A journey of storytelling, art, and inclusive practice

I’ve combined my work as Programme Leader for Creative Writing and Journalism and Director of Theatre, Creative Writing and Journalism with a visiting fellowship at Exeter College in Oxford. Through this, I curated and arranged an immersive day of creative activities at Oxford for third year Creative Writing and Journalism students from Middlesex on Tuesday 25 February. 

Discussions and workshops for storytelling

The day included a morning panel and creative workshop with Chrissie Chevasutt, author and chaplain for the trans community in Oxford, together with Mordechai Rodda, a queer classical scholar exploring disability and transformative journeys. Alongside myself, sharing my own journey from rabbinical training to novelist, we modelled sharing our challenges and vulnerability as a kind of strength.  

The participants, who included both Middlesex and Oxford students, were then invited to share their own personal stories of transformation. The listener transcribed the story of the person they had listened to as if it were their own. This creative, empathic listening led to participants feeling “heard”, “seen” and understood.” 

A visit to the museum 

After a spot of lunch, the day continued in the Ashmolean, with a behind-the-scenes look at objects and artefacts from the Museum’s collection. This included handling rare Rembrandt sketches under the guidance of Teaching Curator Jim Harris.  

Rembrandt’s deep connection to the Jewish community in Amsterdam became the platform for my own interfaith creative workshop in the Museum. Students responded creatively to biblical paintings by Rembrandt and his students. We also looked at three different versions of the Yusuf and Zuleika story in the Islamic art section.  

The benefits of a unique day out 

The day concluded with choral evensong at the Exeter chapel, which Tolkien attended as a student, and a meal for students who chose to stay with the Oxford choir. 

Afterwards, some feedback comments included: 

• “The trip was a perfect experience to enhance my creative writing.” 
•  “I was inspired to write a gender-based fiction combined with nature.” 
•  “The object-based workshop was also an inspiration for creative writing, and a unique opportunity to go behind the scenes of the Ashmolean Museum.” 
• “There was so much Jewish Culture. A couple of the rings with Hebrew writing, which came from Venice, gave me the idea to write a historical fiction about the first ghetto for Jews.”

Altogether a fulfilling, exhilarating, and exhausting day. We are now planning to run this event again next term, to model inclusive listening and creative practice. These are great strengths of the Middlesex creative community, for the entire Oxford Chaplaincy and the LGBTQ community. Watch this space! 

Ariel’s work has enabled so many students to find new creative layers and expressions. Find out more about creative media and writing at MDX.