Photo Courtesy Telus STORYHIVE

By Tanner Smith

Community

Telus StoryHive has picked a group of seniors to receive $10,000 in funding

Sep 13, 2022 | 5:26 PM

The Telus StoryHive Voices 2.0 Program has given $10,000 in production funding, along with training, to the Grande Prairie Seniors Reading Theatre.

This film project “Memories of One-Room Schools in Grande Prairie” will be released on Optik TV and other online platforms to showcase the joy, struggles, and daily experiences of the community from a past time.

Project producer Bethe Goldie says they are excited to share the stories from Mary Nutting’s archival book to a younger generation through Optik TV and are also very grateful for this opportunity to prove you can “teach an old dog new tricks”

” We had been talking this summer too, a friend of ours, who does a lot of our filming, she’s our videographer and content creator, and she suggested we apply to Telus StoryHive Voices 2.0 to get some money to film and record more schools in the area.”

Project lead Linda Schofield adds they aren’t exactly the ‘cookie cutter’ group for this funding being seniors, but that makes them want to learn and create more, wanting to prove to the world that these technology skills aren’t lost on their generation.

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“Oh, it sure does. We have so much to offer (seniors), and knowing more about the technology is going to keep us in the loop and help us keep going, instead of holding us back.”

Schofield says this program is not only helping them learn but to connect as well, either online through technology or in person while recording and making their films. During the covid pandemic that is something lots of seniors were missing.

This also allows them to chat with more seniors from across the region and learn about their experiences not just the perspective from Mary Nutting’s archival book.

Schofield says that even though they’re telling individuals’ stories and interviewing certain people, they feel they’re telling the story of the whole Grande Prairie region, a coming of age story, experiencing growing pains, but eventually flourishing and becoming what it is today.

“There were so many different experiences of how they worked together, even though they may not have spoken the same language, they worked together in these communities and attended the same schools, it is so wonderful to portray that message to the generations coming up.”

She adds they will be looking into telling stories from residential schools, but first want to further educate themselves to tell their story (Indigenous People’s) accurately.

Grande Prairie Seniors Reading Theatre was one of the 100 recipients chosen across BC and Alberta, to showcase the history of their region and make it accessible to people of all ages.

They are just one of 18,000 local content creators Telus has funded in western Canada since 2013.

They are still looking for people who have stories from these one-room schools and would be willing to share, and also be a part of their team moving forward in this project.

If you are interested you email Goldie and Schofield at studio50adultsgp@gmail.com.

Photo Courtesy Telus STORYHIVE