Chance = Change

THe National Endowment for the Arts found out a few years ago that the level of adult reading in this country had declined significantly, so, at the urging of our then First Lady Laura Bush - who is a professional librarian by trade - they started the national initiative called THe Big Read. Communities all around American simply had to choose a book from the Big Read list of American classic novels - for 2009 we chose The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers - apply for the grant money with proposals for community events based on the novel to celebrate it and its author and, once granted, carry out those activities as proposed , throughout the community.

For a 2nd year, our theatre teamed up with the Washington County Public Library and we were given The Big Read grant. Two years ago, while I was still in NYC, Washington County was a Big Read community for the 1st time, with the book Farenheit 451, and when I heard about this initiative, I became immediately interested...so, when it was put on my Outreach desk for 2009, I began to plan immediately for what we could possibly do to make it fun and exciting. As i look back over all my files - I began working on this Big Read at least 6 months ago - it amazes me how much of the original planning came to fruition, based on some of my earliest ideas. It also amazes me how many small steps it takes to accomplish one giant step....amazing.

THe activities - starting with the official Big Read Kick-Off on February 11th of this year - have been wonderfully attended, and obviously enjoyed, and by all standards, this Big Read has been highly successful, thanks to so many people. The Feb.11th Kick-Off took place at The Barter Café from 6:30 pm -8:30 pm, yet the over 160 people who showed up to fill the Café and Stage II , despite dire warnings of an impending tornado that evening! - seemed reluctant to leave at 8:30 because they were having so much fun! ANd I have to admit, it was a pretty fun event!

Outside Stage II, at a series of cleverly placed tables (thanks to the help of the wonderful Book CLub women of Washington County, whose floorplan for the tables worked terrifically), all sorts of fun and informational activities took place: Library and Big Read information handed out , the tattoo hearts applied free to all by the Washington County Rotary Club, (a popular and fun table), Book Clubs of Washington County had a table filled with their histories as Book Club and info on how to join or start a club, A Books-In-The -Wild table, explaining that program, an entire corner of the Café called The Deaf Awareness Corner, set up by the wonderful Jannette Gaines and Karisha Little from Jonesboro, taught peple about what it was like to be a Deaf person in the world (two of the main characters in our chosen novel are Deaf), and that was an amazing thing filled with small tables of activities and free give-aways, pins, sheets on sign language, etc. In fact, every table had things to give away to folks, and so I had this idea:

I ordered 125 brown paper shopping bags with sturdy handles, and with the help of Ann J, her daughter Rachel and new friend Mary Dudley, and my trusty stash of colored pens and pentels gathered throughout he years, we decorated all those nags with original and colorful logos: THE BIG READ OF WASHINGTON COUNTY 2009 - on both sides of the bag! So people were immediately handed a shopping bag (filled with official Big Read schedules, and McCUllers Mini-FIlm Fest Schedules and ADJOINING TRANCES discount coupons,etc) and set free to roam the tables in the festive and Carson McCullers-decorated Café!! THe Book Club Ladies baked over 20 dozen cookies to give away all over the Café and we supplied free punch and cocoa! The place was soon buzzing and crowded...I tremble to think if that weather had been good how we would have fit more people into the place!

Meanwhile - inside Stage II - students from King College and Emory & Henry read aloud portions of our chosen novel while a string quartet from Symphony of the Mountains (who contributed their services, thank you very much!) played lovely string quartets mentioned in the novel, between the readings...and those doors were open all evening for people to roam freely in and out of as they wished to. The audience was constantly full. As was the Cafe at all times, so, there was no where else to put people!!
THe Big Read Kick-Off turned out better than I ever imagined it would. And we were off and running!

More on what happened next - soon to come!