Kindling Community Connections Through Story

Serving as the opening event for the 2014 National Storytelling Conference held in Mesa, AZ, this participatory panel discussion examined storytelling and its abilities to explore the human condition, connect communities, and foster civil dialogue. In the words of Gene Knudsen-Hoffman, “An enemy is a person whose story we have not heard.” The panel was made up of Queen Nur (Karen Abdul-Malik), Kiran Singh Sirah, Doug Bland, and was moderated by Liz Warren from the South Mountain Community College Storytelling Institute.

Arizona Humanities funding allowed “four top-notch Humanities scholars share their diverse knowledge and experience. Without this funding to provide honoraria, conference registration fee reimbursement,and some travel expenses, we could have not supported the presenters…Without Arizona humanities funding, we would not have been able to videotape the session. We have only audio recorded our conference storytelling sessions in the past, and were very appreciative of the opportunity to also videotape this one. We will share it with a wider audience, including more of the Arizona public and our national storytelling community.” -Kindling Community Connects Through Story Final Report