Native Storytelling Workshop

Friday marked showcase day for the KU Native Storytelling Workshop, the culmination of a weeklong program that this year drew its largest class yet with 22 students from as far away as Portland, Oregon, and Alaska.

Instructors Mark Dreadfulwater (Cherokee), McKenzie Allen Charmley (Dena’ina Athabascan), Benjamin Yazza (Diné), Christopher Lomahquahu (Gila River Indian Community and Hopi Tribe), Tailyr Irvine (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes) and Kevin Abourezk (Sicangu Lakota) each spoke before their respective groups in multimedia, social media, photography and podcast presented final projects to a room full of families, some of whom drove up to four hours to attend. Lunch, provided by the university, followed the presentations.

The showcase opened with a recorded message from Indigenous Journalists Association Board Director Sunnie Clahchischiligi (Diné), along with workshop facilitators Melissa Greene-Blye (Miami Tribe of Oklahoma) and Rebekka Schlichting (Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska). Greene-Blye said students learned from instructors about creating podcasts, shooting photos, producing broadcast segments, creating social media posts, and writing, skills organizers hope will carry students toward careers in storytelling.

Stay tuned. Student work from this year’s workshop is coming soon. ”

This beautifully written article highlights some of the students’ experiences during the workshop last week:

Training future Native storytellers: ‘We are born to tell our stories’ - ICT University of Kansas workshop teaches journalism to Native high school students

Wednesday was Haskell Day for students in the KU Native Storytelling Workshop, who went on a visit to Haskell Indian Nations University. The day included stops at the Cultural Center and campus bookstore, along with time for campus exploration and developing content for their final projects. Students broke for lunch at Haskell’s Curtis Dining Hall before returning to KU in the afternoon, where they dove into Session 4: reviewing what they gathered at Haskell Indian Nations University and beginning to plan their final projects.

Students arrive at the University of Kansas’ Stauffer-Flint Hall for the first full day of the KU Native Storytelling Workshop, part of a weeklong program running through the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Instructor’s competed for students to join their teams in a Native America’s Got Talent-type showdown before the deep dive into Session 1, an introduction to the equipment and medium they’ll use throughout the week, cameras, audio gear, or writing, depending on their chosen group.