For more information:
Rob Price, Director of Marketing (Media calls): 602.243.8030
Experience the Irish gift of gab -- and learn about how storytelling advances the cause of peace – during the South Mountain Community College Storytelling Institute Spring Festival, March 26 - 28.
Liz Weir, one of Ireland’s best-known storytellers, will be the featured guest and teller.
This annual event will be at SMCC, 7050 S. 24th St. (just north of Baseline Rd.). The event is co-sponsored by the SMCC Storytelling Institute and the Intercultural/International Committee.
Weir, from Northern Ireland, will begin the weekend on March 26 (Wed.) with the storytelling workshop, “Shortening the Road: Storytelling on the Path to Peace in Northern Ireland.”
The storyteller will discuss projects she has been involved with during the last 30 years, giving examples of activities that may be replicated in any part of the world. These activities include intergenerational storytelling; plus working with adults with special needs and schoolchildren in projects designed to promote peace.
The event will be in the Studio Theatre of SMCC from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Cost is $50, with a student discount of $25. (Checks must be made out to the SMCC Storytelling Institute. Information: 602.243.8022 or LynnAnn.Woj@smcmail.maricopa.edu).
Next, a free community storytelling festival is set for March 27 in the Student Union. First session is 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. and second session is 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. In addition to hearing a tale from Liz Weir, listeners will hear from youth tellers, college students taking storytelling classes, and graduates of SMCC’s Storytelling Institute.
On March 28, Weir will be featured in a special storytelling concert, "Folktales from Ireland and Beyond.” She will share classic lore – packed with little people, songs and stories – from 7 to 9 p.m., in Performance Hall. Cost is $10 and tickets are available at Showup.com.
Weir, a former children’s librarian in Belfast, works with groups to promote the art of storytelling -- for which the Irish are world famous. She now travels the globe telling stories to adults and children.
In addition, this popular storyteller organizes workshops, appears at major international festivals and has given performances in Israel, Germany, Australia and the United States. She was the first winner of the International Storybridge Award from the National Storytelling Network.
Weir is the author of "Boom Chicka Boom,” a collection of stories for children; and the story collection "Here, There and Everywhere.”
She has presented "The Gift of the Gab,” a storytelling series, for BBC Radio Ulster. Weir has also written scripts for three animated television promotions, "Together in the Park," aimed at young children in Northern Ireland.
For more information, contact the SMCC Storytelling Institute: 602.243.8022; or for information about the SMCC Storytelling Institute, go to: www.southmountaincc.edu/PerformingArts/Storytelling.