Elena Diana Miller, folk musician, historian, and storyteller performs throughout the region at concerts halls, festivals, libraries, and schools. As President of the North Carolina Storytelling Guild, Elena co-chaired and was master of ceremony for the North Carolina Storytelling Guild’s Tarheel Tellers Storytelling Festival at Andy Griffith Playhouse in Mt. Airy in 2017. She chaired the 2018 NCSG festival at Henderson County Public Library. As a spin-off of the festival, she was hired as Managing Director of Storytelling at The Center for Art and Inspiration, where she hosted Chatauqua tellers. She hosted performances of Native American, Hispanic, and African American performers for the N.C. Arts Council sponsored Diversity Storytelling Series.
Elena was recently inducted into the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Traditional Artist Directory in 2020 for her contributions to the perpetuation of folk traditions. She won the Southeast National Park Service Interpreter’s Performance Award twice and the National Award for ‘Best Interpretive Arts Program’ in the United States National Park Service for the encouragement of folk traditions and dynamic performances. She currently serves on the Steering Committee of Stories on Asheville’s Front Porch, performs traditional stories and music, and teaches lore of the old country to adults.
The Frogs Desire a King, an Aesop Fable, makes it clear that people feel the need for laws but are impatient with personal restraint. The lesson drawn is that "he that hath liberty ought to keep it well, for nothing is better than liberty."
Aired 7/31