Brother Blue and Ruth Hill Award March 2011

Our very own Robert Smyth was awarded the Brother Blue & Ruth Hill Award by the League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling (LANES) - Celebrating story. Creating Community. The award is given annually in recognition of extraordinary commitment and dedication to the storytelling community which Robert has given for some 30 years.

Robert helped to launch the start of Storytellers in Concert the oldest adult storytelling series in the country in 1979. He was there supporting the first Sharing the Fire in 1981. He was there for the first Three Apples Festival in 1984.

It was in Robert's living room that LANES was formed in 1988. He went on to publish the first 5 Museletters, to be on the board for many years, and to give untold number of volunteer hours and donations in free copying and computer skills, to publish conference brochures, and the NE Directory of Storytellers for 20 years.

He was a huge supporter of Blue and Ruth’s storytelling series. He was the driving force behind the book paying tribute to Brother Blue in which people from all around the world contributed stories. He was a huge support to Ruth and Blue during Blue’s illness and continues to support Ruth on a weekly basis.

We just wanted you to know about another person working diligently behind the scenes on something for which he has a great deal of passion.