To celebrate the annual World Storytelling Day and its theme this year, Trees, the Manitoba Storytelling Guild invites the community to a concert of stories, and a workshop on creating art in response to a story, on the weekend of March 17-18th.

The storytelling concert, titled "Under The Golden Tree," takes place at 7:30 pm on Saturday, March 17th, at the St. Boniface Museum, 494 Taché Avenue. Local storytellers and musicians offer an eclectic and delightful mix of tales and tunes. Hosts are Jewish storyteller Kay Stone, founder of Winnipeg’s open story circle Stone Soup and author of scholarly books on folklore and tale-telling, and Mary Louise Chown, author, storyteller and longtime host of CKUW radio’s program "Cabbages and Kings." Admission is by donation, as a fundraiser for the Museum and the Manitoba Storytelling Guild.

On Sunday, March 18th, from 1 to 4 pm, Temple Shalom (Grant Ave. at Wilton) hosts an art workshop with Ruth Livingston. Livingston is a past president of the Temple and has a studio on site where she makes kippot and prayer shawls, among other creations. She will teach participants techniques of fabric art. Then participants will listen to a Hasidic story about trees told by Justin Jaron Lewis, and conclude the afternoon by using the newly learned techniques to create art based on images in the story. No art experience is required. There is a materials fee of $20 (discounted to $15 for members of Temple Shalom or the Manitoba Storytelling Guild) and advance registration is required through [email protected] .

Featured storyteller at the art workshop, Justin Jaron Lewis, teaches in the Department of Religion and the Judaic Studies Program at the University of Manitoba. He has been ordained as a Maggid (spiritual storyteller) by Yitzhak Buxbaum, who received this ordination from Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach.

Recently, at Limmud Winnipeg, Lewis launched his most recent book, Many Pious Women. Co-authored with Harry Fox (University of Toronto), and published by De Gruyter, Berlin, it is an annotated translation of a Yiddish manuscript, from Renaissance Italy, in praise of womankind. The Yiddish text and English translation, rooted in oral traditions of Midrash and Yiddish humour, can be downloaded from Lewis’ website, http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~lewis2/ManyPiousWomen.html  

World Storytelling Day is observed with storytelling gatherings all over the world, on and around the day of the spring solstice; see http://www.freewebs.com/worldstorytellingday.

The Manitoba Storytelling Guild is an umbrella group connecting established and beginning storytellers with each other and with audiences, throughout Manitoba. Membership is $20 a year and is open to everyone with a love for oral storytelling, including traditional storytellers, spoken word performers, writers, singers and everyone who enjoys listening to a good story. The Guild website is http://manitobastorytelling.org/

Contact: Justin Jaron Lewis