About the Big Read
Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge is gearing up to host Big Read 2011! In July, it announced that it received a $10,000 matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to host The Big Read 2011 in Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta County. This is the fourth year in a row that the Foundation has received this honor. The Community Foundation is one of 75 not-for-profits nationwide—including arts and cultural organizations; libraries; and universities—to receive a grant to host a Big Read project between September 2010 and June 2011. The Big Read gives communities the opportunity to come together to read, discuss, and celebrate one of 31 selections from U.S. and world literature. The Big Read 2011 in Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta County will focus on Carson McCullers’ novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Activities will take place throughout March of 2011, and over 1,000 copies of the novel will be given away.
The Community Foundation, in partnership with the Staunton Public Library, the Waynesboro Public Library, the Augusta County Library, and The News Leader, has hosted three extremely successful Big Reads, with a multitude of community assistance, featuring events all over the community in libraries, schools, restaurants, theaters, galleries, nursing homes, and clinics, among other places. This year’s Calendar of Events promises to be just as diverse. The Foundation is planning an exciting kickoff at the beginning of the month, and hosting noted novelist Sherill Tippins as the Keynote Speaker. The Augusta County Historical Society is sponsoring an exhibit at the R.R. Smith Center in Staunton entitled “A Guarded View,” perspectives of Western State Hospital by photographer Carol Turrentine. The Staunton Public Library, among other events, is continuing their daily reader series, and also presenting Rocco DeVito on growing up deaf in the 1950′s in New Jersey. His experiences will enlighten our understanding of John Singer, a main character in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. The Augusta County Library has a host of events planned, included sign language classes, a Big Read song writing contest, and a Little Read for kids. The Waynesboro Public Library will continue their tradition of Movie Night and a Big Read program for homeschoolers. Other exciting events include a night of Big Read-inspired storytelling and music at the Wayne Theatre’s River City Radio Hour, multiple events at Stone Soup Books with delectable food and music, and a grand finale movie night at the Visulite Theater with a book discussion to follow. The complete Calendar of Events will be available in mid-February.
In addition to the public libraries, over 32 community partner organizations are participating. Books, Reader’s Guides, Teaching Guides, and other materials are also being distributed free of charge to public high schools in the area. 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. Support for The Big Read has been provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, the Boeing Company, the Poetry Foundation, and the Ford Motor Company.
“More than reading is at stake. Readers play a more active and involved role in their communities. The decline in reading, therefore, parallels a larger retreat from participation in civic and cultural life.”
— Dana Gioia, Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
