About
HISTORY OF THE GREENSBORO STORYFEST
N.C. Storyfest is a non-profit charitable and educational corporation incorporated in 2005 and recognized by the Internal Revenue Service and the State of North Carolina that presents the annual Greensboro Storyfest. Its goal is to promote a love of storytelling in central North Carolina and draw together and foster the development of creators and performers of stories in the Triad by presenting a public storytelling festival in downtown Greensboro each year. This marks the sixth year that N.C. Storyfest, Inc. will sponsor Greensboro Storyfest as a community service free of charge for children and adults in the cultural district of downtown Greensboro. This celebration of the ancient art of storytelling is made possible with financial support from many foundations, community organizations, corporations, and individuals, and sponsorship by the Greensboro Public Library, the City of Greensboro City Arts Program and Parks and Recreation Department, and the N.C. Storytelling Guild. In addition to performances by nationally acclaimed and regionally recognized storytellers, a number of professional development workshops are offered each year for persons interested in creating and performing stories.
Well-know storytellers who have appeared as headliners in past four years include Sheila Kay Adams, Lloyd Arneach, Cynthia Moore Brown, Willa Brigham, Donald Davis, Leeny Del Seamonds, David Holt, Andy Offut Irwin, Bill Lepp, Logie Meachum, Kelly Swanson and Donna Washington. In addition, twenty-three regional storytellers, primarily from North Carolina and the southeast, have performed as well as a number of local adult and youth tellers. Attendance at festival events has grown from 515 the first year 2005 to 2500 in 2008 in the main tent at Festival Park, Music Room of the Cultural Center and meeting rooms at the Greensboro Public Library and Greensboro Children’s Museum. Dozens of volunteers who love storytelling provide generous assistance in planning and presenting the Greensboro Storyfest each year.
The festival has grown with generous support from the United Arts Council, the Tannenbaum-Sternberger Foundation, American Express, the Michel Family Foundation, the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, Thousands of Prints, Old Greensboro Preservation Society, Downtown Greensboro, Inc., United Guaranty Corporation, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the Junior League of Greensboro, RF Micro Devices, Bank of America, the Cemela Foundation, Greater Greensboro Merchants Association, Bouvier Kelly, Dudley Beauty Products, Milter Kern Company, The North Carolina Humanities Council and many individual sponsors and organizations making in kind contributions.
N.C. Storyfest, Inc. is led by a Board of Directors and assisted by many volunteers. Executive Committee members who took office in 2008 are President – Charlotte F. Hamlin, Vice President – Beth Sheffield, Secretary – Cynthia Moore Brown, and Treasurer – Carole Lindsey-Potter. Other board members include MaryAlice Kurr-Murphy, Gabrielle Howell, Ashley Watkins, Julie Casey Johnson, Lynda Stumpf, and Charlley Ward. President Emeritus David Hill was the founding president of the festival in collaboration with the N.C. Storytelling Guild.
Greensboro Storyfest
Sponsored by N.C, Storyfest, Inc. at Greensboro