Celebrating Rotary International’s “Literacy Month”, Rotary Windsor–St. Clair held its inaugural ‘Story Slam’, a competitive storytelling event, on Saturday night at the Raindance Centre Windsor-Detroit on Pelissier Street.
The inaugural theme was “Serendipity” – Luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for.
Special guest host and storyteller supreme, Dameon Wilburn, from Detroit Michigan had the audience rolling with laughter for most of the evening. She was joined by guest judges Rick Caron, Rob Miller, John Weese, Veronique Mandal and local Author and host of Mouth Piece Storytelling, Vanessa Shields.
To compete in the Story Slam, the volunteer contestants (some were volun-told -including yours truly) prepared a true story about themselves, related to the theme Serendipity. Each were then allowed to tell their story on stage for five minutes.
The judges chose the best story based on: 1. the story’s adherence to the five minute time limit; 2. the story sticking to the theme; 3. a story with conflict and resolution; 4. the construction and delivery of the story; 5. and how well it explored, connected and revealed some truth. The winner was then presented with a Windsor St. Clair Rotary trophy.
The Rotary Club of Windsor-St. Clair is a service organization comprised of about 34 members from around the Essex region dedicated to improving our local and worldwide communities by undertaking projects to address hunger, health, literacy, promote physical activity, and provide support to the financially disadvantaged in our community. Some of the club’s projects include the Ganatchio Trail, the region’s first boundary-free playground in the Town of Tecumseh, the Rotary Roundabout at Manning Road, Wake Up Windsor/Get a Working Smoke Alarm, and RELAY, which has built and refurbished five schools in Africa.
This event also showcased the evolving Raindance Centre Windsor-Detroit, a non- profit (and soon to be charitable) organization repurposing a 1920’s four story building into a retail, commercial, film production and performance space. This site was originally home through the decades to a number of organizations and businesses including the Knights of Columbus and, most recently, Hollywood Bingo.
Joe chats with Amanda Gellman, Board Member – Raindance Centre
