Salina Arts & Humanities is launching a Kansas Literacy Festival program this month.
The Salina Storytelling Project is a pilot program and an effort to strengthen the community’s literacy and social-emotional growth through listening, discussion, and reading. Salina Arts & Humanities is one of 10 digital partners with Wichita-based Storytime Village, the entity leading the statewide initiative featuring projects taking place from February to September, culminating in the Kansas Literacy Festival in September 2021.
For the Salina Storytelling Project, SAH staff worked with four community storytellers and three coaching artists who supported the novice storytellers in preparing their story for video recording. Each week in April, one storytelling video will be released through YouTube and shared over social media.
During the last week of the Salina Storytelling Project, on April 29 at 7 p.m., a community discussion about the project will take place, featuring a panel of local storytellers and coaches, plus a Q&A time.
The community is invited to watch each storytelling video as they are released via YouTube and shared on Salina Arts & Humanities social media, then register to attend the culminating Zoom event on April 29. Email [email protected] or call 785-309-5770 to request the registration link. The community can also follow the project on social media at https://www.facebook.com/salinaarts, https://twitter.com/SalinaArts, and https://www.instagram.com/salina_arts/.
“We must all do our part to help move the needle for Kansas youth,” says Storytime Village founder and CEO Prisca Barnes. “We are proud of the organizations, artists, authors, and educators who are joining forces across the state. The theme of the festival, Be The Village, is a call to action to support literacy through the arts.”
The in-person Kansas Literacy Festival is a community event in Wichita on September 2-4. It will include a teacher’s conference, Read & Rise Breakfast Gala, and a day-long festival that provides literacy enrichment to Kansas youth through events and activities designed to encourage early learning, family engagement, and access to books.
The Kansas Literacy Festival is supported in part by the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. More information can be found at https://www.storytimevillage.org/kansas-literacy-festival .