Yukon International Storytelling Festival

June 18th, 19th, & 20th (in 2010)

Mailing Address:
Box 31722
Whitehorse, YT
Phone: 867-633-7550

From http://www.storytelling.yk.net/ :

FESTIVAL HISTORY

Founded in the mid 1980s, Angela Sidney, one of the last speakers of the Tagish language, had to travel all the way to Toronto in order to tell her stories to a large audience. This prompted two Yukoners to organize the first Storytelling festival in the Yukon in 1988. For the first Festival, storytellers came from six countries on four continents and joined Yukon native elders to tell and sing stories in 23 different languages, 16 Native languages, Dutch, French, Danish, English, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Ukranian. All storytellers were encouraged to tell in their first language, with a summary or full translation in English.
Within two years, it had become an annual international festival, focusing on, but not restricted to, countries from the circumpolar world. Throughout the years, performers have come to join our Yukoners from Chuckotka, Magadan, Sakhalin, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Zimbabwe, Greenland, Scotland, the Faroe Islands, Japan, China, Australia, Bolivia, Alaska, and the Southern United States as well as every province and territory in Canada. Each year sees more and more storytellers gathering in Whitehorse to celebrate the North's rich storytelling tradition under the midnight sun. Incorporating costume, dance, theatre, drums, mime, and music, the festival transports visitors across miles of land, years of history, and lifetimes of experiences.
One very important mission of the festival is to promote cultural understanding through storytelling. This means, first and foremost, keeping the art and tradition alive. The youth of today have to become more than just listeners, as they alone can carry the tradition forward; their active participation in the festival is an intrinsic part of its success.

OUR MISSION

To ensure the development, promotion and continuation of the ancient art and practice of Storytelling.

One very important mission of the festival is to promote cultural understanding through storytelling. This means, first and foremost, keeping the art of storytelling alive. The youth of today have become more than just listeners , as they alone can carry the tradition forward; their active participation in the festival is an intrinsic part of its success. The festival has, and will, promote cultural exchange between storytellers from the circumpolar countries.

Artistic Objectives

To promote and encourage development and excellence of storytelling,
including traditional and modern forms of storytelling.

To encourage the development of storytelling.

To bring to the public the art of storytelling and
to increase public awareness of the ancient art of storytelling.

Aims and Objectives

To present an annual Storytelling Festival which is International, Multicultural, and Multi-Disciplinary in scope; Involve representation from at least five countries, including Canada. Representation includes Canadians whose performances are representative of a cultural group, or Country; Feature performers whose primary focus is storytelling. May include performers who utilize a variety of mediums, including" dance, theater, music, and puppetry; involve representation from a variety of cultural backgrounds.

Increase Awareness of Storytelling in general and awareness in the annual Festival itself; Promote Storytelling as an art form year round, through all media available; Develop and sponsor activities on a year-round basis.

Broaden the scope of the Festival" through representation of different backgrounds and by the style of Storytelling; Work with cultural groups; Encourage local development of the different forms of storytelling through workshops and training opportunities.

Ensure that the Festival is family focused and preserves the intimate nature of storytelling; Maintain a substance free annual Festival.

Increase children's activities" in particular, entertainment, games, Storytelling and activities that involve participation by children; Involve more site performers; Broaden the scope of the Kids Fest Committee; Develop additional activities for children; Offer opportunities for children to tell stories.

Develop educational opportunities with respect to storytelling; Offer, encourage, and develop opportunities for the development and training of local storytellers; offer an annual Elderhostel program; Develop and offer educational programming for children.

Establish a clear focus for the Festival; Establish themes for each stage; Establish connections to the themes with the overall scope of the event; Promote the Festival on all levels National, International, and Local; Develop promotions involving stories and storytelling; Distribute promotions information and materials for the tourism industry.

Preserve Cultural Heritage material generated by the Festival; Develop and maintain the Festival collection of audio tapes; Maintain a directory of Northern Storytellers; Ensure public access to all materials.