The Story Collider

Last updated
The Story Collider
The Story Collider logo.png
Presentation
Hosted byErin Barker
GenreStorytelling
LanguageEnglish
Production
ProductionErin Barker, Liz Neeley, Zoe Saunders
Opening themeghost
No. of seasons8
No. of episodes370
Related
Website www.storycollider.org

The Story Collider is a US-based non-profit group dedicated to telling true, personal stories about science. Their mission is to empower both scientists and nonscientists alike with the skills they need to tell these stories and share them through their live shows and podcast, with the goal of exploring the human side of science. [1] [2]

Contents

Programs

Live events

Every year, The Story Collider produces between 40 and 50 live storytelling shows across the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada, featuring stories about science that are both "stand-up funny and powerfully confessional," according to The Wall Street Journal. [2]

The organization now regularly holds shows in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, St. Louis, Atlanta, Toronto, Vancouver, and Wellington, New Zealand. In addition, The Story Collider has worked with various partners to produce one-off shows in other locations. Past and current partnerships include public radio's Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen, St. Louis Public Radio, Springer Nature, Scientific American, the American Geophysical Union, the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, Fermilab, and universities such as Yale, Cambridge, and many more. [3]

Podcast

The weekly podcast, which started in October 2010, features two stories from the live shows in each episode and has generated over nine million downloads to date. [4] [5] In 2017, the podcast was included in Salon's "13 Science Podcasts for Short Attention Spans"; [6] Business Insider's "Best Science Podcasts That Make You Smarter"; [7] Popular Science's "The Best Science Podcasts to Make You Smarter"; [8] The Scientist's 11 Best Science Podcasts; [9] and Audible Feast's "Best Podcast Episodes of 2017." [10] In 2019, The Washington Post called the stories, "devastating, delightful, and endlessly listenable." [11] A recent study in the journal Life Sciences Education found that college students who listened to a selection of Story Collider stories over the course of a semester shifted their perception of what types of people can be scientists, and came away with better grades in the class, increased interest in science, and a vision of a possible future in it for themselves. [12]

Workshops

In addition to live performances, the Story Collider also conducts workshops at universities and conferences around the world with the goal of empowering scientists as storytellers. [13] The Story Collider has worked with elite institutions like Yale, Cornell, and Cambridge University, powerhouse state schools, and small community colleges alike.

Leadership

The Story Collider is currently led by Erin Barker, a Moth GrandSLAM-winning storyteller and writer who also produces the weekly podcast along with Zhen Qin and Misha Gajewski. [14]

Storytellers

As of Spring 2018, more than a thousand stories have been told at The Story Collider. [5] Notable storytellers include: [15] [16]

Comedians and actors

Journalists and media

Scientists and mathematicians

Related Research Articles

<i>The Moth</i> Storytelling events, podcast, radio program, books, and website

The Moth is a nonprofit group based in New York City, dedicated to the craft of storytelling. Founded in 1997, the organization presents a wide range of theme-based storytelling events across the United States and abroad, often featuring prominent literary and cultural personalities alongside everyday people like veterans, astronauts, school teachers, and parents. The Moth offers a weekly podcast and in 2009 launched a national public radio show, The Moth Radio Hour, which won a 2010 Peabody Award. The Moth has published four books, including The Moth: 50 True Stories (2013), which reached #22 on The New York Times Paperback Nonfiction Best-Seller List; All These Wonders: True Stories about Facing the Unknown (2017); Occasional Magic: True Stories About Defying the Impossible (2019); and How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth (2022). In September 2022, The Moth published an interactive card deck , A Game of Storytelling, which debuted at #1 on Amazon's top-selling card game list.

Faith Coley Salie is an American journalist, writer, actress, comedian, television, radio, and podcast host and Rhodes scholar. She is a contributor to CBS Sunday Morning and a panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!. She hosted Science Goes To The Movies on PBS and CUNY TV. She is a storyteller for The Moth, with her story viewed over 4 million times. Her first book, Approval Junkie, "a collection of daring, funny essays chronicling the author's adventures during her lifelong quest for approval," was published by Crown in April 2016. Salie adapted it into a solo show which she performed Off-Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theater in New York City in 2021. The play premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Allison</span> American comedian, writer and actor

Kevin Allison is an American comedian, writer, actor, and storyteller. He is perhaps best known as a writing and performing member of the comedy troupe The State, and appeared in their 1993-1995 MTV sketch comedy series The State. He hosts a storytelling podcast, RISK!, and teaches sketch comedy and storytelling.

<i>The Bugle</i> Satirical news podcast

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wyatt Cenac</span> American actor and comedian

Wyatt John Foster Cenac Jr. is an American comedian, actor, producer, and writer. He was a correspondent and writer for The Daily Show from 2008 to 2012. He starred in the TBS series People of Earth and in Barry Jenkins's first feature Medicine for Melancholy. He also hosted and produced the HBO series Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas.

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<i>RISK!</i> Storytelling podcast

RISK! is a weekly podcast and live storytelling show created and hosted by writer, actor, and storyteller Kevin Allison. The show's official website describes RISK! as a place "where people tell true stories they never thought they'd dare to share in public". RISK! started as a weekly live storytelling series in August 2009. Chris Castiglione and Jeff Barr joined in 2010 as part of the founding team. JC Cassis joined the production team in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catie Lazarus</span> American comedian and writer (1976–2020)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Holthaus</span> American meteorologist and climate journalist

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Liz Neeley is a science communicator, researcher, and founder of Liminal Creations. She was formerly the Executive Director of The Story Collider, a nonprofit organization that focuses on true, personal stories inspired by science. She began her career in marine biology and conservation and has since become an expert in the use of narrative storytelling for effective science communication.

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References

  1. Revkin, Andrew C. (10 June 2018). "Story Collider: Where Science is a Story Well Told". Dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  2. 1 2 Beta, Andy (21 May 2011). "Gamut of Lives Viewed Under A Microscope". Wsj.com. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  3. "Events". The Story Collider. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  4. "Podcast". The Story Collider. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Press". The Story Collider. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  6. "13 science podcasts for short attention spans". Salon.com. 26 November 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  7. "15 of the best science podcasts that will make you smarter". Businessinsider.com. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  8. "The best science podcasts to make you smarter". Popsci.com. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  9. "Opinion: 11 Best Science Podcasts". The Scientist. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  10. "Audible Feast's 50 Best Podcast Episodes of 2017 - Audible Feast". Audiblefeast.com. 29 December 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  11. Blakemore, Erin. "Here's an 'article' accelerator that produces the funny, dramatic, human side of science". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
  12. "Scientist Spotlight Homework Assignments Shift Students' Stereotypes of Scientists and Enhance Science Identity in a Diverse Introductory Science Class | CBE: Life Sciences Education". doi: 10.1187/cbe.16-01-0002 . Archived from the original on 2021-03-10. Retrieved 2018-05-16.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. "Workshops". The Story Collider. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  14. "Our Team". The Story Collider. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  15. "The Story Collider Podcast". Archived from the original on 2016-01-06. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
  16. "Shows". The Story Collider. Retrieved 10 June 2018.