Saturday + Sunday, August 23-24 | See full schedule below!
Join Story Parlor for a weekend full of mini workshops showcasing some of the classes on the horizon for the upcoming season. Come meet the instructors, get a feel for their offerings, and network with other creatives in the community.
Your registration fee will give you access to a RSVP link to sign-up for as many of the mini-workshops as you'd like (capacity permitting), along with a $25 credit to apply to a fall workshop of your choice.
Early bird $35 | Register by August 8 (discount applied at checkout)
Regular Price $45 | Effective August 9
Your registration fee will give you access to a RSVP link (emailed to your separately) to sign-up for as many of the mini-workshops as you'd like (capacity permitting), along with a $25 credit to apply to a fall workshop of your choice.
All sales are final. Refund and other policies can be found here.
*
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Saturday, August 24
10:00am-11:00am | Meet the Facilitators Breakfast and Q&A
11:30am-12:30pm | The Creative Cycle with Missy Bell
2:00pm-3:00pm | Writing without an Outline with R. Lyon Bergh
3:30pm-4:30pm | From Page to Stage with Bruce Spang
6:00pm-9:00pm | Student Showcase featuring participants from past Story Parlor classes
Sunday, August 25
10:00am-11:00am | Creativity + Personal Mythology with Erin Hallagan Clare
11:30am-12:30pm | Writing Our Ghosts with R. Lyon Bergh
2:00pm-3:00pm | Creative Essentials with J. Faye D’Avanza
3:30-4:30 | TBD
-
Anyone interested in a quick boost to their creative work and spirit
Folks interested in learning more about upcoming classes and facilitators at Story Parlor
People looking for connection and the collective energy of a creative community
-
Missy Bell
Missy Bell is a life-long creative with a master's degree in Creativity Studies.
During her time as a visual artist, writer, filmmaker, actor, teacher, and photographer, she has honed her own practice into a science.
Missy is the founder of Mouse House Productions and currently focused on her roles as writer, director, and producer of films about people who are ready to step off the ledge.
She loves to cultivate strong communities of humans who happen to be artists, build things from the ground up, watch stories burst into life, and spend time cohorting with nature.
The Cycle of Creativity is a summation of her own work and study and an insight into the way creative brain's work in the world.
*
R. Lyon Bergh
R. Lyon is a writer, actor, and filmmaker currently living and creating in Asheville, NC. He (or she) expresses creative storytelling through poetry, song, short & long-form prose, short & long-form screenwriting, oral storytelling, comedy improv, and just about any other way that (s)he can find. He received his undergrad from Wilmington University in Marketing with a strong concentration in Creative Writing. Following that, he was a finalist for the High Residency MFA Creative Writing Fellowship at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, studied Meisner Acting at the New York Studio for Stage and Screen, and is a proud alumni of Asheville School of Film. Lyon is a certified Inward & Artward Creative Facilitator.
Early recognition was for a submission to the Wilmington Drama League’s One Act Play Festival, where he received multiple awards including Best Director and Best Original Stage Play. More recently, he was published twice in the WNC Woman magazine and has earned recognition for contributions to the 48hr film project in Asheville.*
Erin Hallagan ClareErin Hallagan Clare is the Founder and Artistic Director of Story Parlor, a narrative arts space dedicated to multidisciplinary storytelling based in Asheville, North Carolina. She is a certified creativity coach and holds a Masters in creative psychology, as well as a graduate certificate in Applied Mythology. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Creativity at Rowan University. A writer and storyteller, she has told stories at The Moth, Listen to This, Testify, One Page Salon, NC Writers Network and more, and is a Moth Story Slam Champion. Her writing can be found in Psychology Today, Thrive Global, and others, and she is a contributing author to The Coach’s Guide to Completing Creative Work published by Routledge.
*
J. Faye D’Avanza
J. Faye D’Avanza is a writer-editor, holistic librarian, creative guide, and the founder of Library of Care—a 21st-century resource hub dedicated to curating and sharing the knowledge, stories, and tools needed for creative recovery, healing, and thriving in the modern age.
A creative workshop facilitator, consultant, and coach, she is passionate about helping others on their parallel burnout recovery and creative healing journeys by nurturing one's passion for learning, connection, and growth. She holds an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons University in Boston, Massachusetts, a BA in English with minors in American Studies and Art from the University of New Hampshire, a Certificate in Editing from the University of Chicago, and is a certified Inward & Artward Creative Facilitator from Story Parlor in West Asheville, North Carolina.
You can learn more about her creative offerings at jfayedavanza.com.
Bruce Spang, former Poet Laureate of Portland, is the author of two novels, The River Crossed (2024), The Deception of the Thrush and a memoir Those Close Beside Me: A Young Man’s Search for Home. He has published five books of poems, including Twist (2025), All You’ll Derive: A Caregiver’s Journey, To the Promised Land Grocery and Boy at the Screen Door (Moon Pie Press) along with several anthologies and several chapbooks. He is the poetry editor of the Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine and staff writer for The Asheville Poetry Review. His poems have been published in Connecticut River Review, Puckerbrush Review, Red Rover Magazine, Great Smokies Review, Kalopsia Literary Journal, Café Review and other journals across the United States. He teaches courses in fiction and poetry at Great Smokies Writing Program at University of North Carolina in Asheville and lives in Candler, NC with his husband Myles Rightmire and their two dogs, fifteen fish, and eighteen birds.
More at : brucepspang.wordpress.com