Announcement of FEST 2010

[mem]

Sent: Monday, February 08, 2010 10:37 PM
Subject: FEST10 NEWSLETTER and FORMS


The Steering Group for FEST 2010 is delighted to send you our first NEWSLETTER!!!

There are also two FORMS:

a) The PARTICIPATION FEST 2010 form, for those interested in coming to the gathering in Reading this summer.
b) The MEMBERSHIP form. For those who want to become members of FEST.

Please note that it's important to respect DEADLINES in sending both forms to allow the Steering Group to do its work properly.

Looking forward to hearing from you


Federation for European Storytelling

Steering Group 2009/2010

Europe, 5th February 2010

Dear Colleague,

Eight years ago, a gathering of international storytellers took place in France. During

this meeting, the idea was born to form a European wide network for storytelling.

Additional meetings took place thereafter, one in Germany, others more informally

during international festivals at various places.

Then, in 2008, the idea began to manifest itself when around 60 storytellers from 20

different countries met in Oslo and agreed to continue the work under the name of

FEST: Federation for European Storytelling. After an inspirational and encouraging

2.5 days, spirits were high and delegates from Switzerland agreed to take the “FESTtorch”

to Lausanne for a gathering in 2009.

In Lausanne, as in Oslo, there was time for discussions, exchange and networking. In

addition, the participants voted on a first draft of a memorandum for FEST to give

the federation a mutually agreed frame work. Based on the memorandum, which will

be re-considered after the first year, a Steering group consisting of 5 participants

was voted to take FEST further and to organize the gathering of 2010.

And here we are, the Steering Group 2009/10, with our first Newsletter. Here you

will find information on

· THE FEST10 CONFERENCE

(location, cost, application form, criteria for participation etc)

· MEMBERSHIP

(application form, criteria for membership, implications)

· A VISION FOR FEST

(Why should we have it? What can it be in the future?)

· Website, previous conferences and FEST 2011.

FEST10 CONFERENCE

As voted upon by the FEST09 participants, this year’s gathering will take place in

England.

When

Wednesday 11th, registration from 14:00, opening at 15:00

to

Friday 13th August, ending around 17:30

Federation for European Storytelling

Steering Group 2009/2010

Where

The conference will take place at:

The University of Reading,

Whiteknights

READING

Berkshire

RG6 6AH

United Kingdom

http://www.reading.ac.uk/about/find/abo ... index.aspx

Programme

The programme will consist of

· Discussion and exchange through interest groups

· Presentation of projects (“Diversity in Storytelling”)

· Guest speakers

· Structural development of FEST (Council meeting)

· Time for networking

A detailed programme of FEST will follow as some aspects depend on the actual

participants.

Cost

PARTICIPATION FEE: £120 per person

This covers the rental of meeting space / necessary equipment and meals from

Wednesday evening to Friday lunch inclusive.

ACCOMODATION:

Accommodation will be in single rooms at the University of Reading (there are no

double rooms available.)

You can choose between:

· Standard £34 per night

· Ensuite £52 per night

Financial hardship

In case of extreme financial hardship, it may be possible to offer a small number of

free beds near the University. We cannot guarantee this though and urge you to try

and apply for funding.

Who

Successful applicants for the FEST10 conference represent one of the following:

1. National and regional organisations

2. A storytelling network/group

3. International or national festival organisers

4. Educational Institutions: Universities with storytelling as subject, Storytelling

schools

5. Individuals from countries with little activity or with no organisations and

storytellers who have done substantial projects

6. Producers/Promoters/funders

Federation for European Storytelling

Steering Group 2009/2010

As FEST is primarily aimed at organisations/festivals/institutions (see

membership), we envision that the majority of participants will be

representatives of 1-4 and a smaller number of 5-6. Also, depending on the

amount of applicants, we might have to set a limit to the number of participants

per country.

Application form

Attached to this Newsletter you will find the application form. If you are interested in

taking part, please fill it out and send it to us at fest.fest10@gmail.com

Deadline for application is 15th April. We will respond by mid May. Successful

applicants will then need to confirm their place, accommodation and dietary needs.

When you accept the place, we will send you details of payment. (We have had to

pay a deposit for the booking so payment will be in advance.)

MEMBERSHIP OF FEST

Definition of membership

The memorandum of FEST, voted upon at the FEST gathering in Lausanne 2009,

states:

Membership

Membership is open to any national or regional storytelling association, or other

organisation in Europe which unites storytellers and storytelling groups in a

collaborative framework and subscribes to the aims and purposes of FEST. Applications

are made to the FEST Council’s Steering Group and approved by the Council.

FEST is currently doing its baby-steps, so at the moment we do not yet have a

council who could approve of memberships. Therefore, to move FEST forward, we

have put down some guidelines for us to help build a membership base. The

membership base will give us a preliminary Council which can take FEST further at

the gathering in Reading.

Criteria for membership:

Successful applicants will be one of the following based in Europe:

· National or regional storytelling organisations with legal status

· Storytelling organisation with legal status

· International Festival organisers of festivals which have been three or more

years running and in which the programme consists of at least 70%

storytelling events and features two or more foreign storytellers

· Educational Institutions: Universities/Colleges offering storytelling as subject

and Storytelling schools which have been two or more years running

Preliminary Council

Any membership application which reaches us by the 31st of March and on which a

representative for the council is identified, will be on the preliminary council of FEST

at Reading August 2010. All applications after this will be processed in due course

but you may not get your Council member onto the council for this year’s FEST

Conference August 2010.

Federation for European Storytelling

Steering Group 2009/2010

Application form

You will find the application form for FEST membership below. If your

organisation, festival or institution is interested in becoming a member, please return

it to fest.fest10@gmail.com.

Why become a member?

You might ask yourself, why your organisation should become a member of FEST,

what it means practically and which advantages and/or responsibilities you might

have.

At this moment in time few of the practical questions can be answered in detail. In

fact, all we know is that a member can have a representative on the Council. The

Council governs FEST and the representative is therefore eligible to vote on matters

which concern FEST at the annual conference.

So… the biggest reason to join FEST is not what it is yet, but what it can become in

the future through its members!!

VISION FOR FEST

We believe if FEST can gather to itself passionate professionals in the European

storytelling world, the federation will become a substantial driving force for priding

storytelling in Europe with excellence in practice in all fields.

Maybe, FEST can become what is a vision today:

· FEST is a vehicle to further professional oral storytelling in Europe, to

promote storytelling as art form and to enable its members to

collectively create a European knowledge bank of storytelling.

· FEST provides a breeding space for collaboration, a place for exchange

and inspiration and a source of professional development

· FEST initiates an annual conference at which its members and other

professionals affiliated with FEST can meet in person

· FEST is electronically accessible by the FEST website where we collate

and display information such as details on storytelling organizations,

details of institutions offering training of storytellers, dates and places

for annual festivals, a project library.

We are not there yet at this point in time, but we are on the way and we hope you

are interested in getting involved!

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

WEBSITE

There is no up-and-running website for FEST yet. Nevertheless, some information is

accessible on http://www.storytelling.eu and we will try and update it as best as we can. At

present, you can download both application forms there, read this newsletter and

find some additional information on FEST08 and the process so far.

Please note: the application forms cannot be filled out online, but have to be

downloaded and sent to fest.fest10@gmail.com

The development of the website will need to be addressed at the FEST10 conference.

FEST CONFERENCE 2009:

Until further notice, you can find information on FEST 09 on:

· http://e-mythos.eu/forum/viewforum.php?f=2

You need to register on the forum to be able to view and comment on posts.

The current password for accessing the main forum is fest1.

FEST CONFERENCE 2011:

At FEST 2009, the participants suggested that, at any given meeting, the location for

the FEST gathering in two years time should be voted on.

After voting on Reading in 2010, the participants voted for SPAIN in 2011. The

conference is planned to take place in conjunction with the 48 hour marathon

storytelling festival in Guadalajara.

Please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested in driving FEST forwards.

We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes

Martin Manasse (England)

Ragnhild A Mørch (Norway/Germany)

Clare Muireann Murphy (Ireland)

Casilda Regueiro (Switzerland/Spain)

Georgos Evgenikos (Greece)



Application for MEMBERSHIP of FEST

Return to fest.fest10@gmail.com

MEMBERSHIP CRITERIA

The Steering group will follow a set of criteria for accepting membership until the FEST 2010 Conference in Reading. Please read the criteria at the end of this form carefully to see if your group is eligible. If the criteria are fulfilled, the application will be accepted and the applicant will become a member of FEST.

Please note: due to the fact that we need to establish a preliminary council before the meeting in Reading, there will be the following deadline:

DEADLINE for becoming a member AND part of the preliminary Council which will meet at FEST10 in Reading:

31st March 2010

All applications after this will be processed in due course but you may not get your Council member onto the council for this year’s FEST Conference August 2010.


------------------



We would like to become a member of FEST:

NAME of organisation/ Festival / institution etc


Contact details and main contact of the organisation:
Street
Town
Post code
Country


Family name
First name
Telephone
Email

Please specify which category your group falls into:


a national group/organisation:
Years in existence: Legal/Company status:

a regional / storytelling organisation
Years in existence: Legal/Company status:

an international festival
Years in existence: Legal/Company status:

an educational institute
Years in existence: Legal/Company status:

Please give a brief statement of the organisation/group/festival etc.




COUNCIL
At present, each member of FEST has one representative on the Council. Name the person from your organisation who has agreed to be on the Council, should your membership be approved.


Family name
First name
Telephone
Email


Street
Town
Post code
Country


GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS


Criteria for membership to FEST:
· National or regional organisations with legal status
· Storytelling organization with legal status
· International Festival organisers of festivals running for 3 years or more, with more than 70% storytelling programming at the festival and a minimum of 2 international storytellers
· Educational Institutions: Universities offering storytelling as subject and Storytelling schools which have been two or more years running

Preliminary Council
Any membership application which reaches us by the 31st of March and on which a representative for the council is identified, will be on the preliminary council of FEST at Reading August 2010. All applications after this will be processed in due course but you may not get your Council member onto the council for this year’s FEST Conference August 2010.


HOW TO SEND US YOUR APPLICATION:

Please submit your application form as a word document attached to an email.

Both the email and the document should be named the following way:

[MEMBERSHIP] [The name of your organisation]

For example: MEMBERSHIP The New Storytelling Company

Please note: for efficiency purposes it is very important that you do not copy the membership form into your email but keep it as a word document. Not doing so will mean that it will take longer time to register your membership and your organisation might therefore not be able to be on the council this year.

Thank you for your interest in FEST.

We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Application for PARTICIPATION FEST10 Conference 11 - 13 August

Return to fest.fest10@gmail.com

DEADLINE 15th April 2010

Please read the submission notes at the end of the application form.


Family name
First name
Telephone
Email

Street
Town
Post code
Country


I would like to take part in FEST 2010 and I am sent by / I represent:

NAME of organisation/ Festival / institution etc:

Please specify:

a national group
Years in existence: Legal/Company status:

a regional/storytelling organisation
Years in existence: Legal/Company status:

an international festival
a national festival
Years in existence: Legal/Company status:

an educational institute
Years in existence: Legal/Company status:

a professional promoter or producer
Years in existence: Legal/Company status:

other
(e.g. individual storyteller representing other individual storytellers / Translator / Observer / Funding body representative, etc)

Please give a brief statement of who you represent. You can include information on who you are and what you do, including your main areas of interest within storytelling.




LOCATION
The University of Reading,
Whiteknights
READING
Berkshire
RG6 6AH
United Kingdom

http://www.reading.ac.uk/about/find/abo ... index.aspx


WHEN
Wednesday 11th, registration from 14:00, opening at 15:00
to Friday 13th August, ending around 17:30


PROGRAMME
The programme will consist of
· Discussion and exchange through interest groups
· Presentation of projects (“Diversity in Storytelling”)
· Guest speakers
· Structural development of FEST (Council meeting)
· Time for networking


CONFERENCE COST
Participation fee:
£120 per person

Accomodation:
Accommodation will be in single rooms at the University of Reading (there are no double rooms available.)

You can choose between:
· Standard £34 per night
· Ensuite £52 per night

All prices include VAT
Note: Prices rise by about 5% with late bookings.


HOW TO SEND US YOUR APPLICATION:

Please submit your application form as a word document attached to an email.

Both the email and the document should be named the following way:

[PARTICIPTION FEST10] [The name of your organisation / your name]

For example:
PARTICIPATION FEST10 The New Storytelling Company
or
PARTICIPATION FEST10 Audrey Teller

Please note: for efficiency purposes it is very important that you do not copy the application form into your email but keep it as a word document. Not doing so will mean that it will take longer time to register your application.


WHAT NEXT?
We will be able to confirm by mid May whether we can offer you a place. This will, in part, depend on eligibility but we will also try and ensure a diverse representation of countries and types of organisations.
Once we can confirm your participation at FEST10, we will send you information on how to pay.

We are looking forward to hearing from you.

[mem]

Hello again.

Latest news: there are still some places left for FEST Conference 2010

We are now very close to the April 15 deadline for participation in this
year's conference, a deadline that we set to give us a chance to assess the
demand for places.

We are happy to announce that, although applications are coming in steadily,
there are still some places left so you can continue to apply through May
and, possibly, even June until we reach the point when we have to announce
that the conference is fully booked. We would urge you to tell us as soon as
possible about your intention to come even if you are still waiting for news
on funding etc. as this will help us to keep track and to try to avoid
having to disappoint anyone.

We also have an impression that some who have applied for membership think
that their application covers participation too but no, it does not so you
do need to fill in the participation form too. (it is only a little one!)
Just in case you might possibly have lost the participation form we sent out
before, you can download another from www.storytelling.eu where you click
the link to Conference 2010.

We hope you are getting as excited as we are.

See you in August.

Casilda Regueiro (Switzerland/Spain)
Clare Muireann Murphy (Ireland)
Georgos Evgenikos (Greece)
Martin Manasse (England)
Ragnhild A Mørch (Norway/Germany)

[mem]

I do hope that somebody other than me, since, as host, I am bound to be biased, will post here a report on the FEST 2010 conference that finished on Friday in Reading. I will, however, use this space to salute the absolutely fantastic contribution made by the SfS team: Tina Bilbe, Roisin Murry, Wallace Murray and Ruth Boycott-Garnett. Warmest thanks! Martin.

[Fruithaircut]

It is interesting that no one has posted a review of the FEST conference in Reading!

Shame that more members of SfS were not entitled to attend and that "our" conference seems to have taken a back seat this year.

[TinaBilbe]

The thing with FEST was that all the SfS Directors had to do for the Conference was book the university and take bookings from the organisations who were sending people. There were no MOUTH reps there so you could have come representing them, I suggested they sent someone when bookings were being discussed on Cybermouth. The FEST Committee organised all the workshops and seminars where people shared ideas.

The SfS Gathering Committee for next year are organising what I hope will be another great weekend but the person who was organising 2010 dropped out and there was no-one to take their place. This is not the first time this has happened and probably won't be the last. Now you are getting set up in Leicestershire you might consider whether you would like to organise a Gathering there, past organisers are always happy to pass on their experience of how they did it.

I think Alan Woollard's method for organising the Gathering in Exeter worked very well. He booked the accommodation, set up the website to accept bookings and invited members to propose workshops and talks they wanted to give. Those people who provided workshops didn't get paid but they got free entry and accomodation for the whole weekend. Simple and efective with the minimum of organisation.

[mem]

There was a larger representation at FEST from SfS than any other group and attendance at the FEST conferences is not a question of entitlement. Anyone can apply to participate, which is not the same as being a Member. Members are national, regional or other organisations with some form of legal structure e.g. charities, non- profit organisations etc. They send their chosen delegates to FEST and can also be represented on the FEST Council. Participation is open to anyone but, if there is pressure on numbers in any year, the Steering Group has to give precedence to delegates from Members and this was the case at the Oslo and Lausanne conferences in 2008 and 2009. The Reading conference had a greater capacity and was campus based and so we were able to and did accept applications more widely. When FEST 2011 in Spain is announced, you should not feel inhibited about applying for a participant place. Whether you get one or not will depend on the available beds and the number of applications from member organisations. I am no longer on the Steering group nor am I the representative of the SfS Board (SfS is, of course, a member) so if I apply for 2011 it will be as an individual participant and if I am accepted I will be able to take part in all activities but I will have no voting rights and can only attend the Council meeting as an observer i.e. I cannot take an active part unless invited to do so. Having been on the Steering Group for 2010 I do have access to the current definitions for membership and can forward those to anyone interested but the new Steering Group may make changes and I would advise waiting for announcements later in the year.

[mem]

Further to my last, it has just dawned on me that I published the FEST definitions on the Forum so all you need to do is to scroll up over the past postings and you will find them.

[Fruithaircut]

Thanks for the replies but to me it did feel exclusive. I contacted one of the organisers and was told it was only for reps of organisations etc so to be honest I did not even read the post about how to apply..above. So perhaps I am to blame for my not being able to partake...but when you are told by an organiser, no...hey ho.
The Gathering being cancelled is a real sore point to me. I think that had "we" been told sooner that it was to be cancelled then enough of us could have got together to organise something...as FEST seemed to be so easy to organise? As soon as I heard, I contacted lots of places to see if there was a possibility of a venue...from Spain...but it was really too late by then.
I have offered to help out with the next Gathering at Oundle which is only a short way from me.