Miami University Middletown’s
Gardner-Harvey Library today announced that it has received a grant of $15,600 to
host The Big Read in Middletown. The Big Read is a program of the National
Endowment for the Arts, designed to revitalize the role of literature in
American culture and to encourage citizens to read for pleasure and
enlightenment. The Big Read is managed by Arts Midwest. Miami Middletown is one
of 77 nonprofit organizations to receive a grant to host a Big Read project
between September 2013 and June 2014.
The Big Read in Middletown will focus on The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien.
According to the Big Read website, “Tracing the tour of one American platoon
this book is not just a tale of the Vietnam War, although it's considered one
of the finest books ever about combat. This award-winning book is a brutal,
sometimes funny, often profound narrative about the human heart—how it fares
under pressure, and what it can endure.”
While being led by Miami Middletown, the
project is a joint effort among many community partners in Middletown,
including Middletown High School, MidPointe Library System, the Robert “Sonny”
Hill Community Center, Middletown Area Senior Center, Cincinnati State
Technical and Community College Middletown Campus, and the Middletown City Council.
Programming will include book discussions, with free copies of the book
provided to participants, as well as special events to be announced soon.
John
Burke, director of the Gardner-Harvey Library emphasized the positive impact of
the program: “I am excited to have our library join with such a wonderful group
of partners to bring this book to the Middletown community. We hope that the
book will shine a light into the experiences of military veterans (many of whom
live, work, and learn alongside us) and build a greater understanding for those
of us who have not served. And I hope that the practice of storytelling that
the book illustrates will encourage veterans and others to tell their own
stories and help us learn from one another.”
The Big Read provides communities
nationwide with the opportunity to read, discuss, and celebrate one of 31 selections
from U.S. and world literature. The 77 selected organizations will receive Big
Read grants to promote and carry out community-based reading programs featuring
activities such as read-a-thons, book discussions, lectures, movie screenings,
and performing arts events. Participating communities also receive
high-quality, free-of-charge educational materials to supplement each title,
including Reader’s, Teacher’s, and Audio Guides, which also are available for
download on neabigread.org. For more
information about The Big Read please visit neabigread.org.
NEA Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa said, “It’s
wonderful to see that these 77 communities are making reading and the celebration
of books a priority. I look forward to seeing the innovative ways they find to
engage their communities in these great works of classic and contemporary
literature."
About the Gardner-Harvey Library
The
Gardner-Harvey Library (GHL; John Burke, director) of Miami University
Middletown provides resources, space, and knowledgeable staff to help patrons
find and use information. GHL includes a local collection of 30,000 books and
DVDs; virtual collection of many thousands of full-text articles, digital
reference sources, and e-books; and borrowing agreements with other
Miami/OhioLINK libraries for 46 million resources. The library is available for
use by Miami Middletown students and faculty, as well as by the general public.
The Community Borrower Card is offered to greater Middletown community members
over the age of 16. Community borrowers may borrow materials from the
Gardner-Harvey Library as well as from other Miami University and OhioLINK
libraries. To apply for a card, come to the Library’s front desk and be sure to
bring valid photo identification.
The National Endowment for the Arts was
established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal
government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support
artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals
and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts
agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector.
To join the discussion on how art works, visit the NEA at arts.gov.
Arts Midwest promotes creativity, nurtures
cultural leadership, and engages people in meaningful arts experiences,
bringing vitality to Midwest communities and enriching people’s lives. Based in
Minneapolis, 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 artsmidwest.org.
