Then and Now: Apprentice Journeys with Storyteller Gladys Caines Coggswell

We’re happy to launch our third Then and Now: Apprentice Journeys video! Visit our Missouri Folk Arts Program YouTube channel to watch.

In May 2017 at the St. Louis Storytelling Festival, Missouri Folk Arts Program director Lisa L. Higgins interviewed Dr. Gladys Caines Coggswell, another previous apprentice who ultimately became a master artist in Missouri’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. Dr. Coggswell was first an apprentice to the late St. Louis jazz and blues vocalist Mae Wheeler in 1998. Later, Coggswell went on to lead storytelling apprenticeships seven times.

Our thanks to the St. Louis Storytelling Festival and KDHX, who co-hosted the event at The Stage at 3524 Washington Avenue.

We hope you enjoy this video, excerpted and edited from the longer interview by Folklorist and Videographer Darcy Holtgrave, PhD.