In mid-September, the association European Network of Storytelling Sites and Towns (European Network of Storytelling Sites and Towns) has applied for registration in the National Register of Associations. This association was born out of the European programme of the same name, which is led and managed by the Seminar of Children's and Young People's Literature of Guadalajara (SLIJ).
The goals of this international association, based in the city of Guadalajara, are: to promote culture while respecting national diversity, to contribute to the cultural and linguistic diversity of Europe through its oral heritage and to facilitate the development of European places and cities related in one way or another to oral storytelling.
This association works to coordinate and promote joint actions with cities, landscapes, archives, museums and those places in Europe related to oral storytelling. The areas of action are related to the dissemination and research of oral heritage, the dissemination of activities or the creation of European cultural and touristic routes around storytelling.
Founding act signed in Guadalajara
Last June, in the days prior to the celebration of the Guadalajara Storytelling Marathon, the founding act of this association was signed in the Guadalajara City Hall. The event was presided over by the mayor of the city, Alberto Rojo, and representatives of the partner countries of the European project that has given rise to the creation of the Network of Storytelling Cities and Places, such as the Comenius University of Bratislava (Slovakia), Maison du Conte de Chevilly-Larue (France) and Fondazione per Leggere (Italy), in addition to the SLIJ itself.
Soon, on the occasion of the celebration of a conference of this European project in the French municipality of Chevilly-Larue, headquarters of the partner La Maison du Conte, the presentation of this network will also take place in the Town Hall of this town. The mayoress, Stéphanie Daumin, will be present at this event.
The European Storytelling Cities Network project, funded by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), continues to develop the various activities involved, such as the creation of a database on storytelling cities, which includes information on festivals, literary routes, storytellers, institutions and landscapes related to the oral tradition in the countries of the European Union. In addition, a website will soon be launched as a working tool for storytelling professionals and all groups interested in oral heritage.
The European Network of Storytelling Cities, in addition to the four partners mentioned above, also has the cooperation of the University of Alcalá de Henares (UAH), the State Public Library in Guadalajara, the Associazione La lettura Nonostante and the Università degli Studi di Milano.
