Arts groups, local activists and individuals organise festival and media campaign to connect people with storytelling and their ideas of a collective future
LOCAL GROUPS and individuals around Scotland are gearing up to take part in a festival of storytelling called Dare To Dream which will give participants the chance to share and make stories with others.
Festival organisers have challenged people to envisage "the world they hope to inhabit" by telling retrospective stories as if in a better future already achieved.
Storytellers, artists, teachers and community leaders will take the resulting ideas, videos and images and upload them to an online platform in a bid to inspire future community activism and engagement.
"Imagination is the power to dream something different – for ourselves, our communities, our planet. That what this year's Dreamfest is all about – daring to trust in our dreams – and together make them real." Donald Smith
The festival will take run from 1 September lasting until 30 November and be held at the Scottish International Storytelling Festival as part of the 2016 Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design.
Donald Smith, director of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival, told CommonSpace: "Imagination is the power to dream something different – for ourselves, our communities, our planet. That what this year's Dreamfest is all about – daring to trust in our dreams – and together make them real."
Organisers additionally said: "Every place, every community, every person has a story to tell. Storytelling helps us connect – to each other, to our past, to our place, to our world – and together we are empowered by our connections.
"This campaign reaches for some big themes: creative placemaking, active citizenship, heritage, sustainability, health and recovery, community change and transformation.
"We will also highlight the work of local community organisations who are turning their dreams in to action."
Alongside the physical festival will run a social media campaign beginning on Thursday 27 October, where people in Scotland will be invited to share a dream for their collective future on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using the campaign hashtag #DareToDream.
Organisations already involved with providing resources for the campaign are the Scottish Recovery Network, the International Futures Forum, the US Department of Arts and Culture, Voluntary Arts Scotland, Scotland's Urban Past, Trees For Life and the Scottish Storytelling Forum.
Picture courtesy of Dare To Dream
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