Guest Artist Nicholas Pawlowski Holds Workshop with Literary Arts Students

September 16, 2022

Nicholas Pawlowski M. Ed. works with Perpich Literary Arts students

Storyteller and educator Nicholas Pawlowski joined Perpich Literary Arts students on Wednesday, September 14, 2022, to share his artistic and professional journey along with a story for the group.

“Nick shared his journey of becoming a storyteller, including his international travel and collaboration,” said Kevin Lally, Literary Arts Instructor. “With the help of the students, he told an Austrian story about the abuse of power and the return of justice. We in the lit area enjoyed and were challenged by Nick’s work!”

With over 20 years experience in arts and cultural education, Nicholas Pawlowski M. Ed. is the host and producer of The Story Table. As a longtime student of the arts, Nicholas felt children not only needed better access to the old stories, but also to elders and diverse storytellers. It is because of these values, (and inspiration from PBS’s Mister Rogers Neighborhood and Reading Rainbow), that Nicholas started the Story Table as a place where he tells interactive folktales, as well as makes space for diverse storytellers from across the world to share the stories and music that are important to them.

As a child of immigrants, grappling with his own American identity, Nicholas studied his own German and Polish ethnic history and spent three years living abroad, meeting his relatives and learning both languages. Grounded in his own ancestry, he has been additionally blessed to be able to learn from many diverse cultures about their own relationships to story, music, and dance. Indebted to these, and many individual teachers, Nicholas has learned how closely the arts are to a culture’s roots and the tremendous power they have to foster compassion, resilience, and joy in our lives!