I have several research ideas, but I am fairly positive that I want to do the Professional Research Project. This is partly because I want to work with an organization to develop something useful, but also because I think it is the most practical method to furthering my career track. Thus, my project ideas are very based on which organization I work with and probably where I do my internship. I am thinking that my internship would be the perfect place for getting to know an organization and planning how I could work with them next year for my research project. So, here are the 3 internship sites I’m looking into and the related research ideas.
The Moth: How Storytelling Can Be Used as a Tool to Engage Fringe Communities with the Arts.
The Moth is a non-profit organization based out of New York that focuses on the art of storytelling. They have storyslams all across the country (one just opened in Portland and I even competed!) where anyone can come and sign up to compete. Their main production is the Moth Mainstage where they bring “luminaries in the arts and sciences, newsmakers and news breakers, and everyday heroes” to share their stories. They then broadcast these stories with a weekly radio podcast. But the department I want to work with is the educational department where they go out into under-represented communities and help people tell and record their stories. I would like to observe how they do this and learn from their techniques. Currently their educational program is only in New York, so my hope for the Professional Research Project is develop this educational program for other cities (possibly Portland or Chicago). I’m not sure what I would be creating yet: a toolkit, a demographic study, guidelines? But the idea is that I could work with The Moth to bring their educational program to other cities where their storyslam is already established. I would then use the development of this educational program and The Moth as a case study to discuss techniques on how storytelling can engage under-represented communities in the arts. Of course, this idea is all dependent on if The Moth would want to develop their educational program in other cities, but I could still use The Moth as a case study if that didn’t work out for this topic.
StoryCorps: Civic Dialogue around Public Opinion of Creativity
This topic was my original idea coming into the program. I wanted to collect narratives from people on how they relate to creativity. My main goal in my career is to work with people on the fringe of the art world, but to do that, I have to understand why people don’t engage with the arts. Thus, the idea to create a collection of personal narratives around their relation with creative expression came to fruition. StoryCorps would be a perfect partner for this project. “StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives.” By working with them, they could provide me with the materials and expertise to conduct this research. Also, my research could become a part of their archives with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. It could even be aired on NPR’s Fresh Air! My biggest issue with this path is that StoryCorps is more focused on oral history and I’m more interested in performance and creative expression. But if I did do this project, it might also be a topic that Reanimating Democracy would be interested in. Thus, I could potentially have two partners!
Digital Storytelling Center: How Digital Storytelling Can Be Used as an Instrument for Creative Expression (similar to first topic)
Lastly, there is the Digital Storytelling Center in Berkeley. They run workshops on helping people tell their stories through a digital format. They have a focus on how technology can help people express their creativity and share their stories. One strong positive about this project is that the Trauma Healing Project here in Springfield uses the Digital Storytelling Center’s methods and training to create their digital storytelling film festival each year. This would be a great opportunity to have a local case study. I’m not sure what project I would create with the Digital Storytelling Center yet. I do know that the Trauma Healing Project has to send their volunteers down to Berkeley to get trained. Perhaps I could help create a class here. Regardless, the Digital Storytelling Center would be a great case study!