Golden Thread Stories
Stories are Golden
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Welcome to Golden Thread Stories!
Golden Thread Stories facilitates multimedia storytelling for people and communities. We can help you discover the narratives that run through your life and use technology to share those stories with others. We believe everyone has a story and every story is golden!
We love talking about stories too. You can join the conversation on Google+, join our mailing list or link to Golden Thread Stories on Twitter or Facebook…see the handy little buttons in the top right corner of this window.
Looking forward to seeing you here!
Surya
Upcoming Workshops
In Golden Thread Stories workshops, students will produce a one to three minute digital story, using their own words and images. Storytellers will explore the creative process of story development, record their own first-person narratives, and learn how to combine images, voice and soundtrack into a completed digital story. All our workshops are designed for small groups of students and provide skilled facilitators to guide the process.
I’m on maternity leave until July, so we have no upcoming workshops at this time. But check back soon, or email me for more information!
Our Story
Golden Thread Stories helps people and communities tell their stories through a participatory learning approach and a deep respect for personal voice. Our services include intensive digital storytelling workshops for individals and customized storytelling workshops for organizations. We also blog about storytelling and narrative, and invite you to join in the conversation! You can also now find us on Google+
We are in continuous development as we discover what works and what doesn’t, so we appreciate your patience. You can follow our blogs here for regular updates. And we welcome your questions, feedback and comments as we get started on this new adventure. Thanks for stopping by!
Storytelling Workshops
Golden Thread Stories offers storytelling workshops for individuals and storytelling services to organizations. For more information about Organizational Stories, click here.
Long Story Short Workshops are digital storytelling workshops often focused around specific themes. These may include exploring the prenatal experience, stories from the family tree, parent and teen relationships, life transitions, community advocacy, etc. Long Story Short Workshops provide 8 to 24 hours of instruction towards the production of a one- to three-minute digital story. Facilitators lead groups of 8 to 12 students through the creation of their personal story in a digital medium. Workshops include instruction on the basics of storytelling in a digital context; opportunities for group discussion, tutorials on using the software to edit images, audio and video; one-to-one technical and creative support, and the screening of finished work. You will receive a copy of your completed digital story and files on CD or DVD at the end of the workshop.
Stories in a Snap are one day intensive story workshops. We will focus on the storytelling side of things with an expectation that students will have some digital skills to start with. You will work on your own laptop (PC or Mac) and use the software you’re most comfortable with (MovieMaker, iMovie, or any other you have access to…), with some technical support from your facilitator. The emphasis of these workshops is on developing and sharing our stories around a theme of interest to us all (the prenatal experience, parenting, life transitions, etc) and producing a “snapshot” of where we are in our lives in this moment.
Shoebox Stories is a workshop model that has been co-developed by Surya Govender and Suzanne Ahearne and is currently being delivered through Emily Carr University for Art and Design in Vancouver and Royal Roads University on Vancouver Island. Workshops run for two days (16 hours of instruction) and culminate in the creation of a 1 to 2 minute story using iMovie software on Mac computers. Facilitators lead groups of 8-12 students through the writing of a personal story, tutorials on the software basis, one-on-one technical and creative support and the screening of finished work. Please contact Emily Carr Continuing Studies or Royal Roads Continuing Studies for current schedule.
Current Projects
We work with a wide range of organizations in the Lower Mainland. Recent clients include JASMINE (services for survivors of domestic abuse) and Carnegie Community Centre’s Downtown Eastside Small Arts Grant Project.
Last spring, we also created an organizational story for New Westminster Ethnocultural Victim Services and a series of Stories in School workshops at Southridge School in Surrey, BC that led students through the superfast process of making stories in one hour!
To find out more about how we can help your organization tell its story, please get in touch with us!
Organizational Stories
Golden Thread Stories offers storytelling workshops for individuals and storytelling services to organizations. For more information about Storytelling Workshops for individuals, click here.
Organizational Stories provide organizations with customized stories about their projects for planning, promotional, or evaluation purposes. Digital storytelling workshops offer a powerful way to capture your organization’s story while providing your staff or clients with a unique opportunity to explore their own voices and build their community. We will work with you to create a custom workshop that fits your needs and strengths. If a workshop is not a good fit, we can also provide a facilitator who works with individuals from within the organization and/or their client base to gather words and images that describe their experiences or addresses key questions. This material is then edited into an audio-visual story about the project and feedback from the organization and/or participants helps shape the final product. Stories run 5 to 10 minutes in length. Organizations receive a completed digital story on DVD and any required accompanying printed material.
Interesting peice on the BBC Website about the power of art in healing. Check it out!
March 10, 2013
Kits Stories Now Featured
August 10, 2012
Kitsilano Neighbourhood House is now featuring the digital stories they recently created with Golden Thread Stories on their blog. You can check them out here:
http://www.kitshouse.org/category/kits-blog/
Enjoy!
Summer Update
August 10, 2012
To kick off summer, we had a fantastic time at the Main Street Car Free Day! Our vintage typewriter drew attention from kids and adults alike, and there was more than one comment about the “old fashioned computer”. We collected a number of stories that day and will be posting them (along with the winner of our contest) soon, soon!
Also, I forgot to post this earlier, but I was featured this year as part of the Emily Carr Continuing Studies Poster Series featuring instructors in the program. Here’s what that looked like…
It was quite an honour…so, thank you Emily Carr Art + Design!
Golden Thread Stories is now on a bit of a break, due to an upcoming maternity leave. If you are interested in taking a workshop or learning more about digital storytelling though, please do get in touch and we’ll do our best to answer soon.
Thanks for checking in!
DTES Sm’Arts Grant Story from Golden Thread Stories on Vimeo.
DTES Sm’Arts Grant Story FINAL
June 6, 2012
Golden Thread Stories at Main Street Car Free Day!
June 1, 2012
Golden Thread Stories will be holding down a table at the Main Street Car Free Day this year! Still deciding what fun thing we’ll be doing, but it’ll be something…plus we’ll be promoting our upcoming Prenatal Stories Workshop and unveiling our new banner too, designed by Darlene Tandon of Tandon Photography.
June 17th…bring your dads, fathers, papas, and pops…or take the kids and give the guys a break! Either way, hope to see you there!
Stories of Volunteering
June 1, 2012
New stories from Kitsilano Neighbourhood House! An amazing group of volunteers came together to tell their stories a few weeks ago. One had lots of computer experience, many had some, and many were just a little bit afraid of what we were about to do…but all created wonderful stories about their lives and what volunteering means to them. Hope you enjoy watching them as much as we enjoyed making them!
A new story by Emily Palmer…about creating a garden and learning what community is all about!
This story was made in a Golden Thread Stories workshop at Kitsilano Neighbourhood House in May 2012.
A Kits House Garden
June 1, 2012
A new story by Maria Zago…about making the adjustment to a her new life as a mum and finding ways to stay active in her community.
This story was made in a Golden Thread Stories workshop at Kitsilano Neighbourhood House in May 2012.
Work it, Mom!
June 1, 2012
A new story by Nikki Wrankmore…about community development as a constant learning!
This story was made in a Golden Thread Stories workshop at Kitsilano Neighbourhood House in May 2012.