Storytelling at its best
Neighbourhood Story Slam (NSS) is a monthly event organised by Claire Murphy Barnhart and Amanda Hayes. The community event features a changing theme, which storytellers will share based on. You can head along as a storyteller or audience member – either way the night will evoke emotion.
Story slams are a safe place to share and listen to true, personal stories from those within our community. NSS celebrates human connection and the art of storytelling. Murphy Barnhart and Hayes wanted to bring this to life as they felt people were craving new ways to connect and so far the events have exceeded their expectations.
Murphy Barnhart originally ran the Story Slam out of Yonder several years ago, but ended up winding down naturally and stopping as a result of Covid. When she met Hayes at work more recently, conversations soon started about the event, the stories that Queenstown has to offer and the need for human connection, so they slowly worked towards reviving it.
“It’s been really cool to see the interest and the engagement – the appetite for it in the community because we knew that Queenstown is such a good place for it – we’ve all got great stories and people are on the same page in bringing that community together,” Hayes says.
The interest in the last few slams has been overwhelming and a testament to people’s desire for connection. It allows individuals to share experiences – what it means to be human.
“Even if everyone that attends could just walk away and feel a little bit less alone, or a little bit more connected – see themselves in one of the storytellers, or feel better about something they’re going through – it just lightens everybody a little bit by the end of it,” Murphy Barnhart says. “Even the heavy stories; it just spreads out that shared experience.”
The pair explain that often people don’t want to share their stories as they fit into a few categories; being afraid of public speaking, feeling their stories aren’t worthy, or having a story but not being able to tell it. They’re tackling some of these by offering community workshops. So far they’ve offered two which have been really well-received. They explored various topics including the foundations of great storytelling, how to refine your story’s structure and the power of language.
“We truly believe that everybody has a story and everybody has the power to share it, but giving people the tools to do that is the biggest thing. We really want to be hosting lots of community workshops and events that help to empower those groups of people that maybe are interested but need the nudge to do so.”
For NSS, a different theme is chosen each month – they try to select topics that are relevant, i.e. new beginnings at the start of the year. They also revaluate between events to make sure they’re not missing a certain type of story – keeping the theme quite broad is also important so that not too many stories are excluded.
“We come up with what we think a certain theme is going to bring, but that’s why we like it as well, because it is so open to interpretation,” Hayes says. “It’s whatever that theme means to you – people might think ‘that means I’m going to get this,’ but then we get something totally left-field and that’s what’s great about it.”
Whether you’ve ever thought you might have a story, or you’ve just had your interest piqued, this is the perfect format to explore, and perhaps try, something different. If you’re not comfortable telling a story, you can support and enjoy from the audience, knowing you won’t be asked to jump up on stage.
“There’s been so many storytellers through the years now, but I’ve never, ever, ever seen a storyteller finishing their story and then saying ‘that was horrible and I’m never doing that again.’ I can honestly say it’s a 100% success rate of people coming off and going ‘I’m really happy I did that and I can’t wait to do it again,’ even if they were really apprehensive beforehand,” Murphy Barnhart says.
Neighbourhood Story Slam runs approximately once a month at Sherwood, with storytelling workshops happening periodically, too. Follow them on Instagram @neighbourhood.storyslam to stay up-to-date with all upcoming events and to grab tickets (they do sell out). You can also get in touch via email at neighbourhood.storyslam@gmail.com if you have more questions about getting involved or recommending a storyteller.
