Give us an outline of the activity delivered. Think about the area(s) you told us you wanted to focus on.
Were you able to do this? If you weren’t able to do what you set out to, tell us what happened:
My activity included creating new work in the form of illustrated short stories, experimenting with new collaborators in various storytelling workshops, attending courses by experienced mentors and expanding my network throughout the UK. I was able to experiment with different approaches and mediums.
In October 2022 I attended the Scottish Storytelling Festival in Edinburgh, and got to experience a rich variety of different approaches to storytelling, including live performances that featured visual elements, and talk to professional storytellers about their work and getting programmed.
A selkie animation from the Domestika course
In March 2023 I made a research trip to the Folklore Society and the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library in London, and with the help of Dr Caroline Oates and Sophie Crawford did a week of reading and research which thoroughly strengthened my understanding of Folklore in an academic and historical context.
In June 2023 I completed the Domestika animation course, crafting a short animation that played with the imagery of the Selkie
In this month I also attended the Ty Newydd Storytelling course, an incredible workshop where I worked alongside experienced storytellers and fresh talent alike to hone the craft of live storytelling, and to understand the principles that allow us to keep the oral tradition vibrant and alive.
A video summary of the Ty Newydd Storytelling Workshop 2023 with Phil Okwedy and Daniel Morden
Throughout this period I was writing and illustrating short stories with the support of Eilidh Bryan and Cai Burton. I was also introduced to the mediums of crankie theatres, kamishibai and rakugo during this period, which felt aesthetically more suited to the work than digital animation, and so became part of my ongoing activity. I researched into
In August 2024 I attended the Oxford Storytelling Festival. As well as experiencing a new cross section of performers sharing stories from different backgrounds (Nigeria, Georgia, Russia), I had the opportunity to hone my storytelling skills with a new audience, testing out my new crankie theatres and getting feedback from attendees.
Tell us what you learned, and how the activity has helped you to develop:
I feel the activity has taught me so much that I couldn’t have anticipated at the outset, and has given me a strong foundation on which to expand my practice. I learned a lot about the audiences who access storytelling events, and the different ways in which practitioners can approach and present this medium to different emotional effects. I expanded my understanding around the current aesthetic incarnation of ‘folklore’, and also how this has been repackaged and represented by different creators over the centuries. I now have a much richer understanding and experience of the contemporary UK storytelling scene, and how stories from other cultures compare and contrast. I also gained familiarity with different tools, both historical and contemporary for sharing imagery alongside stories, and thoroughly fell in love with the medium of crankie theatres and kamishibai. They both offer the analogue qualities I want to lean into, whilst also lending themselves well to online performances.
My final performance of “Three Strange Brothers”, cowritten/directed with Alice Knight
My main areas of personal development have been in both writing and performing stories for a live audience. I gained an understanding of what my strengths are as a teller, where I still need development,and how I might carve a place for myself within the shifting scene of professional storytelling. My collaborations with other writers, artists and tellers throughout this period have pushed me outside of my comfort zone and l am very excited about the stories and imagery that have come from this period.
I also found the experience of having coaching support transformative. Working with Cai Burton helped me to work through the unhelpful relationship to social media I have developed through my tattooing practice, and encouraged me to truly take time and risks to explore work without the need for an immediate external validation. Without this support I do not think the activity would have been as beneficial as I have found it.
Tell us what you think will happen as a result of this development period .
Think about any longer-term impact that the development work you’ve done is likely to have on your practice.
Going forward I am excited to continue connecting with new audiences and create stories for different contexts, both on and offline. The activity has given me a focused period of time to develop my creative voice and make connections with appropriate outlets to perform the work live.
I had originally envisioned the activity culminating in an exhibition, but as the work developed it became apparent that interaction and performance were integral to the experiences I was trying to create, and that a gallery space would not necessarily be the best venue for this. Consequently, I redirected the time and resources originally earmarked for exhibition purposes into further researching the materials and mechanisms that would help me present my crankie theatres to a live audience. I have been invited to perform at story nights in Sussex, Oxford and Manchester, and intend to continue developing my body of crankie theatres for new audiences. I have been in conversations with Eilidh Bryan of Headstrung Puppetry about performing my crankie theatres at Shambala Festival’s puppetry tent, and also developing concepts for a longer stage piece.
With the support of Cai Burton as coach, I am also developing the stories I have written and illustrated as part of this activity into an illustrated anthology. It is inspired by the practice of writers such as Daisy Johnson and Blindboy Boatclub, and intended as both a companion and an expansion to my live performances.
Despite its success, self-publishing my original Folklore book felt like quite an isolated experience. With the networks and skills I have developed during this activity I know my future projects will be better informed, better crafted, and reach a wider and more varied audience. I am very excited about my future in the sphere of storytelling, and cannot thank ACE enough for the boon of time and resources that has allowed me to nurture a seed of artistic passion into a thriving sapling. I look forward to the fruits the tree will bear in years to come, and to meeting all those who come to relax or shelter under its boughs.
Links to selected stories written during the activity:
Supplementary events/exhibitions attended during the activity:
Todmorden Folk Festival, Yorkshire
Kelburn Garden Party, Fairlie
Phil Okwedy’s The Gods Are All Here @ Capstone Theatre, Liverpool
Just So Stories, Manchester
A prototype crankie theatre for the story “Seven Tears”
The final narrated version of ‘Seven Tears’
‘Easter’ - a crankie theatre performance inspired by tales of Selkies.
Photos from festivals and workshops, plus development sketches