Storytelling and Content Development Workshop

Creative professionals and cultural leaders need powerful stories and content that actually reach people. Whether you are fundraising, launching a project, clarifying your voice, or trying to create more consistently, you need two things: a strong story and a content system that brings it to life.

This workshop blends organizational storytelling, story development, and content creation. You will shape your core narrative, generate at least five storytelling ideas, and learn how to distribute them across your platforms, including social media, newsletters, decks, websites, and more.

What You'll Leave With:

• A clarified core narrative you can adapt across projects
• At least five developed storytelling ideas with distribution plans
• A repeatable system for turning stories into multi-platform content

Details:

• Limited to 8 seats to ensure hands-on feedback and individual support.
• Participants receive 15% off private coaching and 10% off Periodicals.
• All proceeds support Season 2

What You'll Learn

Storytelling Foundations

• The six types of organizational stories
• How to structure a compelling narrative using context, action, and result
• How to mine stories from your work, practice, or organization
• How to shape meaning, tension, and emotional resonance

Content Creation

• How to turn stories into content for social media, newsletters, decks, and websites
• How to write for different formats
• How to repurpose stories into multiple content pieces
• How to build a simple, sustainable content rhythm

Distribution and Publishing

• How to choose where your content should live
• How to build multi-channel content from a single idea
• How to maintain consistency without burnout
• How to evaluate what content is landing with your audience

What You'll Walk Away With

1. At least five storytelling ideas you can use immediately
2. A clear understanding of what an organizational story is and why it matters
3. Clarity on your audience, your goals, and the outcomes each story should create
4. A roadmap for turning stories into multi-platform content, with guidance on repurposing ideas across formats and channels
5. A simple editorial workflow you can apply right away
6. A stronger sense of voice, tone, and creative direction

Who This Workshop Is For

• Artists and creative professionals
• Cultural workers and arts administrators
• Nonprofits and community orgs
• Creative small businesses
• Anyone telling the story of their work, mission, or practice

What to Bring

• Organizational storytelling challenges
• A notebook or laptop
• Everything else will be guided in-session

Bonuses

• 15% off one private coaching session
• 10% off Periodicals (art + design shop on Grand River)
• 10% off future workshops

Post-Workshop Follow-Up

To support your development, you will receive a Storytelling Angles matrix that clarifies audience, purpose, format, and channel for each story you create.

Refund Policy

Due to limited space, no refunds are available. If you can no longer attend, your ticket can be credited toward a future workshop or transferred to another attendee. It may also be transferred to the other January session if space allows.

Accessibility

Please reach out with accessibility needs; Season Office will accommodate wherever possible.

About Your Instructor

Amani Olu is a serial entrepreneur who has been solving problems in the creative economy and cultural sector for more than 20 years. He leads Olu & Company, a marketing and business consultancy, and Season, a contemporary art fair in Detroit. He is the co-founder of Detroit Art Week (2018, 2019) and Periodicals, a magazine shop and concept store in Core City. He is also the co-founder of Case Sensitive, a conference focused on the future of print magazines in the United States, and IMG SRVR, a media kit builder for PR professionals.

Olu co-founded Vanguard Detroit, an independent collective of record labels committed to keeping the sound of Detroit alive by releasing future-forward music. He also makes electronic music under the moniker Scott Avery.

Before launching his ventures, Olu was an independent curator and arts writer. He organized more than 40 exhibitions, co-founded the Humble Art Foundation, co-authored The Collector's Guide to New Art Photography (Vol. 1 & 2), and created the influential Young Curators, New Ideas series. In 2018, he organized Rhythm, Repetition, and Vocab at the Detroit Institute of Arts.