The “Adrachti” Storytelling Non-Profit Company was founded in 2015. It is based in Ioannina and provides its services through storytelling in Ioannina, the region of Epirus, and nationwide.
The art of storytelling can serve as an important tool of social intervention, education, awareness-raising, information, and citizen mobilisation. The art of storytelling and narrative techniques can be applied to educational and research programmes to highlight social issues, as well as for therapeutic purposes.
From its creation and until the present day, the organization has carried out numerous storytelling events for adults, themed storytelling sessions for adult audiences, children and pupils, and experiential workshops for students and educators, and has developed partnerships with educational and cultural organizations, associations and local communities. Among the main actions carried out by the organization are producing themed performances, running and coordinating experiential storytelling workshops, recording, editing and publishing stories, and creating podcasts.
The grant pertains to support for the project “Ambracian Life Stories”. Its purpose, through the art of storytelling and narrative techniques, is to showcase the cultural identity of the local communities of Menidi and Amphilochia, while also highlighting the distinct natural wealth of the ecosystem in the region of the Ambracian Gulf and the need to protect it, aiming at sustainable development by supporting new forms of tourism.
The art of storytelling and narrative techniques may serve as a new and effective way of informing, educating, sensitizing and mobilizing civil society. The storytelling projects will be implemented in the local communities of Menidi and Amphilochia. Four performances/storytelling events will be carried out in the respective communities and schools. A podcast will be created, and an electronic version will be distributed to the local communities, municipalities and organizations, in order to disseminate the results of the project and provide the public with the opportunity for access and information. The estimated number of total beneficiaries over the course of the grant is 1,400 people.
The project is implemented through a grant by the Athina I. Martinou Foundation, as part of the “Points of Support” program, in the area: “Social Innovation in Small Local Seaside Communities”.