If you're looking for a different sort of approach to professional development, or for a new method of problem-solving, Kiran has a workshop for you. His method focuses on applied storytelling, a deep and intense practice moving storytelling beyond performance to a tool used to tackle some of today's toughest issues.
His workshops focus on the power of storytelling and how you can harness that power to dream bigger, act bolder, and make positive change in the world. Don't expect to be a passive listener. You'll be an active participant as he walks you and your team through various exercises and introduces best practices for integrating story and storytelling methodology into your work.
Likewise, expect more than just a simple workshop. Kiran is helping lead a storytelling movement. The trainings he offers are rooted in using storytelling in profound ways to achieve big goals. Storytelling has the power to help mitigate climate change, break down social and political barriers, and even bring about world peace.
Changing the world is a very real aspiration, and we welcome working with others who believe the same. Contact his team today to get started. Whether you need a training session for a few hours or a few days, a workshop for a dozen people or several hundred; whether you're starting from scratch or moving to the next level, Kiran will work with you to develop a truly personalized and unique experience.
Kiran's workshops can be delivered either in-person or virtually.
His workshops focus on the power of storytelling and how you can harness that power to dream bigger, act bolder, and make positive change in the world. Don't expect to be a passive listener. You'll be an active participant as he walks you and your team through various exercises and introduces best practices for integrating story and storytelling methodology into your work.
Likewise, expect more than just a simple workshop. Kiran is helping lead a storytelling movement. The trainings he offers are rooted in using storytelling in profound ways to achieve big goals. Storytelling has the power to help mitigate climate change, break down social and political barriers, and even bring about world peace.
Changing the world is a very real aspiration, and we welcome working with others who believe the same. Contact his team today to get started. Whether you need a training session for a few hours or a few days, a workshop for a dozen people or several hundred; whether you're starting from scratch or moving to the next level, Kiran will work with you to develop a truly personalized and unique experience.
Kiran's workshops can be delivered either in-person or virtually.
With his background in the arts as well as an ability to teach effectively, Kiran gives individuals and communities new ways to approach collaborative efforts aimed at conflict resolution on any level.”
-R. Popham, Managing Editor, The Desmond Tutu Foundation-USA
Select Engagements Closing Plenary Speaker for the 39th Pacific Rim International Conference on Disability and Diversity, on the theme of Storytelling to build a culture of belonging. Hawai’i. Pacific Rim Conference Keynote Speaker and Workshop Facilitator for the Association for University Center on Disability (AUCD) 2023 conference on the theme Emerging Leaders Shape the Future Through the Power of Storytelling. 2023. Narrative Change Thought Leader for Appalachian Big Ideas Festival, October 2023. Write-up by Tasha Sams: Program Spotlight Storytelling Creative Thought Leader for Smithsonian Folklife Festival: Creative Encounters; The National Mall, and Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. July 29 and July 9, 2023. Write Up: Humanity Stories Keynote and Story Leadership Training for Rotary International Leadership Team. This was part of Rotary leadership Global Support Seminar to train and introduce regional leaders from 19 different countries on storytelling as a community building practice. Rotary International Headquarters’ One Rotary Center. February 2023. Hosted, Planned and Facilitated “Changing the Narrative” roundtable discussion with The Emancipator’s Co-Editors. The Emancipators project is part of The Boston Globe and Boston University Center for Antiracist Research led by anti-racist activist scholar Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. January 2023. Provided Thought Leadership, and Facilitation with Yo-Yo Ma’s Our Common Nature initiative. Kiran was tapped as a thinking partner and workshop leader for a special storytelling and music convening that took place May 13-15 in Western North Carolina. The project was by invitation of UN peace ambassador and renown cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Project celebrated Appalachian traditions. Other partners included The Office of Performing Arts and Film, Great Smoky Mountains National Park Service, elders of Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Cherokee Nation, Cherokee museum, Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, Black in Appalachia, Big Ears Festival, National Park Service, Radio Lab and others. The project convened around 45 cultural and eco-activists and practitioners from across Appalachia and beyond, to help explore the emerging story of how culture connects people to the natural world and how biodiversity and human diversity strengthens our relationship to nature and to each other, brings us empathetic connections as we imagine and build our collective future. 2022 and 2023. Provided Creative Thought Leadership to Artists at Work (AAW). A program of The Office of Performing Arts and Film. The project imagined a WPA-inspired approach to recovery that put artists at the forefront of social impact and transformation. AAW was awarded $3 million from the Andrew Mellon Foundation. The project has since formed over 80 partnerships and employed hundreds of artists across the USA. 2021-2022. Keynote “Reimagining Narratives” for Main Street America National Conference. Main Street America - a subsidiary of The National Trust for Historic Preservation. A nationwide network of coordinating programs and local communities. It includes thousands of members from small to large rural and urban towns and cities, representing around 2,000 communities across the country with a goal of bringing economic vitality back downtown, while celebrating their historic character, and bringing communities together. The conference took place in Richmond, VA. 2022 Keynote for Rotary Presidential Conference. Houston, Texas, 2022. Keynote for World Artists Experience. World Artists Experience is a global online network and conference to cultivate artists worldwide. 2021 Keynote for Knoxville’s Maker City Summit. Knoxville, TN: 2021 Participated as a Panel discussant for “How Do We Talk to Each Other? A Storytelling for Racial Justice a panel discussion for the final Freedom Stories Project.; virtual: 2021. An ISC collaboration with Southern Poverty Law Center and Highlander Center. Keynote for Rotary District Conference. Greely Rotary District Conference. 2021 Keynote for the Future Assistant Conference held across western Europe. 2021 Keynote for Center for Rural Strategies. A plenary talk for the annual Rural Assembly Everywhere conference presented by the Center for Rural Strategies. 2021 Keynote for Rotary E-club of World Peace. Themed: “The Power of Storytelling,” 2021 Invited to participate as a New Pluralists Collaborative focus group partner, aimed at developing a focal area for future New Pluralists/ Rockefeller Philanthropies, grant-making. Other change leaders included, On Being Project, One America Movement, Braver Angels, Common Ground USA, Mediators beyond Borders International, Faith Matters Network. New Pluralists plan to distribute $100 million dollars over 10 years. 2021. Ongoing. Keynote for Peace Speaks Up. "La paz se toma la palabra" (Peace Speaks Up) project presented by the Cultural Affairs office of the Bank of the Republic of Colombia. 2021. Designed Building Peace Storytelling Platform Space with colleagues from Brazil, Colombia, India, and the United States. The story platform created a safe healing space for sharing stories and personal testimonies around complex issues of human rights, conflict resolution, and peace building. 2021. Led and Designed Stories for Racial Justice Community Building Talk/Workshop series, in partnership with Rotary Club of Stuart, Virginia. These community town-hall style conversations in a small town called Stuart, Virginia, named after a Confederate general, J.E.B. Stuart aimed to illuminate more than one story in community wide discussions on contested symbols like flags and statues—and complex histories related to the US South and notions of “home.” 2021. Delivered Applied Storytelling Keynote for 600 Educators and Teachers for Niswonger Regional Learning Day. A professional development summit for regional K-12 teachers across disciplines sponsored by the Niswonger Foundation; Greeneville, TN. 2021 · Keynote for Big West Zone Institute. An event for 600 Rotary leaders. AZ, 2021 Developed and Designed Young Appalachian Story Summit, a three-year National Endowment for Humanities funded program, and workshop series for young activists, artists and changemakers from across Appalachia. TN: 2021. SOUND POSTINGS / 2022 A special convening of storytelling and music with world-class cellist Yo-Yo Ma held in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Kiran led a thinking exercise and workshop focusing on the interplay between culture and the environment, music and stories, and how they can foster peace and understanding, building out connections between and among one another and the land upon which we live and work. Kiran participated as a thinking partner on behalf of ISC in partnership with The Office performing arts and film, the National Park Service, the Cherokee Museum, Tremont, Black in Appalachia, and others. commUNITY / 2021
A two-part talk/workshop series focused on community building presented in partnership with Stuart Rotary in Stuart, Virginia ARTISTS AT WORK / 2020
A training for Artists at Work (AAW,) a new WPA-inspired program funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation putting artists at the center of post-pandemic economic recovery WEAVING OUR STORIES / 2020
A three-part deep-dive workshop series presented online to various municipalities, nonprofits, and community groups in Victoria, Australia STORYTELLING: THE POWER OF PEACE / 2017
An opening keynote and workshop for the Collaborative and Adaptive Security Initiative (CASI) with the US Department of Defense HOUSE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE / 2016
Led a story circle eventually helping lead to the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2019 THE WHITE HOUSE, COMMUNITY PARTNERS ACTION SUMMIT / 2015
At the invitation and request of The White House, presented on best practices in community leadership |
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View a complete list of talks, workshops, and presentations.
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Kiran's presentation added significant depth to the program and encouraged the audience to view intercultural communities through a different lens – that of storytelling!” -J. Trijsburg, Melton City Council; Melton, Australia
Get In Touch
Ready to make story part of your organization's culture? Want Kiran to speak at your next event?
Reach out for more information and we'll see how we can work together.
Reach out for more information and we'll see how we can work together.