MU Students taking charge for Professional Events

Jaylen+Grant+performing+at+the+Indy+Story+Slam+on+March+15

Storytelling Arts of Indiana

Jaylen Grant performing at the Indy Story Slam on March 15

Tristan Grider, Reporter

Marian University students for Drew Stewart’s “Strategic Communication Project” class have stepped up to increase popularity in events for the corporation, “Storytelling Arts of Indiana” at the beginning of the semester.   

Jaylen Grant, senior in communication,  is a member of Team 1 on the design team, with the title of Visual Specialist.  All video content produced by Team 1 goes through him.  “It’s a tough job, but it’s a fun one.  I love feeling like I’m making a difference for this company,” Grant said.

The corporation, run by Ellen Munds, has been around since 1987.  It hosts “Story Slams” across the state of Indiana, and just last year, one was hosted at Marian University.  

In recent memory, due to the pandemic, the attendance to these events have dropped.  This led to Munds contacting Stewart to see what Marian students could do to help.  

The two teams are run by Lizzie Schmidt and myself, Tristan Grider.  Our titles are Chief of Operations.  There two teams are broken down into four divisions of work.  There is an operations team, writing team, design team, and a performance and partnerships team.  

“I think that Marian students can help greatly with Storytelling Arts,” said Leah Williams, MU staff who’s also on the board for Storytelling Arts of Indiana. “Some of the ideas produced by your mind in a few weeks are better than what we’ve come up with in years.”

“I love working with Storytelling Arts of Indiana,” said Grant, “I feel like our perspective with marketing, design and social media is really increasing their popularity.”  Marian has already hosted a story slam where students from Team 1 performed.  If you want to support, then go to an event or visit https://storytellingarts.org/ to donate.