Story provides a way for people to get to know one another on an even playing field, learn new perspectives, build trust, and grow relationships.
Sharing stories is a powerful entry point for fostering community change. Story Circles offer a proven effective practice for accessing the power of stories in community gatherings.
Story Circles are essentially a small group of people sitting in a circle telling their stories, led by a Story Circle facilitator. This tool was developed by theatre artist and civil rights activist John O’Neal in 1964 as a tool to build trust between volunteers and communities in Mississippi to support the voter registration work of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. John shared the method with Roadside Theater, an Appalachian theater ensemble, and together they advanced the design and use of the tool in their creative and organizing practices.
In advancing Arts Connect Neighbors, the goal of the Story Works for Roanoke Initiative is to activate story circles as a community engagement tool to help foster a sense of belonging in our community. To move toward this goal, this initiative aims to:
– Strengthen connections among Roanoke community artists through story circles.
– Train community artists in story circle facilitation and support them in exploring ways they can build it into their practice in support of community goals.
– Underpin public art projects with strong community relationships
– Support neighbors in building trust, relationships, and a curiosity about one another.
– Invite neighbors’ imaginations into planning for their community.
Are you curious about story circles and think this might be something you want to experience and maybe even share in your neighborhood?
Upcoming 2025 Events
June 10, 2025
Arts and Culture Planning Event for Artists
An event for artists that uses story circles as a way to engage in the Roanoke Arts and Culture plan process. Artists who have worked with us on or even applied for projects and residencies are invited. Community artists who attended the gathering on Nov 9 and/or Dec 7 will have the opportunity to help lead story circles, if they are interested.
**Register Now **
Planning for the Arts: My Story Makes a Difference
Tuesday, June 10, 7:00-8:30 pm
Unitarian Universalist Church of Roanoke
2015 Grandin Rd SW, Roanoke, VA 24015
Planning for the future of arts in our city starts with you! Over the last three years you have joined with other artists and community members to lead and support emergent community arts projects. Join us for this story circle gathering in which you can share your experiences as a starting point for Roanoke’s Arts and Cultural planning.
Please REGISTER to attend.
For more information about our overall initiative with story circles, visit: Roanokearts.org/story
For more information on the Roanoke Arts and Cultural planning process, visit: Roanokearts.org/plan
This gathering is offered by the Arts and Cultural Plan Steering Committee and the Arts Connect Neighbors partners—the Roanoke Arts Commission, the Roanoke Cultural Endowment, and Roanoke Neighborhood Advocates—with funding from the City of Roanoke and the National Endowment for the Arts.
2025, dates TBD
Artist Led Story Circles
Artist Residents and community artists interested in leading story circles can find support through Katie Trozzo and Bob Leonard to help them lead this process in their communities and creative processes.
Resources
– For more information about the Story Works for Roanoke, see the recorded zoom meeting
– John O’Neal’s presentation of story circles, watch this short video
– The Daily Yonder Illustrated Overview of Story Circles by Nhatt Nichols, August 8, 2024
– “From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces” by Brian Arao and Kristi Clemens, courtesy of Stylus Publishing (Now Routledge), from The Art of Effective Facilitation, edited by Lisa M. Landremen, 2013.
Story Circle Facilitation Documents
Roadside Theater’s Story Circle Methodology Handout
Stories have long been a core part of how we human beings know who we are and how we fare in the world. In fact, there are some who recognize that our capacities to tell stories is a defining characteristic of our species. Stories are part of family fabric and social interchange. Putting storytelling to use for specific purposes has always undergirded social enterprise. When John O’Neal, a young theatre-maker from Indiana who had joined the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, found himself working with people he didn’t know and who didn’t know him, in Mississippi in the 1964 effort to register voters, he thought that maybe telling each other stories of what had brought them together might help build trust. It did, and John began formulating a way of conducting story circles for knowledge sharing and trust building that has grown into a strong, proven-effective methodology. Over the years, John centered his Story Circle process as an essential part of his own company, Junebug Productions, and he has shared his thoughtful approach with many folks working for social justice around the country. He developed a long-term artistic relationship with Roadside Theater, a part of Appalshop Media Center in Whitesburg, KY. The two companies built many plays together, across the difficult boundaries of race and cultural differences, and they brought the Story Circle Methodology into a nicely sharable, learnable process.
Story Circle Step-by-Step Guide Template
This template for a one-page Step-by-Step guide can be filled in with key details for your context and used to help you guide the story circle process. This guide was developed by developed by Bob Leonard and Katie Trozzo and modified materials from Roadside Theater. We invite you to copy and paste the text into a new document and update with key details to help you lead your story circle!
Archived
Story Circle Trainings & Events
November 9, 2:00-5:00 pm
Story Circle Gathering for 2024-2025 Roanoke Artist Residents
Held at Star City School of Ballet
Resident Artists gathered to learn how to lead a Story Circle and explore ways to apply this tool to their practice.
ARTS & COMMUNITY
A STORY CIRCLE GATHERING
Saturday, December 7, 2024
1:00-4:30 pm
Hill Street Baptist Church
Story Circle Gathering Open to Neighbors, Artists, and Partners
On Saturday, December 7, Katie Trozzo and Bob Leonard hosted about 40 people in a gathering in which we explored Story Circles and engaged in questions around around community and belonging and around individuals and community impact. Watch for more resources coming soon from the event.
Wednesday, February 26, 2025, 7 PM
Follow up call for artists and neighbors who have participated in Story Circle Training
Did you participate in a story circle training in November or December? Join us for a follow-up call to explore potential circle purposes and prompts that you are considering. Bring your idea, and we’ll help you design your circle.