Welcome!

Welcome to our blog! We’re happy that you visited. This is a place where we will be sharing digital stories with you.

The stories on this website were created by people like you and me. We all have a story to tell and the ability to tell it. Sometimes we just need the opportunity to voice our stories. Sometimes we need a reminder that there are different ways to tell a story. Images, music, or even other peoples’ ideas can help us in the process of talking about our own lives. The sound of your voice can bring an audience closer to you. As you watch these digital stories, remember that storytelling is an act of courage.

These storytellers have agreed to share their stories with you.  Maybe watching them will make you feel less alone, maybe you’ll be inspired, maybe you’ll learn something new, maybe you’ll laugh out loud, (or maybe you’ll cry), maybe you’ll want to tell your own story.  This is the power of sharing stories.  They invite more stories. Maybe we all need to listen a little more closely to each other.

The digital stories in this blog were created in workshops facilitated by two community organizations that are working to empower people to create and share their own digital stories as a strategy for personal and community transformation.  Centre for Community Learning & Development and North York Community House both work with communities to use digital storytelling as a tool for engagement and mobilization efforts, for educating and raising awareness about urgent social issues, to work for policy change, assess community needs, conduct research and evaluate programs.  Some of the digital story workshops were developed in partnership with other organizations in Toronto, and across Canada and some of the digital story workshops were delivered in our home organizations.

Based on the model developed by the Center for Digital Storytelling in Berkeley, California, our workshops blend creative writing, oral history, and digital video production.  We are trained in the Center for Digital Storytelling methodology and work with CDS to promote digital storytelling locally, nationally and internationally.

Stay connected, as we will be posting more videos from new and upcoming projects.

To learn more about how you can get involved click here.

IWIP 2011

Every year, the Centre for Community Learning & Development offers an opportunity for a group of immigrant women from Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods to develop leadership skills. The Immigrant Women’s Integration Program participants assess the needs of the communities in Toronto. This year, the women explored arts as a method for gathering data. IWIP particiants gathered sounds, photographs, and told stories about their lives in communities across Toronto. They then led similar arts workshops in their communities. All of the works were then mapped, creating a storymap portrait of the city of Toronto.

Regent Park Revitalization Stories

The Regent Park Revitalization Storytelling workshop provided and opportunity for new and existing residents to share their personal experiences of the revitalization process in Regent Park in creative and innovative ways. Not only did the residents develop media and community engagement skills, but they were also able to connect with each other through making these stories together. This is the beginning of an on-going conversation between new condo-owners and long-term residents, working together to make an effort to develop a true mixed-income housing neighbourhood in Regent Park.

by Laily

by Sureya

by Ratnes

Journeys to Health

Since January 2010, community media artists Jennifer LaFontaine and Emmy Pantin have been artists in residence at a community health centre. The Four Villages Community Health Centre provides services across a large area of west-end Toronto including the Junction, Swansea, Roncesvalles, and Bloor West Village neighbourhoods. By promoting healthy living, preventing illness and supporting a healthy community, they offer everyone the tools they need to improve their health. And what better tool for people to improve their health than art?

Short workshops that included photography exercises, audio recording, storytelling and making paper mandalas were offered to already existing programs. Two digital storytelling workshops blending creative writing, oral history, and digital video production were offered to staff and clients.

To read more about the project, and see some of the art and digital stories that was made, check out the Journeys to Health blog.

Girls and Sports

On November 5-7, 2010 Motivate Canada and CAAWS, the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity, brought together community program leaders and youth involved with Motivate Canada’s Active Circle initiative and CAAWS’ Aboriginal On the Move project for a digital storytelling workshop. The Active Circle supports Aboriginal youth and communities to become vibrant, active and healthy through sport and recreation. CAAWS’ Aboriginal On the Move project supports the development and implementation of sport and physical activity programs for Aboriginal girls and young women. Participants, who came from a variety of communities across Canada, were asked to share a story about the impact of sport and physical activity in their life, the life of someone they know, or in their community. The result was a collection of stories that speak to the power of sport and physical activity in how we define ourselves and create our community.

by Amber

by Chase

by Christina

by Justin

by Keisha

by Lisa Marie

by Lovenia

by Serena

by Serene

by Shayla

by Shelly

CCL&D Civic Engagement Group

CCL&D’s Civic Engagement and Community Development Initiative will allow residents of Regent Park, Moss Park and St. James Town to learn about today’s most pressing issues in Canadian neighbourhoods and their crucial role in solving these problems by becoming civic members of their communities.

by Levi

by Maria

by Naznin

Journeys to Health Exhibit and Digital Story Screening

Join us November 11, 2010 from 4:30 to 7:30 pm for an exhibit and digital story screening at the Four Villages Community Health Centre!

Please visit the Journeys to Health blog for more information about the project.

Full Circle Women’s Leadership Project

Full Circle is a leadership training program for immigrant women that focuses on interpersonal skill development, personal change and community action. In the project there were two groups, one for women who immigrated to Canada alone and one for women who immigrated with family.  Creating digital stories was a creative way to reflect on their own interpersonal skill development, to share what changes they have made in their lives, and their hopes and dreams.In the second part of the project women shared the digital stories in a variety of community actions including: a community forum on the municipal election, presentations to service providers on child welfare issues, an English conversations circle, immigrant women’s support groups, and an educational event about immigration processes.

 

by Maria

 

by Safia

 

by Raji

 

September 2010 Open Workshop

Open workshops are open to people from anywhere to make a digital story about anything. Incredible people come to us and share their beautiful stories. Here are some stories from the latest Open Workshop.

by Sharon

by Chris

by Mustafa

by Carol

Toronto Food Stories

We helped make digital stories about the City of Toronto’s Food Strategy program. Check out the stories on the Toronto Food Connections website.

Alexandra Park Neighbourhood Learning Centre

The Alexandra Park Neighbourhood Learning Centre offers free learner-centred programs for adults to upgrade their skills and ultimately use those skills to apply for entry to colleges, universities or apprenticeship programs. This May,they gave learners from the Literacy and Basic Skills program the opportunity to make their own digital stories. Two teachers, Yuko and Kate, created their own stories the week before, and joined the CDS facilitators in leading the workshop. It was their excitement about digital storytelling that was infectious to their learners!

Fishing by Garvin

Lost Chapter in my Life by Latoya.

My Dedication to Pam by Sandy.

Liver Transplant by Theresa.