NOTE: Due to Coronavirus and its affect in Sabrina and Joels schedule this course is postponed from June 1st until later in the year. No finalised date as yet, it will depend on the longevity of self-isolation etc. But you can still REGISTER and we will let you know when we know. THANKYOU!
It's time to write a better story
Your Creativity Guides
Sabrina Lloyd
Sabrina is a mother, a writer, a storyteller, and an award-winning actress. In her film and television career she has worked with such Hollywood greats as Aaron Sorkin, Patrick Swayze, William H. Macy, Gabriel Byrne, Hal Hartley and starred in such shows and films as Sports Night, Sliders, Numbers, Father Hood and The Girl From Monday.
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Sabrina took a break from acting to study Creative Writing at Columbia University in NY and received a degree in English Literature from The University of London. Throughout her studies she moved around the world, living in Uganda, Rome and Kenya, ending up on an island in the Salish Sea. She documents her adventures at her popular blog, Red Dirt Lattes.
Sabrina’s life has been immersed in story. First as an artist telling other people’s story, and now as an artist telling her own. She is working on a collection of short stories while gearing up to begin her Masters in Writing and is very excited to share this journey of ‘story’ with others.
Joel Mckerrow
Joel doesn't just teach though, he is constantly pushing his own creativity further. As a performance poet he has toured extensively across Australia, USA, Europe, the UK and New Zealand with some of the giants of the performance poetry genre. Through this he is recognised as one of Australia’s most successful, internationally touring, performance poets. He has numerous literary publications as well as spoken word albums and is Co-host of the successful podcast The Deep Place: On Creativity and Spirituality.
Joel comes to you with over a decade experience in both the education and creative arts sectors. Within colleges, schools, conferences, festivals & organisations throughout the world he has taught about creativity and the creative process to over 40,000 people. His teaching focuses on the intersection of creativity identity/spiritual formation and social justice.
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Formally Joel has a Bachelor Arts (Psych), a Bachelor of Theology, a Master of Arts (Vocational Practice) and Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. These qualifications, alongside years of teaching experience ensure you'll gain access to the insights of not only a creative professional, but a lifetime educator.
At the heart of this course...
STORY sits at the very heart of who we are as human beings. For we are both telling stories and being shaped by stories everyday. Indeed, at the very essence of who we are, at the level of identity, we are Narratively Constructed. For many of us, we have been living out a story that is too small. This is why we love stories after all, why we pour over books, are glued to our TV screens, go to the movies, watch countless hours of youtube videos...because stories speak to us of the larger things, the important things.
So, whether you are a professional story-telling novelist, film-maker, performance poet, short-story enthusiast, or if you simply tell stories in your instagram posts or within your paintings or your choreography, this course is for you. Whatever your creative outlet, whatever your skill level, whatever your experience, if you want to learn to tell better stories, this course is for you
The heart of this course is that you might delve into your identity as a story-teller and so discover the best way that you can tell your own stories and the stories that are flying around in your imagination just waiting to be released.
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The goal of this course is for you to become the most authentic and impacting story-teller (through your own creative medium) that you can be. Joel and Sabrina will be guiding you into the world of story-telling, using a number of different narrative frameworks and structures, as well as their own experience, to help you both write better stories and also live better stories. By the end of this course you will be able to come away confident in your ability to craft a dynamic and powerful narrative (fiction or non-fiction) that will be able to move people and influence culture.
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“I’m writing my story so that others might see fragments of themselves.”
~ Lena Waithe ~
Course Details...
THE ART OF CRAFTING STORY lies in the intersection of two things...
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In regards to your own stories you will learn how to find them, name them, articulate them and communicate them in a way that both draws people in, keeps them engaged and changes them through their encounter with your story.
The stories
of your life
(Narrative Non-Fiction).
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​In regards to the stories of your imagination you will learn how to find their heartbeat, structure their narrative, develop their characters, narrate their happenings and create the world in which it all occurs.
The stories
of your Imagination
(Narrative Fiction).
The course though is not just about technical skill. Any delving into the depths of personal story and imaginative story will inevitably bring us into a place of self-discovery. You will come face-to-face with yourself in this course. You will be encouraged to go INTO your stories (both the biographical and the fiction), to not back away from them because they are uncomfortable, but to sit in their tension and create out of it. All this to say, you will learn YOURSELF in this course.
You will also learn OURSELF in this course. As in, you will learn how story may impact and influence the culture and society around us. We don't just tell stories to entertain, we tell them because they shape our collective reality. This not about Story-selling (ie. using story as a formula to sell a product), this is about story-telling that will inspire and resonate within your audience.
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What are the stories that you want to tell?
What are the stories bubbling up within you?
How would you begin to tell these stories?
How would you develop these stories?
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Learn a range of narrative non-fiction story-telling tools and techniques.
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Learn a range of narrative fiction story-telling tools and techniques.
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Learn a range of narrative structures to shape your stories around.
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Be led into the wellspring of your own stories.
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Be shown how to develop themes, plot, characters, scenes, dialogue, narration and more.
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Be invited to be brave in your self-discovery.
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Be invited to explore the different layers of our story-telling.
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Be shown how to use STORY to inspire and bring about change in people.
During this course, you will...
How Does it Work?
The course is made up of 20 LESSONS.
FIVE days a week for FOUR weeks with breaks for weekends.
It runs from the 1st June 2020 to the 26th June 2020.
Students will then have SIX months access to the course material.
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Each week-day you will receive:
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A 15-20min video lesson from Joel McKerrow and Sabrina Lloyd: These are the main teaching components of the course where your instructors will teach you directly from their wealth of knowledge and experience as writers and performers.
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Creative Homework: This will be your chance to take each days teaching and make it a reality through different writing and creative assignments that your instructors will be assigning you each weekday. This is where the rubber hits the road.
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A Reflective Worksheet: These daily worksheets are downloadable fill-in forms to help you better reflect, plan your stories and organise your creative work. These are for completing in your own time.
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As with any course, if you do the activities and the worksheets you will maximise your experience, but of course your level of engagement is up to you. The expected daily time to take the course is about 30 minutes (note: this is not taking into account the worksheets and your level of engagement with the Learning Community). If unforeseen circumstances means you cant keep up with the daily rhythm of the course you can still have access to all the content for 6 months once the course has finished.
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The course is set up as a Learning Community. It is made up first and foremost of the people who gather together to do this narrative work. You do not do this journey alone. There will be a space within the learning environment where you will be able to connect with others, share your creativity, provide feedback and support each other through this course.
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There is a forum within the online platform for each days unit which is where you will be able to upload your daily assignment and engage with each others work. It will also be a space for you to discuss more with each other what is coming up for you through the daily lessons.
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When you sign up you will be given access to the learning platform.
But the lessons will not begin until June 1st 2020.
They will go live on the platform each day thereafter.
Course Begins:
1st June 2020
Course Costings
The Basic Course: $460AUD
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Project Mentoring: $760AUD
Sale Ends February 21st 2020
Basic Course Inclusions
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Students will receive a 15min online instructional video each week-day of the course.
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Students will receive a Writing Challenge to partake in during that day.
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Students will receive a daily worksheet for reflection.
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Students are invited to join the cohort's community forum within the online platform.
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The course instructors Joel McKerrow and Sabrina Lloyd will be making brief comment throughout the course on submissions within this forum.
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Students have six months of access to the course content for further inspiration and replay.
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The course is delivered via the on-line learning platform Ruzuku, designed specifically for on-line learning.
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Student will have access to technical assistance via the Ruzuku staff.
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A Certificate of Completion will be provided at the conclusion of the course.
Project Mentoring
This is an extra add-on for those who have a major creative project that they will focus in upon during the course and are wanting specific professional feedback from the instructors. The inclusions for this package include all the basic course plus:
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An initial one-on-one video conference call with Joel Mckerrow to begin the course, setting up their focus.
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A video conference call half way through the course to provide feedback and talk through their progress.
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A video conference call at the end of the course to talk about next steps for future growth as an artist.
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Joel will provide personal and professional feedback upon their project at the end of each week during the course.
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A Certificate of Completion will be provided at the conclusion of the course.
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Project Mentoring places are limited- First in rules apply
Payment plans are available upon registration.
Costings shown are in Australian Dollars.
Payment is through PayPal or Credit Card.
Refund Policy: All sales are non-refundable.