The Story Collider is excited to announce that we will now offer $25 honoraria to all of our storytellers, starting with shows in January 2018!
We've hoped to offer our storytellers honoraria for a long time, as we believe storytelling is an art and that artists deserve to be paid for their work. We have a deep respect for the time and effort that our storytellers put in. But as a small organization on a tight budget, it was a challenge for us to figure out how we could make this happen. After all, we produce 50 shows every year, each with five storytellers, and that adds up to... a lot of storytellers (hey, we're not mathematicians!).
Here we are, being very serious artists in Vancouver.
Fortunately, this year, an anonymous donor who believes strongly in storytelling as an art generously contributed funds specifically earmarked for storytellers -- enough for each to receive a $25 honorarium. Although we're still on the lookout for opportunities to offer storytellers more in the future, we are grateful for this generous donation and the opportunity it has given us to honor our storytellers' time and committment. We hope this is just the beginning.
After their show, storytellers will receive a Google Form asking for anonymous demographic information, which we are gathering in order to promote inclusion at our shows, and feedback, which we may use as we apply for grants and other funding. Storytellers may contribute this information, or skip any or all questions, to get to the link that processes their honorarium.
Storytellers will also have the opportunity to donate their honoraria to our pro bono shows, such as our upcoming collaboration with Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), an inclusive organization dedicated to fostering the success of Chicano/Hispanic and Native American scientists.
I will begin contacting our storytellers from Q1 2018 shows over the next few weeks to process their honoraria. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please get in touch with me at Erin@storycollider.org. We welcome your feedback!
-Erin Barker, artistic director