"Amazing Storyteller!"
Naomi has often been invited to share her love of storymaking and her skills as an engaging teller of tales. Using her skills as a performer both for theare and television, she is able to capture the imaginations of her audiences and leave them spellbound! Working within school and community settings, festivals and cultural events, she is a favourite of many educational leaders, event organisers and families.
World Book Day
As a lively teller of tales, Naomi provides drama-based interactive storymaking workshops, either as a one-off or a series. These bespoke workshops encourage creative expression, develop pupils’ confidence and support all areas of the school curriculum, particularly creative writing and other aspects of literacy.
Storytelling - International Day
Have you heard the tale from very long ago, of how Monkey tricked Lion, pretending to hide his heart at the top of the tallest, oldest, strongest tree? What about Duck’s tug-of-war trick that she played on Elephant and Rhino, and lasted all through the day and all through the night? Or the calabash filled with water which belonged to the biggest, middlest and smallest sisters - three daughters of a mother who teaches them all a lesson?
Naomi has created a trilogy of storytelling workshops depicting the pioneering stories of some of her favourite women; Mary Seacole, Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges from Black History - women who changed the world to make it a better place for all. Each workshop includes its own specific drama based activity plan, which engages children with the themes, characters and achievements of this heroic women.
Naomi Cortes tells the story of the Kingdom of Benin
Naomi has used her captivating storymaking skills in various projects with a variety of museums, sharing the histories of artefacts including the Benin Bronzes, Vietnamese folk masks and Foundling tokens. The stories shared are always inspired by the objects, whether it is the history of how it came to be and its presence in the world or the affect it has on the participants and what they imagine its purpose could be.
Naomi Cortes with pupils at her storymaking workshop
Naomi was one of the lead facilitators on the Story Lab project, a collaboration between the Creative Learning programme at the Tricycle (now Kiln) theatre and five local primary schools in Brent. The aim was to develop Key Stage 2 pupils’ literacy understanding, and in particular their writing composition and confidence.
