Description of organisation

Storytelling Centre believes in the power of storytelling. We are also convinced that in a balanced, culturally diverse society, there should be space for everyone's story; especially in times of intercultural tensions! In an ever-changing society we see it as a necessity to provide a platform for all those stories, in the theatre and in society, and to encourage people to connect through stories. That is our mission.

In recent years Storytelling Centre has developed numerous activities in the field of storytelling. The Centre is now known nationally and internationally as a training centre, festival producer, producer of urgent performances by young storytelling talents and as a supporter of cultural diversity and connectivity between different cultural backgrounds.

Storytelling Centre originated from the International Storytelling Festival Amsterdam that was founded in 2008 by Arjen Barel and Marlies ter Haar. Marlies and Arjen met at the Verteltheaterdagen in Utrecht, and after this festival decided not to continue its activities, they came up with a plan for a new one. The ships in the harbour of an abandoned shipyard in the North of Amsterdam were chosen to be the location. In its 12 years existence, the International Storytelling festival has developed into one of the most well acclaimed events in Europe, presenting both a Dutch and an international program to a growing audience in various venues all over the city of Amsterdam. The central library is one of the main partners of the festival.

In January 2012, the Dutch Storytelling Centre (a NGO) was founded to give the organization a possibility to grow and to add other activities to the festival. The Storytelling Centre already organized expert meetings on Storytelling and Empowerment, Storytelling and Change and Storytelling and Theory. A second festival was initiated in 2012, presenting stories at several fortresses that are part of the Dutch Waterline - this festival: "Fortresses full of Stories" grew from 6 to 18 locations in 5 years. In the summer of 2013 the centre started with organizing summer courses and basic courses in storytelling. In the meantime, the Centre initiated more and more activities in the field of applied storytelling. Programs were designed around specific themes and in 2015 a Human Library was
added to the work of the centre. In 2016 Storytelling Centre started working on a big community project in the Amsterdam area of Osdorp ("Osdorp the Storytelling Neighbourhood"), exploring different ways of involving Storytelling in social processes.

Storytelling Centre is member of FEST, the federation of European Storytelling.

Storytelling Centre was partner in the European Aladdin project, which focused on Intergenerational Learning through storytelling. In this project Storytelling Centre worked with youth with fewer opportunities living in deprived neighbourhoods. Since 2018, Storytelling Centre is lead partner in two KA2 projects, PicS, on developing a picture language en storytelling tool to connect youth with different backgrounds in (potential) conflict areas, and Alternative Ways, focusing on the development of a method to learn a new language for people with low language learning skills. One new Strategic Partnership will start in September 2019.

Inclusion topics

This organisation is willing to involve volunteers who face situations which make their participation in activities more difficult, from the following categories for different types of project:

• Cultural differences
• Social obstacles
• Refugees