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Young Storytellers, formerly known as the Young Storytellers Foundation, is an arts education non-profit operating primarily in Los Angeles.

Young Storytellers currently serves elementary, middle, and high school students in Southern California,^[1] including the cities of Los Angeles, Culver City, Santa Monica, Burbank, New York City, Austin, Little Rock, and Akron. Young Storytellers supports students in Title 1 schools;^[2] these are schools and school districts with the highest concentrations of poverty in which academic performance tends to be low and the obstacles to raising performance are the greatest. The program improves writing and self-confidence while also focusing on social and emotional learning and including components of Learning for Justice's Social Justice Standards.^[3]^[4]

History

Young Storytellers began as an in-school mentoring program in 1997. The company was founded by three screenwriters Mikkel Bondesen, Brad Falchuk, and Andrew Barrett upon learning about cutbacks in funding for creative arts programs in the Los Angeles public schools.^[5]^[6] The first school adopted into the program was Playa Del Rey Elementary School in Culver City.^[7] The program was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in 2003.^[5]

Programs

The organization supports students elementary, middle, and high school.^[7]

Script to Stage

This 9-week, Common Core-aligned elementary school program places students with an adult mentor one-on-one to write scripts that are entirely their own, then actors perform those for the students and their peers live at a show.^[7]^[8]^[9]

Volunteers

Programs are run by volunteer Head Mentors and volunteer Mentors. Mentors in the Script to Stage Program work one-on-one with a student for the duration of the nine-week program to create a screenplay and the resulting screenplay is then performed by a volunteer performer.^[10] There are currently over 1,200 volunteers in Los Angeles serving more than 2,000 students in 60 schools.^[7]

Funding

The organization received grants from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association multiple times. In 2013 the organization was represented by Olivia Wilde^[11] and received a portion of the $1.6 million in grants given by the HFPA that year.^[12] 2016 in the amount of $10,000.^[13]

In 2015, the organization received a grant from the $4.5 million given to the Los Angeles arts scene from Michael Bloomberg Philanthropies.^[14] Jane Fonda's, Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power & Potential, has also provided funding.^[15]

Notable partnerships

In 2016, 20th Century Fox invited Young Storytellers students to participate in the Fox Writers Intensive.

March 2017, Young Storytellers partnered with Disney to give a group of students early access to see the live action version of Beauty and the Beast^[16] These students then created their own stories based on the film.^[17] Then, in collaboration with Tongal, an independent creative network, the students’ stories were turned into live action and animated short films.^[17]

In February 2018, a group of Young Storytellers students were invited to a special premier of Disney's A Wrinkle in Time and given the opportunity to create and then share stories based on the film.^[18] Disney then turned these stories into either short films or live performances to highlight the students’ storytelling.^[18]

In October 2020, Young Storytellers partnered with Netflix to have members of the Over the Moon cast host a dramatic reading of a student's story.^[19]

References

^ Littleton, Cynthia (9 October 2013). "Young Storytellers Foundation Helps Kids Bring Out Their Inner Writer". Variety. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
^ Whelan, Corey (11 March 2015). "Storytelling Skills Boosted For Public School Students Through Special Program". CBS Los Angeles. CBS. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
^ "EYE ON L.A. FOR JUNE 20, 2009 Originally aired Sat., June 20, at 6:30 p.m." Eyewitness News ABC 7. ABC Inc. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
^ "Why It Matters".
^ ^a ^b Flynn, Kathleen (3 September 2003). "Pros Have Supporting Roles in Scriptwriting Sessions". Los Angeles Times.
^ Evaristo, Jasmine. "TV STARS SUPPORT YOUNG STORYTELLERS ARTS INITIATIVE". Young Hollywood. Young Hollywood LLC. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Greiving, Tim (18 October 2016). "Seth Rogen, Tony Hale and Jordan Peele will perform short plays written by fifth-graders". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
^ Martin, Brittany. "Seth Rogen, Tony Hale and other stars are performing a series of plays by fifth graders". Time Out. Time Out America LLC. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
^ "What We do".
^ Rodriguez, Briana. "Volunteer Org Seeks Actors to Help Kids". Backstage. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
^ HFPA (13 August 2013). "GRANTS 2013: OLIVIA WILDE FOR YOUNG STORYTELLERS". Golden Globe Awards. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
^ Pond, Steve (13 August 2013). "Hollywood Foreign Press Promises To Get Serious About Journalism, Gives $1.6 million in Grants". The Wrap. The Wrap News Inc.
^ Celada, Luca (4 August 2016). "HFPA Announces 2016 Philanthropy at Annual Banquet". Golden Globes. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
^ Boehm, Mike (18 September 2015). "L.A. arts groups get $4.5 million from Michael Bloomberg's foundation". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
^ Adeniji, Ade (12 October 2016). "Jane Fonda's Philanthropy: A Hollywood Legend Keys in on Reproductive Health". Inside Philanthropy. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
^ "Young Storytellers is the Ryan Murphy-Backed Organization Helping Kids Create Screenplays". 23 March 2017.
^ ^a ^b "'Beauty and the Beast' Short Imagines How Gaston and le Fou Met (Exclusive Video)". The Hollywood Reporter. 24 March 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Student Writers Present Short Films Inspired by Ava DuVernay's 'A Wrinkle in Time'". The Hollywood Reporter. 23 February 2018.
^ "Page introuvable - Netflix News : Toutes les nouveautés et l'actualité de vos programmes !".

External links

E!Online - article about Young Storytellers fundraiser
NPR audio article - Gloria Hillard reports on the Young Storytellers Foundation
NPR radio play - Day to Day presents a radio play written by a Young Storytellers student and starring Dustin Hoffman