E11 - Result Sharing with Policymakers - Gdansk (Poland)

At first we created an outdoor educational event (E11) “Story Walk” with activists and community leaders from the Tri-City (Trójmiasto) area in mind (passionate people working for their local communities, i.e.: the neighbourhoods, schools, NGOs.

The event combined a walk along Radunia Canal with attaining new competences i.e. learning/improving storytelling skills. Before the Walk’s participants received by mail educational materials (see below) and were asked to think about interesting stories connected to their lives or activities and share them at the end of the walk.

During this urban walk they had a chance to learn (in a practical and interesting form) to tell stories (about issues that matter) that spark the interest of the audiences and keep them engaged. The learning was based on examples of several stories told by our guide Katarzyna Michałowska- about people connected to places, which were visited along the trail. The introduction to the methodology was provided by Magdalena Zakrzewska-Duda (R//C).

Part two of River//Cities STORY WORK dissemination event “Good Story” was hosted by the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre (BSCC) as an open air presentation of our methodology to the BSCC staff. The meeting took place in the BSCC’s garden as a non-formal discussion with cultural activists. They represented various departments in their institution such as International, Regional, Economic, Administration as well as Marketing and PR. Also present was the Deputy Director of the BSCC, Ms Renata Malcer-Dymarska.

Magdalena Zakrzewska-Duda on behalf of the River//City Foundation Platform gave a short presentation on the methodology entitled “Good Story” and distributed the education materials to the participants. The Stary Walk event and format were also discussed. Magdalena emphasised the aspect of story listening and collecting in this format which requires engagement of the activity participants. BSCC staff members shared their experience of using storytelling in cultural projects.

Link to the original FB Event/invitation.

Attached PDF document (both Polish and English version) is outlining Story Work adapted by River//Cities presentation/methodology, based on materials developed by:

•  the R//C Foundation's team as part of the I_Improve EU River//Cities project; 
• Agata Górska, also used during the webinar titled ''Storytelling in Practice", by Stacja Komunikacja (part of our project)
•  by Paweł Tkaczyk in a book titled "Narratologia", PWN, Warsaw 2018
• Graphics by Agata Górska (Stacja Komunikacja)

Disclaimer :

"The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”

Gdansk Story Walk (I_Improve Project), June 2021

Good Story - part two of River//Cities STORY WORK dissemination at the BSCC in Gdansk 12.07.21.