Like any seed bank this is a collaborative effort. The greater the diversity and the quality of our seeds, the more valuable our bank will be. This is why donations are so important.
Suggestions for choosing a seedstory
First, we only keep seedstories. In a simple way these are the oral traditional stories that don't relate to one specific author but to a land/people. These are passed trough from generation to generation, transforming, growing and adapting.
Second, is something I learned from people who maintain seed banks: the importance of careful selection. It is essential that you select the seeds that have the greatest potential to germinate. I wondered how this "germination potential" would translate into storytelling and came up with some questions you might ask yourself when choosing the seedstory you want to donate:
Why should we keep on telling this story?
What does this seedstory carry that is missing in the world today? What does it carry within itself that helps us survive?
What is your intention in keeping/telling this story?
Does this story carry words and ideas that can hurt, oppress, restrict the life of those who listen to it?
What you should pay attention to before sending your donation:
honor the source: the more information you can provide about how the story came to you, the better. If it was through a book it is important to provide the complete reference such as the author's name, publisher, and year of publication; if it is an orally-transmitted story, it is important to say when, where, and from whom you heard the story.
the storyteller: the person telling the story is as important as the story being told, so the more information about the person in the video or the voice in the audio, the better: where they live, their name, their age, whether the story being told is their own version from one or several sources or whether they follow a version from a book, for example, this is important to report as well.
another very important issue is the language in which the story is told, so we invite people to record stories in their native languages. in the case of rare languages, if the person is willing and able, they may also send a translation into more dominant languages such as english, spanish, and portuguese, for example.
place and date: please, remember to record and send the day and place of the recording.
technical information: at Sementeira we believe that the intention with which you tell a story is fundamental, that's why we chose to save only stories recorded orally, because with it comes the voice, the breath and the intention of the teller. Therefore, the recording must be done in audio or video.
It doesn't need to be anything professional, a cell phone is more than enough, however, it's nice to be aware of the noises during the recording and it's very important to listen to the material before sending it to make sure that is possible to understand the story.
formats:
audio: MP3 file
if video: MP4, avi, wmv, or link to platforms like youtube or vimeo
send all this to us at oi@sementeira.art with the subject: "donation to the seed bank. if you have any questions or difficulties you can write to this address as well.
important note:
All the stories from the Seedstory Bank are available online to be accessed by anyone interested.
The main goal is to take the beauty and knowledge of these oral tradition stories so that they can germinate around the world and help us survive such difficult times, just as they have done so many times before.
We hope that people who want to listen or tell stories in any context: at home, in companies, in the arts, in schools, in consulting rooms, in their communities, in social support centers, etc. will find a rich and nutritious source of seedstories with great potential for the germination of love, care and wisdom..
And please remember: whenever you tell a seedstory, honor the source from which it came (all the information about the story and the teller will be provided here).
Thank you very much for your interest in contributing with us on this idea!