2012 Toronto Festival of Storytelling will be a celebration and exploration of all things ‘Canadian' from Thursday, March 29 to Sunday, April 1, 2012, with the final day, April 1, being held at Harbourfront Center. 

Through stories that reveal our identity, we will explore our triumphs, contributions, uniqueness, struggles and growth as a nation. From our First Nations' origins and European influences of the past, to the more recent arrival of immigrants from Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and the Americas- our country and its identity is constantly being reshaped.

PEOPLE'S INSTINCTIVE TRAVELS THROUGH RESISTANCE

Art is a healing practice, a practice of renewal, exploration and of storytelling. Art is a space of self-definition and self-understanding that simultaneously ties us to larger histories, to a shared narrative. Art is medicine bridging the gaps between times, spaces and divisions violently constructed by the colonial enterprise. Join the Equity Studies Student's Union, the Women and Gender Studies Student's Union, the Black Student's Association and the Caribbean Studies Student's Union as we explore and discover the potential that art and creativity offers us in our travels through resistance; to decolonize our minds, our bodies, our experiences and our realities.

At any given moment, updates are flooding social media channels. In the face of this infinite influx of updates, Storify empowers users to curate this information mass into memorable stories. By facilitating the curation of social media content, Storify enables users to create their own stories.

Storify's platform works by allowing users to choose a topic, and search in multiple social media channels for corresponding story elements. Next, users are able to individually select and organize the content in order to personalize their story.

http://storify.com/

Unspoken Dreams: Stories from Rumi Storyteller Ariel Balevi with Guitarist William Beauvais Unspoken dreams is the place where stories, music and art live when they aren’t being seen or heard. The 13th century mystical poet Rumi lived most of his life in Konya (now in Turkey) which was at the crossroads of different cultures. As a major city on the Silk Route, it was a place where travelers would meet, sharing their stories and beliefs. His work, the Masnavi, is a vast tapestry of stories and stories within stories, which he used in his teachings.

'Awakening the Virgin Archetype' is the first workshop since the launch of Kim Hudson's new book, The Virgin's Promise. This new story structure describes stories of bringing your dream to life. The Virgin archetype sets out on a path of self-fulfillment despite the wishes of her community. She must explore her creative, spiritual, or sexual awakening or suffer sever psychological damage. Equally used for male and female protagonists, it is the structure in films such as Fight Club, Precious, Pretty Woman, Ever After, Brokeback Mountain, and Rocky.