Each day during this April A-Z Blogging Challenge I’ll use a different letter of the alphabet as a prompt for a short musing on an aspect or two of “Story Slams & Traditional Storytelling – Bridging the Distance.” (You can see previous blog posts about my introduction to this increasingly-popular kind of storytelling event here, here, and here.)
“It’s the 20-and-30-somethings! These draw younger crowds!” (- Story slams)
“Hey, where are all the young people? These audiences are all gray-haired!” (- Traditional storytelling)
Is it true that story slams draw younger audiences than more-traditional storytelling events? And if so, why?
In the brief amount of experience I’ve been able to have with story slams so far (I’ve been to 4, to date) I can report that I do indeed see many more 20-and-30-somethings there than in more-traditional storytelling events & conferences (such as those produced by my state storytelling organization, Rocky Mountain Storytelling (next conference coming up SOON! – May 1&2!).
BUT, I see plenty of 40 and 50 and 60-somethings at the story slams, too!
AND another observation: at least 4 of the most passionate tellers/listeners/lovers of traditional tales I know are all 20-30-somethings, so it’s obviously not an inviolable age-division-thing (and, Ancient History remembered…I was a mere 33 when I embarked upon my storytelling career back in 1988).
But…What IS it about story slams that seems to draw younger folks more than the more-traditional storytelling events and offerings do?
I confess that it’s tempting to swill around in thoughts of “current narcissistic culture” (story slams being almost entirely about telling first-person true stories)…and while that might play some part, and I may be writing about this in the future…
I find myself thinking more about style-and-format issues rather than content. Such things as:
- Greater comfort/facility among slam producers with pursuing 21st-century publicity avenues
- Venues that allow/invite food and drink during the show
- The game-atmosphere of a competition
- What else?…?
How about you?…
- What’s YOUR experience with audience-age differences at different kinds of storytelling events?
- Or – is all of this foreign to you, and so perhaps you have some fresh/outside ideas or questions about it? (Saturday, April 4 the letter will be “D” and you’ll get some “Definitions/Descriptions!”)
- I’d love to get your thoughts…
Thanks for reading – Pam
“Green audience” image courtesy of Pixomar at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Tomorrow (B): Beer and Books…
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