Creation Myths for the Turning of the Year - Memory + Healing in Community

Join us as we hear and "feed" three Ancient Stories from Norse, Sumerian, and Toba/S. American mythology, especially attuned to this time of year and this time in the world.

The event features live music from Judith-Kate Friedman, Steward of the Mythsinger Legacy Project, with musical guest Laurence Cole and ASL Interpreting by Annie Clark.

At the center of our circle in downtown Port Townsend we'll gather, call an artful fire (no flames but lots of light) and listen to master mythteller Daniel Deardorff, tell stirring tales of truth and resilience as he beams in from the archive. This is a participatory all ages event.

Suggested Donation: $20-50 pay-what-you-wish, pay-what-you-can with proceeds benefiting the ongoing work of Mythsinger Legacy Project.

This local/international event takes place in person in Port Townsend, WA with live streaming via Zoom. Tickets are available here on Eventbrite, advance registration encouraged. Tickets will also be available at the door. All ages are welcome.

This event is offered on a "pay-as-you-can, pay-as-you-wish" basis with a suggested donation of $20-$50 to support the ongoing work of the Mythsinger Legacy Project and Archive. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
NOTE THERE IS A SEPARATE TICKET LISTED FOR THE LIVE STREAM.

*EVENT TIME ZONES:
2pm to 4pm Pacific Time in PORT TOWNSEND, WA

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

JUDITH-KATE FRIEDMAN inhabits flinty places where art, activism, ritual, and Oral Tradition dance. She sings, composes, writes, performs, curates spaces, produces events, tends hearth-fires, tells stories, and celebrates aliveness. An award-winning vocalist, performing songwriter, and producer, she is a three-time National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient for her projects with Songwriting Works™ Educational Foundation, the non-profit she founded. As steward of the Mythsinger Legacy Project, Judith-Kate continues in the lineage of her beloved Daniel “3D” Deardorff (1952-2019) with whom she shared long life partnership, weaving his mythwork and her own music into tapestries of mythic arts. Judith-Kate studied extensively with mythologist Dr. Martin Shaw and holds an M.A. in Poetics of Imagination from Dartington Arts School (UK). Her creative lineage follows Deardorff, Shaw, poet Robert Bly, dancer Anna Halprin (somatics), jazz vocalist Rhiannon, and Dr. Claire Zammit (leadership) among others. alivenessthrougharts.net

ASL interpreter ANNIE CLARK is renowned for her artistry, bring the beauty and fluency, the texture and meaning, the images and intention of the stories to deaf and hearing-impaired, and hearing audiences alike. She has worked internationally to give people with auditory disabilities full access to enjoying and participating in music, arts, humanities, and sciences. She has interpreted for Deepak Chopra, Ani DiFranco, Arlo Guthrie, and dozens of others. http://www.breskin.com/annie-clark/

Mythsinger DANIEL DEARDORFF was a master storyteller, author, singer, beloved teacher, and carrier of ancient oral tradition stories. The Mythsinger Legacy Project keeps his work alive with a series of interactive mythtelling and music events and study opportunities based on his teachings and book, The Other Within: The Genius of Deformity in Myth, Culture and Psyche (3rd edition, Inner Traditions, 2022).

A lifelong performing musician whose five-decade career included songwriting, national touring, and producing, Deardorff was a survivor of paralytic polio and resulting paraplegia. He believed that one of the greatest oppressions is the suffering of meaningless wounds. When post-polio required him to retire from the music business, he became an independent scholar of myth, collaborating internationally with Robert Bly, Martin Shaw, Miguel Rivera, and others. He understood that myths hold medicine crucial for culture and essential for current times. Although he "flew out of this story and into the next" in 2019, his hearthside live mythtelling recordings bring him fully into the "room" with us, as we join him in the StoryHut where he called fire and taught myth and ritual for over a decade. Learn more about Daniel at mythsingerlegacy.org.