StoryCenter
Based in the US and emerging out of multiple iterations and stages of evolution since the mid-90’s, StoryCenter became official in 2015. The organisation is led by co-founder Joe Lambert and has collaborated with nearly a thousand organisations worldwide and trained over fifteen thousand people through hundreds of workshops to help them share their life stories.
“StoryCenter is an innovative participatory media organization committed to power of personal narratives for equity, wellness and social action. Our workshops foster reflection, connection, creativity, agency and joy. We value knowledge generated through lived experience.” StoryCenter Website – What We Do
I was first introduced to digital storytelling (DST) and StoryCenter in 2020 by work colleague and dear friend, Mark Silver from Swinburne University, who had been running an intergenerational DST project in Melbourne for around 15 years.
I had never heard of DST before, but when I saw what my colleague and some examples of the work that StoryCenter was doing, I was blown away! I couldn’t believe how a simple short video of someone sharing their personal story about a lived experience could be so moving and powerful, not only for the storyteller creating the digital story, but also for audiences who view it.
StoryCenter has developed a well-recognised methodology and process for creating digital stories that involves deep reflection and creativity. They offer a range of courses, workshops and resources for individuals to create their own stories, or to learn how to become a workshop facilitator. StoryCentre also shares an impressive catalogue of digital stories across a range of disciplines and fields including health, ageing, education, and social justice.
In 2021, I completed an online workshop titled “Digital Storytelling for the Hybrid Educator” which was delivered over four weeks. I was living in Australia at the time, so the 3am wake-up was challenging, but well worth it!
After that workshop, I started introducing digital storytelling as an option in an intergenerational life story work project with high school students and older adults, that I was working on at the time. I gave a virtual presentation with my colleague in Melbourne on intergenerational digital storytelling at the International Digital Storytelling Conference 2022 held in Loughborough, UK. I was also very fortunate to have the opportunity to visit the Storytelling Academy at Loughborough University later that year to meet the team, and also connect with Pip Hardy and Tony Sumners from Patient Voices, who are based in Cambridge, UK.
In 2023, I attended an in-person intensive 2-day workshop in Washington DC, that was run by StoryCenter titled “From Word to Image”, followed by the DST Conference - Radical Listening.
Participating in the workshop and attending the conference in person was next level incredible and opened my mind to the wide range of applications where digital storytelling can be used to empower individuals and communities, advocate for change, and enhance impact.
Following this, I continued my professional development as a workshop facilitator by assisting as an observer during a 6-week workshop with StoryCenter and then I hosted my first digital storytelling workshop in Sydney in March 2024 with a small group of local artists and makers.
I submitted one of the stories that was created as part of this workshop titled “Transformation” to the 1st International Digital Storytelling Festival in Zakynthos, Greece, which was accepted, and I had the amazing opportunity to attend this inaugural event in person.
Since then, I ran a small pilot virtual digital storytelling workshop with a wonderful group of women from the 333 Collective on mother-daughter relationships, and I am very excited to offer this workshop again in March 2025, as well as other workshops planned for later in the year.