Main areas of work related to the Convention:
Activities for safeguarding: The storytelling network of Kronoberg runs; The Museum of Legends, The Land of Legends, The largest yearly storytelling festival in Scandinavia, Ljungby storytelling festival. These three parts have all the same goal, to highlight and safeguard our oral traditions, this is being done by:
Storytelling performances/guided tours; in the museum but also in the landscape of The Land of Legends and at the festival.
Educational activities: At the museum but also in schools. We are using the tales and the storytelling as a pedagogical method (following the Swedish curriculums) and working/teaching at all school levels, from kindergarten to university. We are holding courses for youths and adults who want to learn, and also have two university courses at the museum together with the Gotland University.
Festival: Since 1990, every year we have had a storytelling festival, which is local, national and international. At the festival we host a Nordic youth camp for the next generation of storytellers. We are trying to highlight different kind of storytelling traditions, 2013 we highlight the romany tradition.
The Land of Legends: We have marked 80 places in the landscape which has a particular story/tale connected to it. This has been done by; road signs, maps, story cabinets at the actual place (the cabinets consist of a story that the visitor can read in Swedish, English or German, a painting which is connected to the story), an app (you can listen to the story in your phone instead of reading if you like) geocaching, performances, activities and excursions. Every summer we do a summer program in The Land of Legends, with performances open for the public. Many of the legends we tell in the The Land of Legends är concted to knowledge and pratices concering nature and the universe.
Performing arts: Storytelling is a performing art, we do plenty storytelling from stages, at theathers and festivals.
Book publishing: Several books have been published with the old tales but also with the new stories that we have collected today.
Networking: As The Storytelling Network of Kronoberg is the first of its kind in Sweden, we have become a centre for storytellers in Sweden and help others to form networks/or connect with storytellers in Sweden and abroad.
Projects: We work with different kinds of projects: During 2012, 2013 we have/are working with projects such as: “Museum education for those with special needs” (for students with learning disabilities of different kinds) “Stories for memories” (working with elderly at care homes with or without dementia) “Meetings with stories” (working with “young” dementia patients and their relatives) “Land of Legend- an arena for stories and meetings” (an EU-project on how to develop the countryside and highlight the stories of it) “Storytreasure” (collecting stories of today from groups and individuals) “The Basket” ( a project that combines the making of baskets and the stories of this old traditional handicraft)
Implementing the Convention in Sweden: The network is active in the work that is now taking place in Sweden of implementing the Convention with the Institute for Language and Folklore. Which has resulted in the Regional Council’s consideration to give us a regional assignment regarding the safeguarding of oral traditions.
Objectives
It was established to highlight the oral intangible cultural heritage from the region and to revitalize by stimulating oral storytelling, shedding knowledge of fairy tales, legends and folktales and to safeguard the narrative traditions of the Land of Legends (which is three municipalities in this region of Sweden).
Cooperation
Examples of groups we are working together with:
Individuals – at our website everyone can download their own stories (done by calling a number and telling your story) At the festival we always have some telling of life narratives.
Minority groups – we have highlighted storytelling traditions belonging to groups that unfortunately have been overlooked in history, for example Romany and Sami.
The Swedish local heritage movement – the largest heritage NGO in Sweden. Together we have done many projects, and helped them at several places to highlight their legends and stories connected to places where they operate.
NGO for traditional handicraft – connected to the making of handicraft are several stories and tales. We work together with the traditional handicraft association to bring forward these stories.
ABF - Sweden’s largest adult liberal education association, we do study circles together and they are a partner in the Ljungby storytelling festival
Museums – Mainly local and regional museums but some national in different projects. We co-operate around storytelling, doing performances at the museums.
Universities -Mainly with Gotland University and Linnaeus University, teaching and research.
Municipalities – Land of Legends, consists of three municipalities (Ljungby, Älmhult, Alvesta), they help us in our work of revitalizing the places in the landscape. (The municipalities give founding to our work yearly)
Authorities – for instants: County Administrative Board (have supported our work for a long time), the Institute for Language and Folklore (implementation of the Convention), Regional Council South Småland, (gives us a yearly founding).