When we are compelled to write, we not only want to tell a special story, we are also looking for our own creative voice. Talent and the craft of writing can be playfully discovered and practiced in this seminar. Initial ideas are developed with the help of creative techniques. They help us to get into the flow of writing in order to tell the stories that are already within us.
In this seminar, creative writing is practiced on site in group and individual exercises and on the basis of short theoretical learning units, and the basic laws of dramaturgical storytelling are taught. It is easy to deal with one's own writing impulse and with structural models. The 3-act model, the 8-sequence method or the hero's journey are models that encourage us to work freely with plot points, arcs of suspense and false endings. Character development, narrative perspective, sensual writing, narrative time and narrative time are practiced and the resulting texts are then discussed in the group. We look for the personal narrative voice in the style and tone of our own text and in the writing of dialogs. We try out writing rituals and discover the joy of our own text. Because nothing is as true as your own storytelling.
Prof. Ruth Olshan grew up in a Ukrainian-Lithuanian family in Israel and Berlin. She now lives in Germany and works as a director, author and writer. She studied directing and film production in Leeds (UK) and at the KHM in Cologne. She has been working as a freelance director and writer since 2000 and teaches as a lecturer at various universities in Germany and abroad and as a script consultant for documentaries and feature films. She is a professor of film directing at the ifs - International Film School Cologne.
After making several award-winning short films, she has directed various films for TV and cinema ("Himbeeren mit Senf" - children's film, "Wolfswinkel") as well as documentaries and media installations for museums ("Wie Luft zum Atmen", "Nicht ganz kosher", „GegenStimmen“).
Her first book "All die schönen Dinge" was published by Oetinger Verlag and her second novel "Immergrün" is about to be published. Ruth Olshan also writes screenplays for cinema, TV and series.
She has received numerous awards and scholarships, such as the Sir Richard Attenborough Prize, the Prize for Women Artists in North Rhine-Westphalia and the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Prize. Her films have been shown at international festivals such as Venice, Locarno, Munich, Tbilisi, Haifa, Berlin and Oberhausen.
The continuing education programme of the Institute Arts and Design Education aims to broaden participants’ perspective of their own artistic work and shared creative endeavours with others. Participants will be introduced to creative educational strategies, and acquire the ability to make creative debates effective for social processes. Both the weeklong continuing education courses and the optional one-on-one coaching sessions integrate methods from the fields of education, the fine arts, arts education, performance and other participatory practices. The improvement of artistic, creative and communication skills can help pave the way for more equal opportunities. Social inclusion, as one of the main conditions of equal opportunities, requires good communication and cultural competences – and it is these competences that artistic and creative educational strategies can do an excellent job at cultivating. By strengthening artistic and creative competences, we not only increase the realms of possibility for design, but also for communication, social interactions, the strengthening of social structures, personal expression and the experience of self-efficacy.
Monday to Friday 9.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m.
People who want to develop their own narrative voice through writing and discover or develop writing as an artistic medium for themselves.
teaching the craft of writing
using writing games to search for and find one's own creative writing
specification of the narrative theme
developing skills in text analysis and dramaturgical analysis
imparting knowledge of the book market
agencies, publishers, processes leading up to a book publication in the publishing industry
Art and design, and imparting their contents open up new ways of perceiving and shaping the world. Learning in art and design is marked by an intense experience of self-agency and dealing with highly diverse contexts.
