We were lucky to catch up with Rachael Harrington recently and have shared our conversation below.
Rachael, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
I have a lot of projects that I love working on and that I find a lot of purpose in, but there’s one project especially near and dear to my heart that’s fueling a lot of meaning for me (and I believe others as well). It’s my podcast called The Fairy Tale Art Cart: Draw Along Stories For Kids.
Specifically, I’ve been working on producing a series of live episode recordings of the show featuring live musicians at a local coffee shop, and seeing the community gather together to enjoy storytelling, music, and creating art together while also supporting a local business has brought a whole new level of meaning and motivation to the making of the podcast.
The Fairy Tale Art Cart kind of has two origin stories. The first origin story popped up unexpectedly during the first chaotic days of the Covid shut downs. My husband and I were living in one of the hardest hit neighborhoods in NYC, were both freelancers who lost all of our upcoming work over night, and we had just found out we were pregnant with baby #3. At that point, I was already working as a professional performance storyteller doing a lot of assembly programs and classroom visits in schools, but prior to that I had been a middle school art teacher. When NYC shut down, we suddenly had families and teachers trying to figure out how to do virtual school and quarantine, and how to bring a sense of calm and routine to their shut-down days. Seeing (and felling for myself) this need, I came up with an idea.
Within about two weeks of the shut down, I started livestreaming what I called “Morning Meeting”. I told a folktale and then demonstrated an art project that went along with the story I just told. I tried to use simple materials that families would most likely have on hand, and asked for people to post their art in the comments to create community. I told stories every morning at about the same time for about 4 months, and the livestream reached a pretty wide amount of people and the feedback I got was that during an otherwise scary time, it brought a lot of kids and families a lot of joy and creativity and something to look forward to at the top of every day.
Fast forward to 2024 and I was laid up in bed after ACL/meniscus tear surgery. With my knee out, I was once again not able to work as I normally do as a storyteller. But, I wanted to still be making and telling. For years, everyone always asked if I had a podcast and then one day as I was stuck at home I was talking to my friend Khrystyne and she pushed me on the podcast idea. So, I decided that if ever there was a time to start a storytelling podcast, it was on bed rest!
But what would the podcast be? I thought back to the “Morning Meeting” and remembered how much parents appreciated having something for their kids that brought story and active, “now-go-make-this” creativity. I thought it would be amazing to continue supporting parents and families by creating something that was screen-free and also got kids using their own imaginations and love of art making. I also really love the intersection of story and music, so I decided to continue using my background as an art teacher and mushing it together with my current path as a storyteller and came up with the idea for The Fairy Tale Art Cart: Draw Along Stories For Kids. It’s a podcast where kids get to become the illustrators of the stories they listen to!
As soon as I started getting back up on my feet with a little more mobility, I knew I wanted the show to live outside of people’s ear buds, as well. As a storyteller, one of the things I’m passionate about is bringing people together In Real Life to experience community and art. And so I got in touch with my favorite local coffee shop, Buunni Coffee. They have a small stage area where they host local performers and groups. I booked a date and reached out to a violinist friend of mine who came and played live music during the drawing breaks (and his wife is an opera singer and came and opened the show for us!). The show sold out and the room was so alive with energy and human connection!
Since that first show, there’s been four five other live Buunni shows that have all had great, full turn out. Plus the live events have started to get picked up for family festivals and Family Day events at corporations!
The show has brought a whole new exciting expression of my work as a storyteller, and most importantly has helped people connect with their own imaginations, and with each other!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
The first time I told a story professionally, I was a young twenty-something who had just left full time public school art teaching and had started taking improv classes. My mom – a school librarian- saw that I was loving performing and so invited me to tell her English Language Learner students some folktales. I didn’t really know what I was doing… but I said yes anyway. When the class period ended, my mom paid me in some over due fine money she had in her desk drawer. She also told me there was a world of people who travel around telling people stories, and that I should look into it. YES!
Since then, my storytelling work has grown into a career that I love and am proud to bring into the world. I work with schools, libraries, museums, parks departments, and corporations to bring folk and fairy tales and storytelling concepts to life for their communities. When I’m collaborating with a group, company, or organization I work with them to understand what topics they are focused on and what their objectives are, and then I create unique storytelling performances and workshops to not only help them address those areas, but create deeper human connection and imagination within their community.
I LOVE the way that storytelling is all about imagination. I believe that imagination is essential in problem solving and creating a better future. Before people can put an idea into action, they have to imagine it- and storytelling is a gym for the imagination muscles!
I’m also passionate about the very unique way that storytelling creates human connection- which we all need a lot more of in our lives and in the world. When I tell a story I am directly looking at my audience, with nothing in between us. We make eye contact, read each others facial expressions and body language, and we build an imaginary world in the air above our heads.
I’m REALLY excited about The Fairy Tale Art Cart! Both the podcast and live events have been growing (it recently hit #8 on the Good Pods list of Top Podcasts For Kids!) and creating a lot of forward momentum and I can’t wait to see how it continues to become a place and space for community-driven imagination!
You can learn more about my work at my website: www.rachaelharrington.com
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
As a creative freelancer, I think I’m always tempted to be on a hustle game.
Something I’ve had to work on unlearning (which I’m still working on!) is that doing MORE will open the next door or create success or bring the next and hopefully bigger gig. Time and again, I’ve come to realize that hustling only leads to tired performances and work that feels full of pressure and chaos. Which is the opposite of what I want to be putting in to the world; as a storyteller I hope to bring people a sense of wonder and imagination, which requires a slow curious pace. How can I bring that to people if I myself am rushed and frantic, shooting from one thing to the next?
I’m currently working on ways to operate out of a place of margin and creative & spiritual rest. I’m doing this by learning more about and practicing Sabbath rest (which includes the idea of trust and letting go of control). I’m also using a paper planner system that has helped me a ton: Full Focus. The way it’s laid out makes so much snese for my brain, and it helped me to plan in rest, joy, and human connection so that I’m seeing myself as a whole person and not just a storytelling machine. I’m also trying to write and make things by hand where possible.
Especially as a mom of three young children, I’ve come to learn more and more the importance of really understanding what is most important to focus on in my work so that I can also be present with my kids. Not trying to do everything, but focusing down on a few needle-moving things every week, and letting the rest fall down the ladder rungs of importance, instead of having EVERYTHING on the top rung of the ladder.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
About a year or so ago. my friends Sarah and Khrystyne (yep, my friend who kicked me into gear for the podcast) put out an invitation to parents in our neighborhood who run small solo-preneur businesses to meet together for drinks and connection. They called the event “Parent-preneurs”, and since that first meeting we’ve had more meet-ups, and Sarah and Khrystyne have started curating these to be half social and networking, and half professional development. They use their network to invite guest speakers who can present short, interactive talks that speak specifically to people who are juggling small business/solopreneurship and parenthood. It’s been incredibly enriching, and has been such an encouraging space!
I would encourage any entrepreneur/solopreneur to find a community that grows you both professional and personally/builds friendship and relationship. It’s life-giving!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rachaelharrington.com
- Instagram: @rachael_stories
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachael-harrington-608a92124
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClz2IH_3KprPmVTNwcCWZNw
- Other: The Fairy Tale Art Cart on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fairy-tale-art-cart/id1756940909
The Fairy Tale Art Cart webpage: www.rachaelharrington.com/fairy-tale-art-cart-podcast
The Fairy Tale Art Cart on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fairytale_artcart/?hl=en
Image Credits
Christopher Davis