The toolkit has been developed using the findings, materials and lessons learnt from these projects, as well as wider storytelling literature and experience.
It provides guidance on three elements of place-based storytelling. We call these Collection, Curation and Creation (the 3Cs). Its main aim is to encourage you to think about and plan for the multitude of aspects involved in storytelling projects, by organising them into short and yet comprehensive questions and guides.
Place-based -> Of a place. Place-based approaches are rooted in understanding the unique contextual circumstances of a place first, before taking actions that affect the place and the people who live or use it. These circumstances include social, economic and environmental factors that underpin the relationship between people and their geographical environment, and the meaning they assign to it.
Further reading:
#diagram
About the storytelling canvas and hamper
The toolkit consists of two parts: the physical storytelling canvas and hamper, and this accompanying website. While the website can be used on its own, we strongly suggest using the storytelling canvas and hamper alongside it, as this will encourage co-creation with your community or peers, facilitate in-person collaboration and provide an excuse to have some fun!
The hamper includes the storytelling canvas printed on table cloths and drink coasters with QR codes on them which will link you to relevant sections on this website. If you are interested in accessing one of our storytelling hampers please contact the team.
#Our storytelling canvas is also available to download. We recommend printing in A3 format.
This toolkit is not intended to be a prescriptive, all-encompassing tool. While its structure is somewhat linear, it considers the flowing and interdependent nature of place-based storytelling and can be used in any order or combination of activities.
For example, if you have already identified a story and do not need to collect or curate it, you can proceed straight to the Creation stage Or, if your organisation is only looking at creating a bank of local stories, without any current plans to display these stories to a wider audience – you might be interested in Collection and Curation sections only.
Who is this for?
This toolkit is for anyone – an organisation, group or an individual - who want to embark on a storytelling project.
You may be a community or heritage organisation looking to gather stories in your local area to exhibit in a heritage centre. A school or youth organisation, looking to run an art project based on local stories, or a Destination Management Organisations aiming to celebrate local stories to promote a destination to visitors. You may also be an individual, who is interested in local stories for any purpose or even without one or would like to find inspiration in stories for your creative practice.
By working through the questions, guides and case studies provided in the StoriedPlace toolkit we hope you will find inspiration and direction for embarking on your project – whatever the purpose may be!
What this toolkit is not
The assumption of this toolkit is that stories are already out there, and, if appropriate, are waiting to be discovered and shared. This toolkit, therefore, does not include guidance for creating new stories, which sometimes are used for branding and marketing purposes or public communications.
This toolkit also does not include prescriptive instructions, and does not provide answers, rather, it asks questions. This is because every story and storytelling project will have its own context, lived and understood by people in it. As such, the purpose of this toolkit is to inspire curiosity and to guide best practice in the art of place-based storytelling.
Key projects
My Orkney Story
This project was conducted in 2021 in collaboration between Robert Gordon University and University of Highlands and Islands Orkney. It aimed to identify and explore the challenges and opportunities posed in the development of digital platforms, and the curation and presentation of stories.
Northword (Storytagging)
Northword was born out of the StoryTagging project, an initiative that showed how stories can be used authentically and creatively to support small businesses working in remote locations.
Organisations from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Sweden, Finland and Russia used workshops and local story gatherers to collect and map over sixty stories celebrating the history, archaeology, traditions, folklore, landscape and environment of their area.
The Spirit of Cabrach
This research explored the storytelling (collection, curation, and use) in the Cabrach, a remote Scottish glen. The aim of the research was to capture the methodological process of storytelling and curation of heritage knowledge through the lens of the Cabrach whisky distilling history, a central part of the area's cultural heritage, tangible and intangible.
Talking about Prisons
The project, funded by the British Academy, is a collaboration between Robert Gordon University and Peterhead Prison Museum. Prison museums offer visitors the opportunity to learn about and engage with historic and contemporary issues of crime and punishment. They also deal with issues that we would consider to be ‘difficult heritage’ – past stories or events that some may consider to be problematic or challenging to talk about or understand. This project aims to explore how people make sense of difficult heritage by studying how visitors examine and experience different types of exhibits at Peterhead Prison Museum.
NTS and Ghost Tourism
An ongoing project between Robert Gordon University and The National Trust for Scotland, that explores the role and value of ghost tourism (and its associated stories) for the Trust and the potential to develop ghost tourism offerings across NTS properties.
Other projects
While the highlighted projects are key sources of information for this toolkit, this resource is developed with collective wisdom resulting from the wider body of work in creative and cultural studies at Robert Gordon University and its partners. These include:
and more.
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the many people, groups, organisations and communities that have contributed to the knowledge and projects that underpin this toolkit. This includes University of Highlands and Islands Orkney, UHI West Highland, the Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust, the University of Ulster, Kvarken Council, Region Västerbotten, Kenozero National Park, Peterhead Prison Museum, The National Trust for Scotland, The Cabrach Trust, Orkneyology, VisitScotland, Orkney Renewable EnergY Forum, Destination Orkney, Orkney Islands Council, Dr Valentina Bold, Dr Krista Murchison.