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Welcome to Healing Story Alliance

Founded over 25 years ago, Healing Story Alliance is an alliance of artists and practitioners who view storytelling as a healing art. HSA currently offers dynamic programming and online resources that promote healing of the self, society, and the earth. We are no longer a member-based organization requiring dues. We welcome anyone into our circle who is interested in the healing power of story to bring about positive change. Join our new mailing list to keep abreast of our offerings!

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HSA Free Event – Register to donate Now

Burnt into Memory: How Brownfield Faced the Fire
An Oral History Concert to Benefit the Maui Strong Fund
by Jo Radner

Friday, October 13, 2023 – Online
7:00pm – 8:30 pm EST
Register for FREE Zoom ticket and to donate to the Hawaii Community Foundation: Maui Strong here:
https://www.simpletix.com/e/burnt-into-memory-how-brownfield-faced-the-tickets-143240

In the space of a few hours on October 23, 1947, a furious wildfire destroyed almost all of the small western Maine town of Brownfield. Neighbors fought and fled the fire, then returned, determined to rebuild their community. Drawing on interviews with townspeople, letters, photographs, and newspaper reports, storyteller and folklorist Jo Radner tells an epic story of terror, courage, generosity, and hope.

Join us for an extraordinary evening of storytelling to benefit those impacted by the fires on Maui! All proceeds from this concert will go to the Hawaii Community Foundation – MAUI STRONG. The Maui Strong Fund is providing financial resources that can be deployed quickly, with a focus on rapid response and recovery for the devastating wildfires on Maui. HCF will not be collecting a fee for donations to the Maui Strong Fund; 100 percent of the funds will be distributed for community needs.

About Jo Radner, Storytelling Artist and Folklorist

Jo Radner has been studying, teaching, telling, and collecting stories most of her life, and has performed from Maine to Hawaii to Finland. She is past president of the American Folklore Society and the National Storytelling Network. After 31 years’ teaching at American University, Jo moved back to her home region of western Maine as a freelance storyteller, writer, and oral historian. Her new book, Wit and Wisdom: The Forgotten Literary Life of New England Villages, was published in June, 2023.

Committed to strengthening communities by helping them find, shape, and present their stories, Jo conducts oral history projects and workshops for organizations, families, and individuals. To develop “Burnt into Memory,” the story she will tell October 13th, she spent a year interviewing people who lived through the terrible wildfire that destroyed the western Maine town of Brownfield in 1947. She created this story to honor and celebrate those who fought and fled the fire seventy-six years ago. In this program, she will tell it as a tribute and fundraiser for the people of Maui who suffered this summer’s terrible wildfire.

This free event is produced by the Healing Story Alliance.

Register Here for Your Free Zoom Link!

NEW! In Case you Missed the event, we now have some recordings available!

Click Here to Purchase a Viewing Ticket

Click Here to Purchase a Viewing Ticket $15

UPCOMING HSA EVENTS!

ONGOING BI-MONTHLY EVENT!
Keeping Our Oars In The Water:
Gathering To Bear Witness To Experiences
And Stories Of Vulnerability And Resilience

OARS in the Water

Wednesday, September 27th
7:00-8:30 pm EDT – Online
Hosted by: Sara deBeer and Donna Marie Kuczynski
Theme: The Neighborhoods of Our Lives

Remember the neighborhood you grew up in? Or the one you nurtured inside yourself if your external neighborhood was not comfortable or safe? We’ll come together to explore our inner and outer neighborhoods and how they have affected who we are.

OARS in the Water is a facilitated Zoom gathering on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month offered by Healing Story Alliance to create a listening space to share the experiences and stories that have emerged through turbulent times. This is not a therapeutic circle but we do hope it will be healing, supportive and inspiring.

Admission is free, although donations are deeply appreciated and help support our programming. Your tax deductible donation can be made below:

We’ll gather via Zoom. Here is the NEW link:

Click Here to Donate
Click Here to Join OARS via Zoom
Join Our Mailing List

About our Hosts for September 27th

Sara deBeer’s great love is telling traditional folktales from world cultures. Since 1978, Sara has been telling these stories to audiences of all ages. A listener said, “Sara is a captivating storyteller, sensitive to her audience and their interests.  Her extensive repertoire enables her to present programs on a wide variety of themes.”  Sara is a published poet who also teaches poetry-writing classes. In 2004, she was awarded the Barbara Reed Award for Distinguished and Outstanding Service to the Connecticut Storytelling Community. http://storydebeer.com/

Donna Marie Kuczynski writes, “When I first decided to tell a story instead of read one, I wasn’t sure about the whole idea; but I remembered loving the stories that my grandmother (Katie Corcoran Barry) told me, so I started with one of hers and added a few details of my own.  Telling stories isn’t easier than reading books, storytelling is a completely different art.  Storytelling is a responsive art form.” Donna Marie won the 2002 National Storytelling Network “Oracle” award, North Central Region for exemplary service and significant contributions to the community through storytelling.

Click Here to View Future OARS Events

ABOUT the Healing Story Alliance Website

This website offers resources, guidance and practical applications for storytelling, revealing and reflecting the many facets of healing story in the world today and in the past. In addition to bibliographies, and links, there is a library of articles on Healing Stories and Storytelling. Our acclaimed Journal, Diving in the Moon: Honoring Story, Facilitating Healing, is available from 2013-2017 as an e-journal on the HSA website.

All authored writing on the Healing Story Alliance website is the copyrighted property of its author. These resources are intended for not-for-profit educational use. Any commercial use of resources on this website must be arranged directly with the author of the text or video.

Many are drawn to our site in search of answers or resources for dealing with the pain and tragedy of turbulent current events in the personal, social and global realms. This interest is addressed in our compilations of stories which we encourage you to explore.

  • Healing Treasures: Stories intended to precipitate conversation, and guide teaching and healing with participants.
  • Stories We Live: Personal stories and methods for gathering and applying life experiences as healing references.
  • Stories for Children in Crisis: Compiled by Laura Simms, includes stories, articles, and links, drawn from years of research and professional work with children.
  • Stories for Peace: storytelling in pursuit of peace and understanding.
  • Healing the Earth: featuring stories contributed by storytellers working in environmental settings or on educational projects with an environmental theme.
Click here to view a remembrance video honoring HSA co-founder Allison Cox,
Sunset 2022

HSA was a long standing Special Interest Group of the National Storytelling Network. In 2022 it became fiscally sponsored by Story Arts Inc, a NY state 501(c)(3) arts organization dedicated to the fine art of storytelling and to its educational applications. As a subsidiary project of Story Arts Inc., HSA functioned as a not-for-profit arts organization under Story Arts Inc.’s fiscal umbrella while establishing it’s own not-for-profit organization in New York State. In January 2023 HSA Inc. received IRS recognition as an independent 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Healing Story Alliance Inc is now an NSN Collaborative Partner.


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