sonya Govahi, the former high school drama instructor from Iran with Master Degree in Dramatic Literature, are the instructors of SPOY with more than 50 years (put together) experience in theatre and working with youth and education. They are perfect match for delivering a life changing workshop for youth in British Columbia.

ArtStarts Showcase 2012

asa_admin — Mon, 25 Apr 2016 18:00:45 +0000

Story-Telling on the Move Symposium 2016

Comfort Ero — Sun, 24 Apr 2016 17:00:41 +0000

Story-Telling on the Move Symposium 2016 was a project sponsored by Canada Council for the Arts and Kwantlen Polytechnic University – Surrey Branch for celebration of Black History Month 2016.

The symposium turned to be a very successful event that had more than 100 participants from KPU students and Vancouver Society of Storytellers artists and storytellers and community members.

The keynote speaker was Mary Gavan, writer, storyteller, and a respected active member of Storytellers of Canada – Conteurs du Canada. Her speech focus was on “Evolution of Storytelling in Digital Era”.

The panel of discussants were:

Dr. Charles Quist-Adade (moderator),

Dr. R. B. Herath (founder of Global Peace Alliance) discussion was about Storytelling as A Tool for Global Peace,

Alban Goulden (writer and activist for mental health) spoke about Storytelling, Modern Media and People with Disability,

Jessica Barrett (award winning writer and journalist) argued on Reviving the Art of Storytelling in a Modern Garb,

Amy Wuttunee Eustergerling (Cree Nation storyteller and musician) mentioned about The Pros. and Cons. of Telling Stories in Modern Life. Each of the panel members talked about their own experiences and concerns about mental health, global peace, First Nations of Canada, and journalism and social media with an eye on storytelling and storytelling on the move (focused on digital version of storytelling).

There were four workshops, two concurrent at the time, led by three storytellers and a dancer and musician, all from Metro Vancouver:

Naomi Steinberg (workshop: Interactive Storytelling and the New Social Media), Kira Van Deusen (workshop: Story-gathering Along the Ages and its Baggage), Comfort Ero (workshop: Different Benefits of Storytelling), and Veronique Mulungie (workshop: Storytelling and African Musical Instruments).

One of the best part of the symposium was Yoro Noukoussi and his young sons’ drumming session. They added synergy to the symposium and brought a fabulous African rhythm and life to the event.

By the generous sponsorship of Canada Council for the Arts, we were able to employ two sign language interpreters from Preferred Interpreters of Canada and introduced our first inclusive project to deaf society.

The program was very interactive and energetic full of movement, dance, and music, alongside discussions and workshops that amazed audiences and participants to know how much storytelling is important in all aspects of human society and growth of the community in compassion, understanding, and collaboration with each other.