Jacqueline Harris MScR
In 2012 I went to live on the Isle of Arran for three years. A stunning island. A completely different lifestyle. Completely new stories!
Blackwaterfoot beach
This time on the island set in motion a new direction in my work. I became involved with The Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh, and began to weave together found, gathered and original narratives in order to explore and point to the places where reality and imagination meet, trying to lay bare the relationships between people, place and story, and how we're constantly moving between them.
I began collecting stories, interviewing and recording people and, with their consent, sharing some of this material alongside my own oral storytelling.
Back in Lancashire in 2015, I wanted to work with other artists to find new ways of incorporating these stories into both my theatre work and writing. This began an exploration that continues today.
This lead to further projects in collaboration with some fabulous visual artists, musicians and film makers:
This work has found its most recent expression in the book:
“The White Dobbie: Story and Landscape”
a collaboration with the dutch sculptor and artist Marjan Wouda.
In 2019 I finished a Research Masters at the University of Edinburgh, where I had the good fortune to work within the Scottish Studies Department, in an environment where the importance of storytelling is a given, and where I had the rare opportunity to step back, ask questions and study how the transmission of story functions in society, while reflecting on my own artistic processes and the part they play in this wider narrative.
Until 2000 I was a Head of Drama in High Schools. In 2000 I decided it was time to jump ship and get on with my own writing and performing, whatever that was going to look like. I realised then that my love of story was as much about who tells them, the reasons we tell them and how we tell them, as the stories themselves.
I produced and ran three seasons of storytelling events at The Duke's Theatre, Lancaster. As well as creating a platform from which to explore and tell stories myself. I selfishly brought some of the best performance storytellers to Lancaster, filled the house and gave myself the best seat.
This was the beginning of over 10 years performing, writing, teaching, facilitating, producing and creating. I have worked in a huge array of settings in the cultural, educational and heritage sectors, from theatres, stately homes, museums, galleries, schools and universities to festivals, parks, community centres, hotels, bookshops and stairwells.
As well as performing regularly, I have devised, written and delivered over 50 original interactive stories for museums, galleries and schools.
Alongside this I freelanced for 6 years for Creative Partnerships, a national initiative to integrate and embed creative learning in schools by bringing together artists, teachers and senior management teams, both as an artist and a creative learning consultant, in over 150 schools, whilst also undertaking further academic research into creative practice, arts and culture in 2009 (PGCAEP)
During this time I was also commissioned to write 2 books:
“Stan’s Accidental Adventure” for 5-7 year olds for Lancashire Museum, and “Let the Giant’s Live”, the legacy of an ambitious storytelling project.