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Storytellers

The Storytellers Fund seeks storytellers aiming to inspire positive social change and reach wider audiences.

JRF is committed to being a generous supporter of social movements, we want to strengthen the voice and action of people in their communities.

We launched the Storytellers Fund in 2023 to support those aiming to inspire change to share their content more widely and reach new audiences. Our goal is to support the spread of stories that diversify the pool of storytellers and content creators who are shaping the conversations around our politics and culture.

Through storytelling, we aim to promote transformative narratives and help build a better future for all.

Our 2024 storytellers

Talking About Wealth by Sarah Kerr - podcast

Over a new 6-episode podcast series, Sarah will talk to leading thinkers and doers in the wealth and poverty space. The aim of the podcast is to make a more accessible space for thinking and talking about wealth as a social problem, and specifically, for thinking about the effects of extreme private wealth ownership on social and environmental sustainability.

https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/wealth-poverty-and-enduring-inequality

Port Talbot Gotta Banksy, Theatr3 – theatre production

Port Talbot Gotta Banksy uncovers the story of Banksy’s Season’s Greetings, the mural that put the pollution of Port Talbot’s mammoth steelworks in the spotlight - just before the last blast furnace in the UK was shut down. With a script crafted from over 100 hours of verbatim interviews with Port Talbot’s residents over a 6-year period, the production explores the challenges, resilience and pride of one of the UK’s last industrial heartlands and encourages reflection on our shared responsibility to support communities. The play will tour 4 towns and cities in Wales and be hosted for a research and development week at the National Theatre Studio, London.

https://theatr3.com/our-work.html

Museum of Austerity, English Touring Theatre - mixed reality exhibition

In 2016, the UN found that “grave or systemic violations” of the rights of disabled people were taking place throughout the UK. Museum of Austerity invites visitors to wear a mixed reality headset, and enter a striking, holographic gallery that lays bare the consequences when state safety nets fail. This mixed reality exhibition blends theatre, history and humanity. Funding has been awarded to extend the reach of its tour, bringing this groundbreaking new form of immersive documentary to wider audiences across the UK.

https://ett.org.uk/our-work/museum-of-austerity

Seed Guardians, Mandala Theatre Company - play

Seed Guardians is a play that mirrors stories of food poverty and scarcity across the UK and Global South and uses creative storytelling to focus on the right to food and the importance of connecting with nature, each other, and sustainable food systems. The play will be performed at universities, schools and community venues in Leeds, Liverpool, Oxford and London.

https://www.mandalatheatre.co.uk/copy-of-seed-guardians-1

Spoken Futurism Live, Esi Yankey - immersive storytelling experience

This innovative live show invites you to step into a multiversal storybook, exploring themes of love, parenthood, war, resistance, social justice, politics, pandemics, ancestry, death, and rebirth. Poetry is paired with a dynamic fusion of live orchestral instruments and digitally produced music—a seamless meeting of classical soundscapes and futuristic rhythms—while afrosurrealist AI visuals created by Vince Fraser vividly bring the narratives to life. The work offers an opportunity for people to explore the artform of their interest in combination with artforms that may be new to them and connect with human stories told in a new way, promoting empathy and understanding, introspection, and entertainment.

Explore our previous storytellers