Picture This – Story Sharing
November marked the start of a very exciting new project for Beyond Words in partnership with Kent Libraries. The ‘Picture This – Story Sharing’ project, funded by Arts Council England, will bring three artists together with nine Beyond Words book clubs to produce three fun fiction stories to add to the Beyond Words Page Turners series.
Over five months, the books will be produced through workshops where adults with learning disabilities will be encouraged to explore the art of storytelling through drawing and drama. With the aid of a facilitator and artists, they will be encouraged to develop and share these stories within their communities.
After a careful artist selection process involving people with learning disabilities, City Lit course leaders and Beyond Words Series Editor Sheila Hollins, we are delighted to announce that the three talented artists we will be working with are Lucy Bergonzi, Beth Aulton and Gaby Weigert.
The first Picture This drama workshop took place in Dover library with book club members also joining from clubs in Deal and Folkestone. A second workshop was arranged for members of the Folkestone book club who were not able to attend in order to ensure that all book club members had the opportunity to contribute their ideas to the formulation of the initial story.
Everyone had a lot of fun at the workshops and soon the group was imagining themselves on a sandy beach, eating ice creams, swimming in the sea and battling pesky seagulls! It’s now down to the artist to sketch some pictures that tell the group’s story.
But of course there are still two more stories yet to be imagined. Watch this space to find out where the other groups end up. Our next story could be set in outer space, under the sea, up a mountain or in the jungle. We won’t know until we get there.