CONTACT US
Do you have a question we haven't answered? Need more information?
Contact us at:
Storytelling Festival
c/o City of Tampa Parks & Recreation
1420 North Tampa Street
Tampa, FL 33602
info@tampastory.org
(813) 931-2106.
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 Award-Winning Festival |
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The Tampa-Hillsborough County Storytelling Festival is a wonderful example of how our community can enjoy the benefits of cooperation among city government, county government, and the private sector.
Under the auspices of its fiscal sponsor, Friends of the Library Inc., the festival has received national recognition as the largest and oldest storytelling festival in which children are the predominately featured storytellers.
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Our Mission |
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The Tampa-Hillsborough County Storytelling Festival engages people of all ages in the enjoyable pursuit of literature and nurtures the preservation of the oral tradition of storytelling. The Festival provides an opportunity for inter-generational, multi-cultural interaction through story and exposure to nationally renown storytellers. Both children and adults receive training and actively participate in the ancient art of storytelling.
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Goals and Objectives |
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To renew and promote the art of storytelling for children and adults.
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To introduce some of the best stories in the oral tradition to children and adults.
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To develop self-confidence and public speaking skills in children.
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To involve special populations such as the elderly, the handicapped, speakers of English as a second language, and black communities in the renewal of this art.
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To better prepare children for participation in the art by providing in-service training in the art of storytelling for recreation leaders, librarians, and teachers.
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To bring to the Tampa area a festival introducing folk tradition as presented through the telling and hearing of good stories; using the local talent of Hillsborough County. |
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In Memory of Virginia Rivers |
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By Gladys Varga
 “I’ll never forget my first public performance of storytelling at the age of eight,” Virginia Rivers began in an article for the March 1995 Storytelling Magazine. Born on July 23, 1935 and raised in Ybor City in Tampa, Florida, the young storyteller with “weak knees and a pounding heart” became synonymous with storytelling in her adult life. A visionary and woman of extreme generosity, Virginia was a graduate of the University of Tampa and Florida State University. Her career included teaching 1st grade, hosting an 8 year run of live daily programs for preschoolers on Tampa’s WEDU-TV educational television, serving as a children’s librarian for the Tampa Public Library, co-founding the Suncoast Puppet Guild and the Tampa Bay Storytellers Guild, receiving Tampa Hispanic Woman of the Year, and conceiving and implementing community events for the City of Tampa, such as International Festival, Halloween FunFest, Dreamers Against Drugs, and Santafest. Continued » |
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"The Storytelling Festival is a Tampa tradition. Keep up the good work for Tampa's children." Marc Rogoff
Festival Attendee |
