TradFest Edinburgh at Beltane! Wednesday April 29-Sunday May 10, 2015
Scottish International Storytelling Festival: October 25-November 2, 2014
“Once Upon A Place” video at https://vimeo.com/116775767
Joyful inspiration! The journey to the landscape of my Grandfather’s voice is deepening my own. I brought stories of Orcas and ancient Cedars from the Pacific coast of Canada to Scotland; in honour of the ancestors of the land and the First Nations people of that coast, the ancestors of the Orca whales who live in those waters, and the guardians of those threshold places. With great respect and appreciation to Paul Spong and Helena Symonds. With exuberant thanks to Abegael Fisher-Lang, David Campbell, Donald Smith, Annalisa Salis, Seoras and Morag MacPherson, Janis Mackay, Judy Paterson, Lea Taylor, and the pastry chef at the Scottish Storytelling Centre!
Hallowe’en Hearth at Netherbow Theatre, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh. Hosted by Jess Smith, with Grace Banks and Rachel Newton.
2013 TORONTO STORYTELLING FESTIVAL
My heartfelt thanks to my peers at Storytelling Toronto. I was thrilled to receive the Anne Smythe Travel Award at the 2013 Toronto Storytelling Festival in March. This award helped me to attend the 2013 Scottish International Storytelling Festival in Edinburgh, where I was welcomed as a guest artist and performer. My Scottish Grandfather was a storyteller, and gave this gift to me. What a great gift to attend this festival and join voices with storytellers from around the world to offer our stories to listening hearts, and to the land and the sea and the sky. This gift has opened a “door in the wind” and I am deeply grateful. Storytellers David Campbell, Seoras MacPherson, and Geeta Ramanujam were particularly generous with me, and their light brightens mine.
Thank you to the Kuitenbrouwer and Liptay families for generously hosting concerts in their homes so we could celebrate Robbie Burns Day 2014 with Scottish stories and songs. This was a wonderful opportunity for me to start working with the stories I gathered in Scotland. Thanks to the brilliant musicians in “A Fellow Ship,” and to those who braved January nights to enjoy with us!