Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Storytelling for Social Impact - sign up now‏

Gretchen and I are teaching a brand new class this fall at the Florida Center for the Literary Arts in downtown Miami. The class is geared to anyone interested in learning how to use their storytelling skills to effect social change.

No reporting experience is required, there are no grades, homework is optional. So what's stopping you? Please sign up! Classes begin next week.


You can write me at dangrech at gmail.com if you have any questions.

Warmly,
Dan Grech and Gretchen Beesing


http://www.flcenterlitarts.com/new/pages/class/fall_08/dgrech.htm



Gretchen Beesing and Dan Grech
Storytelling for Social Impact
8 weeks: Tuesdays, September 16-November 4, 2008, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
$170 (Current MDC faculty and credit students: $120)

Workshop will take place at Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus
Want to register? Click here for instructions and registration form.


A well-crafted story can do more than entertain. Stories can shape policy debates, empower disenfranchised populations and spur its audience to action. This innovative course, co-taught by a psychotherapist and a journalist, will borrow from a variety of disciplines to teach students how to shape the elements of a true story for maximum effect.

Students participating in this course will learn best storytelling practices from a variety of perspectives, including narrative theory, oral history and citizen journalism. Students will then employ those
practices in the field, as they gather community stories that will be workshopped in class.

No prior writing or reporting experience is necessary for this course. Students will be able to work in the medium of their choice, be it print, audio or video. The stories students produce will be added to
the Human Services Coalition Story Bank, an archive of Miami stories about the policies that impact us every day.

Limited to 15 participants.


Gretchen Beesing is a social worker, community organizer, and psychotherapist. She works as the Community Engagement Director for the Human Services Coalition and as a psychotherapist for Care Resource. She holds a masters degree in social work from New York University.

Dan Grech is the Miami-based Americas correspondent for Marketplace, the daily business radio show produced by American Public Media. He is a former staff writer at The Miami Herald, and served for two years as its Argentina correspondent. Grech is a Princeton graduate and a Fulbright scholar. He has taught courses in multimedia writing and interviewing at FCLA, Florida International University, and the
Poynter Institute.

Date and Time
Tuesdays
September 16 - November 4, 2008
6:30-8:30 p.m.

Fee
$170, pre-registration required
(Current MDC faculty staff and students: $120)

This is a Community Education (non-credit) course.

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