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Ray Hicks, Storyteller
Ray Hicks, Storyteller - National Storytelling Convention, October 1999 Photo Tom Raymond

The National Storytelling Festival

Whether a thousand years ago or in today's highly technological society, tales have been told for basically the same reasons--to educate and entertain, to explain the unexplainable, to honor the past and its people, and to record the simple, seemingly unimportant moments of human existence. The National Storytelling Festival, produced by the Storytelling Foundation International, honors this tradition. During the 1960s and early 1970s, there emerged throughout America a realization that we were losing our connection to the genuine, one-on-one communication of the told tale. In October 1973, in Jonesborough, Tennessee, a 200-year-old town in the heart of the Southern Appalachian Mountains, the art of storytelling was reborn at the first National Storytelling Festival, today the oldest and most respected gathering devoted exclusively to the art of storytelling anywhere in America. This unique event has in turn spawned a national revival of this venerable art.

Project documentation includes an eight-page history of the Festival, eleven 8 x 10 photographs, a booklet entitled "Rekindling the Sacred Fire," magazine articles covering the event, and programs and promotional materials from the 1999 Festival.

Originally submitted by: William L. Jenkins, Representative, (1st District).



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The Local Legacies project provides a "snapshot" of American Culture as it was expressed in spring of 2000. Consequently, it is not being updated with new or revised information with the exception of "Related Website" links.

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