BiGFiSH FOLKLiFE
A folklife community who share God’s love through stories of salt and light
New Concord, OH
About
BiGFiSH FOLKLiFE is a religious non-profit organization in Appalachia with the mission:
We define “folklife” as the everyday stories of ordinary people.
Storytelling, in its broadest sense, may include a variety of media and genre (e.g. traditional storytelling, writing, performance, visual arts, music, dance, etc.)
- To bring together artists and audiences in a cultural exchange of folklife stories.
- To provide retreat, education, and worship opportunities for and by artists.
We define “folklife” as the everyday stories of ordinary people.
Storytelling, in its broadest sense, may include a variety of media and genre (e.g. traditional storytelling, writing, performance, visual arts, music, dance, etc.)
StoryFest 2020 Radio Show
Sunday, September 6
Our Annual StoryFest 2020 will be a live radio broadcast on WMCO 90.7 FM "The Orbit" from 12-5pm! Our headliners will include Barefoot McCoy, Kim Weitkamp, and Andy Offutt Irwin!
The 2020 StoryFest Radio Show!
"Light-Hearted Stories From the Inside-Out"
Sunday, September 6
Listen Live on 90.7 FM!
Check Out Our Featured Artists in the StoryFest 2020 Virtual Gallery
Program Schedule
10:30am Storytelling Worship Service with Bloomfield United Presbyterian Church and College Drive Presbyterian Church
12pm Local Music Showcase (featuring Emily McDermott, Alaina Williams, and Sacred Turtle!)
1pm "Listen to Your Story" Storytelling Contest Winners
Along with: artist highlights from our gallery and musical interludes by Dr. Laura Schumann and Shane Poteete!
2pm Musical Guest Barefoot McCoy
3pm National Storyteller Kim Weitkamp
4pm National Storyteller Andy Offutt Irwin
Sunday, September 6
Listen Live on 90.7 FM!
Check Out Our Featured Artists in the StoryFest 2020 Virtual Gallery
Program Schedule
10:30am Storytelling Worship Service with Bloomfield United Presbyterian Church and College Drive Presbyterian Church
12pm Local Music Showcase (featuring Emily McDermott, Alaina Williams, and Sacred Turtle!)
1pm "Listen to Your Story" Storytelling Contest Winners
Along with: artist highlights from our gallery and musical interludes by Dr. Laura Schumann and Shane Poteete!
2pm Musical Guest Barefoot McCoy
3pm National Storyteller Kim Weitkamp
4pm National Storyteller Andy Offutt Irwin
Blog
Introducing a thirty day challenge: creatively commune with our Creator. Are you in?
Read More
Tells the story of the first best play the author watched as a girl, how it evoked an awareness of the fleeting beauty of life that is echoed by Ohio artist Nora Daniel in the oil painting Cup and Tomatoes
Read More
Inspiration from Fringe Theater Festival artists, featuring Kafka, The Musical
Read More
Inspiration from the prophet-comic Jonah, not to mention the Whale
Read MoreJourney to Long Nose
Written and Performed by Rachel Pollock
hilarious family oral history as it relates to my face!
Journey to Long nose
This one-woman show written and performed by Rachel Pollock is, "a quirky, original and humorous storytelling foray into my broken cultural identity brought about by my family’s changing oral history and our collective obsession with ancestry DNA, as plain as the nose on my face."
DC Metro Review of J2LN
TESTIMONIALS
“The mark of good drama is that it keeps you thinking -- and Journey to Long Nose certainly did for me. I loved the way [Pollock] showed the challenge of claiming each of [her] identities, wrestling with the perceptions of others, drawing faith and God into the mix of it all and bringing awareness of our current "othering" of people....all within claiming the embrace of self. So many places...and doing it all from Ohio. Good stuff.”
Rev. Chris Johnson Foster
Interim Associate Pastor, Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church, Bethesda, MD
WASHINGTON D.C. NATIONAL PREMIERE CAPITAL FRINGE FESTIVAL JULY 2019
“Journey to Long Nose is a profoundly funny performance that carefully establishes trust with the audience by using laughter to smooth out the rough edges we might brush up against when prompted to examine our own insecurities. Rachel Pollock's colorful writing takes aim not only at herself but at each one of us. This is the best kind of art, masterfully pushing people of all stripes right up to the border of our individual comfort zones. Make no mistake: she holds us there just long enough to make sure we've gazed upon the discomfort on the other side, but before it ever gets to be too much, she pulls us into yet another story, and another laugh.”
Greg Brown
Musician, Traveler, Artist, Mount Vernon Nazarene University Alum
NEW CONCORD OHIO LOCAL PREMIERE BIG FISH STORYFEST BENEFIT PERFORMACE AUGUST 30 2019
Want to host a performance of J2LN at your venue?
Please contact us at bigfishfolklife@gmail.com for details!
GENRE: Solo performance with presentation slides
RUN TIME: 55 minutes
AUDIENCE: General audience
2019-2020 ARTIST BIO
Rachel Pollock, Artistic Director, BigFish Folklife is an actor, writer, storyteller and American folklife researcher. Since 2003, she has served as the Director of Forensics (Competitive Public Speaking, Performance & Debate) and Assistant Professor of Communication, Media, and Theatre at Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio. Recipient of multiple grants to research storytelling in the United States (from the National Storytelling Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee to the American Folklife Center Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.), Rachel’s Storytelling Workshop has been published in Great Ideas for Teaching Speech and the Forensics Educator. She is one co-founder of BiGFiSH Folklife, a fun faith-based artists’ collective in New Concord, Ohio. Pollock’s full-length plays in production include “Remember How He Told You”, “Something About the Pope”, “IS (On the Edge of Deaf America) based on Deaf-hearing stories in the Storycorps collection”, and “Journey To Long Nose”. In July 2019, the one woman multi-media show “Journey to Long Nose” premiered at the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, D.C. Pollock’s full length memoir Journey to Long Nose is set for print release by BiGFiSH Folklife February 2020 (audio release August 2020).
DC Metro Review of J2LN
TESTIMONIALS
“The mark of good drama is that it keeps you thinking -- and Journey to Long Nose certainly did for me. I loved the way [Pollock] showed the challenge of claiming each of [her] identities, wrestling with the perceptions of others, drawing faith and God into the mix of it all and bringing awareness of our current "othering" of people....all within claiming the embrace of self. So many places...and doing it all from Ohio. Good stuff.”
Rev. Chris Johnson Foster
Interim Associate Pastor, Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church, Bethesda, MD
WASHINGTON D.C. NATIONAL PREMIERE CAPITAL FRINGE FESTIVAL JULY 2019
“Journey to Long Nose is a profoundly funny performance that carefully establishes trust with the audience by using laughter to smooth out the rough edges we might brush up against when prompted to examine our own insecurities. Rachel Pollock's colorful writing takes aim not only at herself but at each one of us. This is the best kind of art, masterfully pushing people of all stripes right up to the border of our individual comfort zones. Make no mistake: she holds us there just long enough to make sure we've gazed upon the discomfort on the other side, but before it ever gets to be too much, she pulls us into yet another story, and another laugh.”
Greg Brown
Musician, Traveler, Artist, Mount Vernon Nazarene University Alum
NEW CONCORD OHIO LOCAL PREMIERE BIG FISH STORYFEST BENEFIT PERFORMACE AUGUST 30 2019
Want to host a performance of J2LN at your venue?
Please contact us at bigfishfolklife@gmail.com for details!
GENRE: Solo performance with presentation slides
RUN TIME: 55 minutes
AUDIENCE: General audience
2019-2020 ARTIST BIO
Rachel Pollock, Artistic Director, BigFish Folklife is an actor, writer, storyteller and American folklife researcher. Since 2003, she has served as the Director of Forensics (Competitive Public Speaking, Performance & Debate) and Assistant Professor of Communication, Media, and Theatre at Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio. Recipient of multiple grants to research storytelling in the United States (from the National Storytelling Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee to the American Folklife Center Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.), Rachel’s Storytelling Workshop has been published in Great Ideas for Teaching Speech and the Forensics Educator. She is one co-founder of BiGFiSH Folklife, a fun faith-based artists’ collective in New Concord, Ohio. Pollock’s full-length plays in production include “Remember How He Told You”, “Something About the Pope”, “IS (On the Edge of Deaf America) based on Deaf-hearing stories in the Storycorps collection”, and “Journey To Long Nose”. In July 2019, the one woman multi-media show “Journey to Long Nose” premiered at the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, D.C. Pollock’s full length memoir Journey to Long Nose is set for print release by BiGFiSH Folklife February 2020 (audio release August 2020).
BFFs
BiGFiSH Friends
Check out some amazing Artists!
Big Fish Friends
Storyteller Kim Weitkamp 
Folksinger Barefoot McCoy
Singer Song Writer Mitch McVicke
Photographer Julie Keirle 
Publications
Browse titles supported by BiGFiSH FOLKLiFE
Publications
Have you ever wondered what it was like- not knowing what comes next, or what God is doing and why? What does life with the risen Lord mean? Inspired by the New Testament Gospel of Luke, "Remember How He Told You" is a new drama of the Resurrection story from R.R. Pollock. Amidst political upheaval, five Jewish women journey to anoint the body of the crucified Yeshua (Jesus of Nazareth) for burial and uncover a mysterious, new world.
Gone Fishing
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BiGFiSH FOLKLiFE partners with the Muskngum County Community Foundation.
Please follow the link bellow to make a tax-deductible donation to support our ministry!
Big Fish Folklife Fund
Please follow the link bellow to make a tax-deductible donation to support our ministry!
Big Fish Folklife Fund
