Re-Weaving Community, Creating the Future
Storytelling at the Heart and Soul of Healthy Communities
This online publication, by storytelling expert Barbara Ganley, is intended to introduce readers to the powerful role that storytelling can play in community planning.
Barbara Ganley conducting a Storytelling Workshop at Pierre’s Playhouse in Victor, Idaho.
A printable version of this work also exists, but given the unconventional, citizen-driven nature of this approach, we felt it needed to be a living document on the Web, where people can interact with the content, question it, challenge it, add to it, and in doing so, create an even more valuable resource for those interested in nurturing and sustaining the unique character of their communities in the face of rapid growth and change.
We invite you to discuss each of the chapters with us and contribute to this ongoing experiment in radical civic engagement to “fuel positive, collective action” in communities across the country.
An excerpt from the Introduction, by Orton President & CEO Bill Roper:
Storytelling has proved its promise in the Foundation’s Project Communities, where we get dirt under our fingernails working with residents, stakeholders and leaders. From Golden, Colorado to Victor, Idaho; from Damariscotta, Maine to the Borderlands of Rhode Island and Connecticut; from Starksboro, Vermont to Biddeford, Maine, over the past three years story has built trust, torn down walls and helped citizens come together behind the values and vision they want to have steer change in their varied towns...
In this essay, Ganley explores both why story matters in its own right, but also why it matters to a fragmented society and to increasingly fragmented communities. She emphasizes the central importance of reciprocity and the transformative strength of listening, a trait in short supply these days. She models the importance of listening by bringing many voices to her essay; she has examined what scores of colleagues have said and done about telling stories in community.”
Read Re-Weaving the Community, Creating the Future online, discuss each chapter with us (via commenting), share your experiences and ideas, and take part in what Bill Roper calls “a bottom-up, across-the-board retooling of planning in cities and towns across America.”
Download a PDF of the essay >>
Watch this Storytelling for Community Planning training video produced by Barbara Ganley for the Foundation’s Heart & Soul Handbook.