Jonesborough, Tennessee

International Storytelling Center

Problem

Fractured identity and "decline stories" sap motivation. People don't see themselves (or each other) in the town's story.

Solution

The International Storytelling Center (ISC) is a nonprofit at 100 W. Main Street in downtown Jonesborough (population about 6,000) that produces the National Storytelling Festival, begun by teacher Jimmy Neil Smith in October 1973 with about 60 listeners and now drawing roughly 10,000 to 11,000 people on the first weekend of October. The ISC descends from the 1975 National Association for the Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling, took its current name in the 1997-98 split from the National Storytelling Network, opened its downtown campus (Mary B. Martin Storytelling Hall beside the Chester Inn) in 2002, and runs a May-to-October Teller-in-Residence season.

Patterns used: Shared Cultural Story

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