Do you have the right to (re)tell the story?
Stories may have been sourced from a multitude of places. As we consider in the Collection and Curation stage, it is important to understand the origins of a story, who is telling it and where issues such as ownership and permission may arise.
If you are reusing already published materials and transforming these into new creative outputs checking copyright regulations and permissions is imperative. While your creative output may look nothing like the original checking for regulations around what can be used and how it can be used can ensure you are abiding by any legal restrictions.
Additionally, beyond legal issues it is helpful to consider whether it is appropriate to ask for permission to recreate a story using someone else’s narrative or materials, if seeking permission has not already formed part of the Collection process. Stories can be personal and meaningful to people and communities and communicating the purpose and objective of a project, and how their stories will form part of this, can help to navigate potential sensitivities and ensure an element of co-creative production.
Finally, reflecting on your own positionality and voice can help to identify any issues that may arise from telling the stories of others. This is particularly true when dealing with difficult heritage where a specific group of people may have been significantly affected by events represented in a story.
Questions to answer
- Are there any legal considerations in creating an output form the stories?
- Do you need permission to reuse/ transform this story into something new?
- What is your position? And how might this impact the creative process and output?
Is the voice used appropriate?
At the Creation stage, you may be considering the actual voice which will tell your story. This is particularly true of stories transformed into audio or visual formats where a narrator may be required. However, you might also consider the voice in written or other creative formats.
In place-based storytelling, voice can be important. The identity of place can be deeply embedded in dialect, language and accent. Representing these voices may be essential for creating a sense of authenticity, while also representing a place appropriately. For your project, you will need to consider whether it is important to embed ‘authentic voices’ into your creative storytelling output and how you will achieve this.
Alternatively, through creative outputs you may be seeking to challenge the representation of places and communities. This may include moving away from the stereotypical voices of a place or capturing a wider range of voices (for instance, young and old, locals and incomers), if this is appropriate for your project. It is still useful to consider the purpose, scope and impact of the choices you make about which voices to include and how these will be presented.
Questions to answer
- Which voices are important for you to include in your project?
- Are these representative of place? Is it important?
Who is included and who is left out?
At the Creation stage, it is likely that a collection of stories will have gone through a process of reduction and curation. As you move towards the development of a creative storytelling output, further selection may take place and because of this the voices of those represented in the original story may change, be removed or strengthened.
It is helpful to consider what the implications of including some voices and excluding others may be for your project and the communities your stories represent. This may shape the way that you approach creative storytelling outputs or may lead you to consider additional layers of interpretation that explain your approach and positionality.
Questions to answer
- Will your creation include certain aspects of the story, or certain people or characters, and excludes others? Is this deliberate and justifiable?
- Does it change the narrative, meaning and positionality of the story(ies)? If yes, is it appropriate?
- Will this affect groups or individuals? What does this mean?