We're delving into the critical, but often overlooked skill and art of storytelling and its power to educate, entertain, connect, and foster empathy and healing.
Professional storyteller, character interpreter and teaching artist Sheila Arnold will be featured in Florida Gulf Coast University’s Professional Storyteller Series Oct. 23 and Oct. 24 for a storytelling performance called “Locks Opened: Waterways to Freedom” consisting of stories of the underground railroad. Arnold will also conduct a workshop titled, “Folktales, Fairytales & Social Justice.”
We’ll talk with Sheila Arnold and FGCU professors Lori Cornelius and Joel Ying, M.D., who are organizing the event. Cornelius teaches a variety of literature and writing courses through FGCU’s language and literature department and Dr. Ying teaches a course titled “Storytelling as Healing,” that draws, in part, on his background as a medical practice, which uses a holistic approach bridging traditional and alternative medicine.
If You Go:
Sheila Arnold Storytelling Performance
“Locks Opened: Waterways to Freedom”
Stories of the Underground Railroad
Wednesday, October 23
Reception: 6:30 p.m.
Performance: 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
FGCU Cohen Center Ballroom A
Sheila Arnold Led Workshop
“Folktales, Fairytales & Social Justice”
Using the oldest stories as vehicles for awareness and change
Thursday, October 24
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Wasmer Art Gallery at FGCU
*Both events are free and open to the public.
