Atlantis hosts first annual Dreamweave festival

Elizabeth Heglar | Assistant Lifestyles Editor

Many things have come to UNC Wilmington’s campus this spring. Our student-run literary magazine, Atlantis, put on events throughout the semester such as the poetry slam held earlier this month. Last week they introduced what looks to be a promising new annual event, The Dreamweave Storytelling Festival.

This event allows artists, specifically writers, to showcase their talents. Stories of any kind are welcome, with participants given the option to either perform their own piece or have someone else read it for them.

Its inception came when two UNCW students began working together for Atlantis. Kyle Maples took an interview for the fiction editor position with Ryann Budd, a soon to be graduate.

“The idea came from his interview and we ran with it,” said Budd when asked about how the event got its start.

“I’ve loved storytelling since I was a child… we were both excited about it,” said Budd.

Maples and Budd shared a lot of the work, but throughout the process Maples slowly began to take the reigns.

“Kyle came up with most of the finer details of the event, while I gave him advice and structure to the planning,” said Budd.

Aside from helping plan, Maples took pictures of the event and worked alongside Budd to make sure everything ran smoothly the day of. However, the event wasn’t without its hiccups.

“On the morning of the event we had a catastrophe,” said Budd. “Our host and musical guest cancelled on us with hours notice.”

Thankfully, Maples thought ahead.

“Kyle had a back up plan: Subtle Fuzz, an amazing local band also featured at our release party,” said Budd.

The audience couldn’t tell the difference, with Subtle Fuzz getting the crowd’s attention early on and keeping the event running smoothly.

The event took place in the Kenan Hall Courtyard on April 14 at 7 pm. Heavy wind didn’t keep people from coming out. With tables filled up and a lot of chatter in the air, Dreamweave began.

Early on it was an intimate experience, despite the amount of people in the crowd. Most speakers took the stage and spoke a few words before beginning to read their personal works aloud.

As anticipated there were stories about love and loss. Not quite as expected were the ones about things like Greek gods, jewelry theft and an adventure that started as a road trip to get molly in an ice storm.

Aside from the creative stories, there were also personal narratives. A close friend of Budd’s attended and began his story by conveying that he had in fact wrote the story he was sharing in his parked car only a little while before taking the stage.

He then went on to speak of his friendship with Budd, a friendly tribute to the graduating editor. Aspects of the festival like this helped it maintain that feeling of closeness.

The diversity in the material presented, from a beautiful young white girl talking about getting engaged, to a skinny well-worded black man speaking of his child and the future being shaped by him, is one of Budd’s favorite things about the event.

“It’s very satisfying to give artists the opportunity to share their craft and see all levels of storytellers come together to listen to each other,” said Budd.

The Dreamweave Storytelling Festival is projected to happen annually during Student Media Week. It is both Budd and Maple’s hopes that the festival grows and a variety of majors begin to participate.