b'T TR RO OP PE ER RN L 0 2 A U N N A 1 R 2 4 E V I T R A A T N V 1 R A I E 4 2 0 2 A R A N N U A Lshared recipes, old photos, but not just any story, rather, favorite objects. They developed we were to listen and then tell a profound respecteven love each others story back, in the for these people they had only first person, as if it was ours. met virtually. They were heart-breaking, Jackie and her team at theand they were difficult, and they Bezos Family Foundation joinedwere profound.And they were, our presentation on the last day.all of them, ours. They were beaming. We wereThe artists gathered over ready to plan the next globalthe next few days to talk about exchange. what would eventually become But we needed a continuum.Narrative 4 (N4), but the great-The schools needed to stayest tuning fork sound which connected. They needed to workLisa had encouraged was that By Lisa Consiglio,on community problems together.By Colum McCann,stories would lead to empathy, They needed to stay engaged withwhich would lead to action, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder the artists we had introduced themPresident & Co-Founder which would lead to change, to. which would lead, then, to a And, suddenly, we realized thisdifferent world.Im often asked how and whenAt the end of the discussion,was a larger canvas than what weI write books. I believe in books.felt it thrum like a tuning forkAnd now N4, ten years on,Narrative 4 (N4) was founded. Jackie asked one simple question:had originally envisagedit wasI think books have the ability toinside her.She recognized thathas harnessed that energy to The short answer is that it wasHow big do you want this programglobal.shape and change the world.writers and artists had a largelybecome a global organization founded the moment someoneto be? And so I went back to work. I also tell stories. I believe inuntapped personal power. Wethat aims to change education understood the blurry vision behindA few weeks later, two teamsTwo years later, in 2012, a groupstories. And I think stories, espe- told our stories in books, wefrom within; to acknowledgea fledgling idea and encouraged uswith six members each took offof artists from all over the worldcially, have the ability to shapeinspired people, and we movedthe intricate links between to go as big as possible. for New Orleans and Haiti for angathered in Colorado to considerand change the world.along.But she also knew, at theteachers, artists, students It was early February 2010, justintense, ten-day program withthe highest aim of stories and howI have long pondered thesame time, that all of us haveand the art of storytelling; to days after a catastrophic earth- Sci Academy and Cours Privswe might harness their energy torelationship between stories andaccess to a story: it is the worldsgalvanise a group of change-quake struck Haiti. The death tollEdm, armed with 80 pages oftransform society. books, and the manner in whichmost democratic entity, and shemakers who know that empathy was rising exponentially. I was in acurriculum, boxes of art supplies,In five days, we knew we had athey are helixed together, becom- wondered what might happen ifmust lead to transformation meeting with Jackie Bezos, a vision- translators, key local partners, aglobal movement that would being, then, the glue of who weshe gathered a group of artistson the ground; and to realise ary philanthropist deeply committeddocumentary film crew, and a lotartist-driven, educator-shaped,are. Of course, a book cant existtogether in the mountains tothat we will indeed change the to education and science. For a fewof determination. and student-led. without a story, but a story can ponder the original power of howworld when we learn to listen, years, Jackie had been watching aThere were problems, of course.Jackie Bezos was in the roomand does, and willexist withoutwe connect.and when we learn to tell, but story-based project my team wasSatellites went downso, wewhen we decided to go big. Shea book.It was a rather simpleAnd so it was that I ended upmost especially when we learn piloting with astounding results inborrowed CNNs. School roomshelped us envision a world whererevelation, but like many simplein a cabin high in the mountainsto act. our small Colorado community. Shewere unexpectedly lockedso, weyoung people would lead with em- things it revealed the complexof Colorado sitting opposite aYes, a story can exist without spoke of Haiti and how she hopedused courtyards. Language barrierspathy, learn about the world in newbeauty underneath.dozen people most of whoma book, but a book cant exist to help young people there findcropped upso, the kids ended upways from one anothers stories,It all comes back to thewould later form the core ofwithout a story.Ours is only healing. She saw our pilot projecttranslating for their friends. and work together to change thatmountains, a decade ago. Lisamy life.We sat in a circle.Weten years old, still at the very as a potential salve. Her idea wasThe stories flowed acrossworld. Narrative 4 was officiallyConsiglio, who was then workingwere paired off.Frankly, at first,beginning, and it will not endto use storytelling to connect kidsscreens, and as the days wentcreated six months later. for the Aspen Writers Founda- I thought it was a little bit ofbecause it just so happens that in Port-au-Prince with kids in Newby, the students opened up moreThe rest, I suppose, is the future.tion, had developed a theoryhocus pocus.I would have ratherits your story too. Orleans who had lived through and more. They created artwork inthat would later become a theorybeen in the bar, shooting the pro-Katrina; the obvious common de- honor of one another, retold theirof everything in the world ofverbial. But the idea was that we nominator being natural disaster.partners stories in the first person,activism and storytelling.Shewould tell stories to one another: The stories flowed across screens, and as the days went by, the students opened up more and more They developed a profound respecteven love We will indeed change the world when we learn to listen, for these people they had only met virtually.and when we learn to tell, but most especially when we learn to act.2 1'