Griots Cultural Arts Education Summer Camp
July 9th-14th 2012
North Heights Christian Church (DOC)
bought their children into the library to a story time program. The children listened, laughed, and clapped, and she was hooked! It was not long before she was invited to tell stories, in schools, churches, community organizations, etc… Therefore, she set out to learn as much as she could about the art of storytelling. She took some additional classes, attended workshops, conferences, festivals and one-on-one coaching sessions. Eleven years ago, she discovered others with a common interest in the art, and The Wichita Griots: Keepers of the Stories was born!
STORYTELLERS’ CREED
Ms. Jean |
To believe in the power of love;to believe in the dignity and worth of all creatures great and small; to believe especially that children are people too, with a great capacity to make positive contributions to our world to believe in the power of story to teach to entertain and to heal, to believe that, as a story teller, I am in a unique position to stimulate growth and changes in society.
ABOUT THE GRIOTS
The Griots Cultural Arts Storytelling Institute is a diverse, grassroots 501© (3) non-profit organization, dedicated
to providing educational storytelling arts in the inner city and the total community. We partner with other arts and cultural organizations to develop arts programs using character education stories to connect with youth and community members to teach Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Caring, Self-Discipline and more through the art of storytelling.
See Griots article in Express, the e-newsletter for Wichita Public Schools.
Our Mission
We are storytellers committed to keeping the oral tradition of the ancient art form of storytelling alive, and to inspiring and enabling all youth, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.
Our Vision
To strengthen education, preserve and renew the world’s fading cultures, and build peace and understanding among all people … especially youth in conflict.
The Griots have formed a partnership with the local school district where we collaborate to teach and present messages in schools through storytelling in order to:
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Encourage students to stay in school;
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Inspire creativity;
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Convey values and teach moral lessons;
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Teach youth to recognize the unique gifts and talents; and
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Influence young people to treat themselves and each other with dignity and respect.
Through our work, we are creating new possibilities to animate the human spirit, enhance the imagination, and strengthen education.
The Griots use a variety of creative art expressions to reach individuals who have a variety of learning styles. We especially enjoy combining our love of child-like and imaginative literature with timeless wisdom in storytelling designs where performance and other arts are combined to present a unique learning experience. We also focus a great deal on working with youth to develop communication skills, social skills, and artistic skills so that those we teach can use their innate talents to produce original works that connect with audiences.
See our video on youtube.
The Griots Mission Statement
"‘The Griots: Keepers of the Stories’ are committed to keeping the oral tradition of the ancient art form of storytelling alive.”