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Story Tsunami was a wave of storytelling benefit concerts for the victims of the December 26, 2004 earthquake and tsunami. The concerts included professional and amateur storytellers, telling stories from Sumatra, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, the Maldives, Andaman, and Nicobar Islands, and Somalia.
The project was proposed by Lee-Ellen Marvin on December 28, 2004, and circulated by email to various storytelling lists and organizations and between colleagues in the national and international storytelling community.
Historical Documents:
- Final Report (September 1, 2005)
- Second Progress Report (February 5, 2005)
- Progress Report (January 2, 2005)
- Original proposal (December 28th).
- Laura Simms' letter, "Compassionate Practice of Storytelling", circulated at just about the very same time as the proposal, and a source of spiritual inspiration.
There is no formal organization. A national committee has been formed with the following storytellers:
- Jackie Baldwin
- Regi Carpenter
- Marilyn Kinsella
- Diane Maluso
- Lee-Ellen Marvin, coordinator:
- Jo Radner
- Regina Ress
The committee members took responsibility for refining the original vision, circulating the idea through storytelling channels, researching and selecting the targeted relief agencies, developing producers' tools, negotiating relationships between national storytelling organizations, and producing the web site. The committee was not involved with any of the funds raised by the individual organizations.
Story Tsunami was modeled after "Tellabration!" which takes place each year in November. Founded by J.G. Pinkerton, and produced by the National Storytelling Network, this event has been introducing new adult audiences to the delights of storytelling since 1988. In 2003, there were 300 Tellabration events in 42 states and 10 other countries.
A major source of inspiration came from a letter circulated by Laura Simms, titled "Compassionate Practice of Storytelling".
This web site was built by Lee-Ellen Marvin, Diane Maluso, and Regi Carpenter, using Dreamweaver, with hosting services by Pair.Com. Special thanks to Daniel Allen for recommending the server, providing encouragement, and pointing out various small but wonderous technological tricks.