Mending the Arc: Art + Story Circles is a narrative practice that reconnects us to our sacred responsibility as intergenerational stewards, and invites us to foster the creative imagination worldbuilding requires.
Mending the Arc is a reference to the arc of generations we see ourselves standing in today–an arc that reaches back seven generations and extends forward seven generations. In the center, we stand, and hold the sacred responsibility as stewards of this arc. Mending the Arc practice enables participants to identify the people, beings, and lands to which they are most connected in the past, present, and future.
Storytelling helps us remember who we are, and who we need to be, to bring in the world we’re calling into being.
Unlike open mic, creative writing, or strategic communications, Resonance Network’s story practice is more akin to sitting around a fire and opening ourselves to the stories arising from within us.
These stories invite us to connect to embodied ancestral memory—they evolve organically, often in response to a prompt from a facilitator in a small group. The stories that surface are unedited and unrehearsed, and reveal themselves in relationship to others’ stories.
[image credit: Kelli Risitano Prescott]
Art-making helps us experience what is possible when we engage our creativity, play, exploration, and different ways of knowing.
As artists and architects of the future, dipping into these deep wells of creativity and intuition is vital. These circles create that space, sacred time and connection that day-to-day life and dominant culture can often make it difficult to access.
[image credit: Claudia Lopez, On The Right Mind]
Resonance Network’s storytelling practice began in 2019, and has become a growing constellation of facilitators and participants engaging with these practices and one another in both in-person and in virtual settings. Together, we’ve found new openings in time, memory, and imagination–and in this moment, when worldbuilding, bold visioning, and depth of connection are more important than ever, we continue.
Stay in the loop with ongoing Mending the Arc practice, by signing up for Resonance emails:
For a window into Resonance’s story practice, check out these stories on The Reverb:
An Emerging Worldview–and how to bring it into being
We can see our histories, our lives, our peoples and experiences, and how they are interconnected and influenced by one another.
Transformation is possible — and our lives depend on it
A bold vision for a better future invites us to transform our selves, our communities, and our collective systems.
Resonance and the power of storytelling for the future
Resonance is that experience of knowing that you have tapped into a shared frequency by the quality of the vibration created.
