Washington,
DC—The National Endowment for the Arts
(NEA) today continued its drive toward making the Big
Read the largest federal reading program in U.S. history.
The NEA announced that it will award grants totaling $1,598,800
to 127 libraries, municipalities, and arts, culture, higher
education, and science organizations to host Big Read
celebrations of 16 classic novels from January-June 2008.
The newest Big Read grantees represent 38 states, the
District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The
NEA inaugurated the Big Read as a pilot project with ten
communities in 2006. By 2009, approximately 400 communities
in the U.S. will have hosted a Big Read since the program’s
2007 national launch.
“In just two years, the Big Read has
grown from ten communities to include nearly 200 towns
and cities nationwide. Although each of these communities
celebrates its Big Read program in its own way, one theme
we consistently hear back is that the Big Read is not
just bringing citizens back to the joy of reading, but
also reinvigorating the very idea of community,”
said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. “I am delighted to
announce the newest round of Big Read communities in this
program, which is about so much more than reading.”
“The Big Read is reaching across state
and international borders,” said Dr. Anne-Imelda
Radice, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library
Services (IMLS), the NEA’s lead federal partner
for the Big Read. “As director of the IMLS, the
federal agency that funds libraries and museums, I am
pleased to support this initiative that is creating a
new generation of readers. The sky is truly the limit
with this partnership.”
The organizations selected to participate
in the Big Read for the first half of 2008 will receive
grants ranging from $2,500 to $20,000 to promote and carry
out community-based programs. Participating cities and
towns also receive reader’s and teacher’s
guides for each novel, audio guides that also can be used
as radio programming, publicity materials, an online organizer’s
guide for running a successful Big Read program, and access
to a comprehensive Big Read Web site. Each local program
will include events, such as read-a-thons, book discussions,
film screenings, and library and museum exhibits, aimed
at avid and lapsed or reluctant readers alike.
The Big Read on U.S. military bases
abroad
In 2008, the NEA also will expand the Big Read to include
U.S. military installations abroad. Ten bases in Germany,
Guam, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom will receive
reader’s guides, teacher’s guides, audio guides,
and other materials to host their own Big Read celebrations.
Domestic bases will continue to participate
in the reading program through community partnerships
with local Big Read grantees. To date, 26 military installations
nationwide have participated in the Big Read through these
local alliances. The Arts Endowment has previously partnered
with the Department of Defense to bring arts programming
to military personnel and their families through NEA national
initiatives, including Shakespeare in American Communities,
the Great American Voices Military Base Tour, and Operation
Homecoming.
The Big Read Russia
From January-June 2008, four communities in Illinois,
Indiana, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania will take part in
the U.S. component of Big Read Russia. These communities
will host Big Read programs celebrating Leo Tolstoy’s
The Death of Ivan Ilyich. In Russia the regions of Ivanovo
and Saratov initiated Big Reads of Harper Lee’s
To Kill a Mockingbird in October 2007. A second cross-cultural
Big Read with Egypt is also expected to launch in 2008.
About the Big Read
The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment
for the Arts designed to restore reading to the center
of American culture. The NEA presents the Big Read in
partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services
and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. The Big Read brings
together partners across the country to encourage reading
for pleasure and enlightenment. The Big Read in the Pacific
Northwest is supported, in part, by a grant from the Paul
G. Allen Family Foundation.
The NEA previously announced a partnership
with the Poetry Foundation for a pilot initiative, a component
of the Big Read, to celebrate great American poets and
the nation’s historic poetry locales. Longfellow’s
Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts, received an inaugural
grant to support a community-wide program to encourage
multi-generational reading of the poetry of New England
writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882).
In September, the NEA partnered with XM
Satellite Radio to launch a new radio series, The Big
Read on XM. Building on the reading program’s success,
the new series is broadcast daily weekdays on Sonic Theater
(XM Channel 163) bringing the Big Read to XM’s more
than 8.2 million subscribers nationwide. The September
10 premiere of The Big Read on XM featured interviews
with NEA Chairman Dana Gioia and Mrs. Laura Bush, honorary
chair of the Big Read.
The next Big Read application deadline is
February 12, 2008, for communities wishing to host a Big
Read from September 2008-June 2009. For more information
on the Big Read, including program FAQs, the complete
list of Big Read novels, and application deadlines, please
visit www.neabigread.org.
Please
see the listing of Big Read grants awarded for programming
in January-June 2008.
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About the Institute
of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary
source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000
libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission
is to create strong libraries and museums that connect
people to information and ideas. The Institute works at
the national level and in coordination with state and
local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and
knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support
professional development. To learn more about the Institute,
please visit: www.imls.gov.
About the National Endowment for
the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency
dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts—both
new and established—bringing the arts to all Americans,
and providing leadership in arts education. Established
by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal
government, the Endowment is the nation's largest annual
funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states,
including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases.
For more information, please visit: www.arts.gov.
About Arts Midwest
Arts Midwest connects people throughout the Midwest and
the world to meaningful arts opportunities, sharing creativity,
knowledge, and understanding across boundaries. Arts Midwest
connects the arts to audiences throughout the nine-state
region of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota,
North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. One of
six non-profit regional arts organizations in the United
States, Arts Midwest's history spans more than 25 years.
For more information, please visit: www.artsmidwest.org.
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