Board, Committee & Staff

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St. John’s Storytelling maintains an active and enthusiastic board of people who value storytelling as an art form and a vehicle for social change. We program group and solo performances, workshop series, professional development, school visits, and community partnerships year round. Much of our programming is currently taking place virtually due to Covid-19, but we hope to return to live events as soon as we can!

Our goal is to celebrate storytelling traditions from many cultures, to support new and experimental approaches, and to foreground the role of stories in shaping social change.

Stories are central to how we live our lives. They enable us to preserve traditions, carry histories, and connect with one another. If you’re a passionate, innovative person who appreciates the magic of story, we want to hear from you!

CLICK HERE to download the fillable PDF application form

Or, e-mail us at storytellingstjohns@gmail.com and we can e-mail one to you.

We are accepting applications on an ongoing basis.


BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Officers
Catherine Wright, President
Karen Carroll, Treasurer

Directors at large
Alex Mason
Ken Parsons
Jeanene Walsh

Programming Committee

Our programming committee meet regularly to discuss events, workshops, and other exciting possibilities. They review applications from tellers for our annual Festival, and network with local storytellers to ensure we have a strong pool of folks to draw on for our programming.

The programming committee is:

Gary Green
Dave Paddon
Ken Parsons
Catherine Wright
Jeanene Walsh

Staff

Elaine Pond – Administrator

ABOUT OUR TEAM

Karen Carroll was born and raised in Carbonear, NL. The daughter of a fisherman turned labourer and a stay at home Mom, her family roots are on the north shore of Conception Bay. Karen was introduced to story telling by her parents and grade school teachers. In High School, she became actively engaged with the drama club, where her love for live performance was born, nourished and thrived. She had already begun writing by that time.

Karen joined the Outer Cove Concert Crowd in the early 1990’s as an amateur actress and singer. This creative outlet rekindled her love of the spoken word and live performance and provided a platform for her to write and perform her own works. To date, Karen has written four plays that have been performed by the Concert Crowd.

Karen joined the Board of the St. John’s Storytelling Festival in 2017. Karen can usually be found at the monthly Storytelling Circle, where she often performs one of her own recitations in some sort of costume. She has composed many recitations to date, although she has never really counted them. So may do so now as she continues work on her first book.

A happily retired Registered Nurse, she lives in Logy Bay with her husband Jim and her Newfoundland dog, Nageira. She is a proud and fierce mother and grandmother.

Gary Green is a storyteller and author who has performed both inside and outside the province for a variety of groups ranging from youth camps to international conferences. Among the groups for which he has performed are the Gros Morne Fall Fest, Cape St. Mary’s Performance Series, Battle Harbour Historic Trust, Canadian National Storytelling Conference, Admiralty House Museum, Labrador Creative Arts Festival, St. John’s Folk Festival and Trails, Tales and Tunes. Gary has performed on television as part of the series “Legends and Lore of the North Atlantic” and on several radio stations. He has performed in the international award winning productions “Inside Outside Battery” and “Foghorns and Heartbreak”. Gary has been a consultant for the use of storytelling in the interpretation of the Battle Harbour National Historic Site, the Point Amour Lighthouse Provincial Historic Site and is very active in developing and delivering a story-based interpretation of The Crow’s Nest Officers’ Club National
Historic Site. He has been a board member of the St. John’s Storytelling Festival, and a founding board member of the Soundbone Traditional Arts Foundation. Gary teaches storytelling at the annual Vinland Music Camp.

Dave Paddon is a retired airline pilot originally from Northwest River, Labrador. He grew up listening to the songs and stories of the trappers and attending many a late night “session” around many a  kitchen table.

In 1986 he married a Gander girl, and subsequently became immersed in island culture. As a result he accumulated a store of material which suddenly bubbled to the surface when he and Kim returned to Newfoundland and Labrador in 2005 after 20 years upalong.

He wrote his first recitation in 2007 and has now written 30. Five of these have been published in handmade chapbooks and his work is available on two CDs or through electronic download.

His recitation “Ralph: Flying Hound” was recently released as an illustrated children’s book and was quickly followed by “Half the lies you tell are not true!”, a collection of 13 of his funniest recitations. Dave lives in St.John’s, and is a regular at festivals and fundraisers throughout the province.

Ken Parsons loves Newfoundland Labrador, and it shows in his recitations.

Spending summers growing up in Bonavista Bay, he has created “Raisin Arm”, an imaginary Newfoundland Labrador community full of “heart warming stories” and “all kinds of foolishness”.

The everyday joys and fun of local culture are always “just down the Arm”.

As an accomplished magician, you’re sure to see Ken pull a trick or two out of his sleeve during his stories.

Catherine Wright grew up in Newfoundland in a creative family where self expression was encouraged. From an early age, she made up stories with her teddies, toys, rocks or anything that was to hand.

Catherine continues to embrace playfulness, creative exploration and discovery in her roles as mother, arts educator, multidisciplinary performer, creator of silk works. Her telling of folk and fairy tales, personal stories and original tales are often interwoven with movement and song.

Catherine has presented at many venues and events for audiences from preschoolers to seniors. She is currently President of St John’s Storytelling Festival Inc, and the provincial representative for Storytellers of Canada (SC-CC).

Elaine Pond is the administrator for St. John’s Storytelling. Elaine grew up on the west coast of Newfoundland, and has been interested in all things related to music, literature and art since she was a little girl. She proudly embraces being a ‘baywoman’, despite moving to the city over twenty years ago.

Elaine has an extensive background in sales and advertising, and has worn many colourful hats helping out multiple art focused organizations within the city.

When not being busy with planning events, social media, or day to day admin duties for St. John’s Storytelling, Elaine enjoys cooking lavish dinners, collecting dresses (she doesn’t wear pants!), travel, music of all genres, and being a Mom to her blind one eyed cat Mono.

Harry Ingram was born and raised in Arnold’s Cove Placentia Bay, or as Ray Guy would call it, “That far greater bay”. Recitations have always been a core element of Harry’s upbringing, which he now performs in various venues. He’s known to appear alongside Dave Paddon, Dave Penney, and Hubert Furey as part of the popular “Stage to Stage” group. He’s also a part of the comedy, recitation duo “The Liar’s Bench Show” with his cohort Ken Parsons. Harry writes his own original material, however, he also enjoys keeping alive the works of greats such as Leo O’Brien, John Joe English and others.