‘Stories do connect people.’ Mid-Continent library hosts KC Storytelling Celebration

Storytelling isn’t just for kids: It’s a way of sharing culture for everyone. That’s part of the message behind this year’s KC Storytelling Celebration.

The celebration, co-sponsored by Maplewoods Community College in Kansas City and the Mid-Continent Public Library, is in its 21st year. In the past, it’s had its main event at Maplewoods, but the festival has also had events at library locations throughout the city.

Although Mid-Continent Public Library does have two Lee’s Summit locations, this year, as with everything, the festival is a little bit different and a whole lot digital. With funding cuts to higher education, they initially feared the festival would get canceled.

In addition to what Maplewoods was able to offer, “Mid-Continent Public Library said, ‘We can pull together some funding — not a lot — but let’s make this a go,’” said Joyce Slater, artistic director of the Library, which has branches in Lee’s Summit. “I think that is hopeful, and that’s what we need now. We need to have a lot of hope. They’ve been a partner the whole time, but they have never taken the lead on it before.”

Other sponsors include the Kansas City Public Library and River and Prairie Storyweavers.

Slater said she always prefers in-person storytelling, although this year’s circumstances won’t allow them to do that.

“You don’t know if you’re always ready, if the Wi-Fi will work that night. I’ve been involved in a lot of conferences since March that were online. Sometimes you have some glitches,” Slater said.

One thing that makes her confident about the festival’s online presence is that mostly, it isn’t live. Storytellers have sent in videos of themselves telling the stories, so she won’t have to worry about the Wi-Fi in various locations throughout the country.

Local storytellers taped all their stories at a Mid-Continent Public Library location.

“This year, I have taped programs for libraries and camps all over. It is kind of strange; you have no idea how it lands. You don’t now what the reactions are,” Slater said, adding that the storytellers slated have all done online work.

The festival’s theme this year is “connecting the world with stories.”

“Stories do connect people. When you know somebody’s story, you can’t hate them. You can understand them a little better,” Slater said.

The stories will be about all sorts of topics and come from a variety of backgrounds. That includes tales of farm life in Boone County, West African folk tales and anecdotes from Native American culture.

Slater said that each storyteller truly enjoys the story he or she tells.

“It’s hard to tell a story you don’t really love. It’s hard to get into the story and make it yours,” she said.

The festival is also making the videos available exclusively to schools, nursing homes and other groups that request access until Nov. 13.

“We weren’t sure if schools would be in session, so the links allow them to be able to play in individual classrooms or provide it to students who are doing school from home,” said Kimberly Howard, assistant manager in Mid-Continent’s community programming department.

This weekend’s events include stories on MCPL360 at 4 p.m. and Friday, Nov. 6 and 11:15 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7. To participate in the 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday storytelling workshops on Zoom, sign up at mymcpl.org/events/storytelling-celebration. All events are live and cannot be replayed later.

This story was originally published November 5, 2020 at 5:00 AM.