The American Library Association has announced twelve artists and library staff teams selected for the pilot cohort for ALA’s Civic Imagination Stations. The program is supported by The Estée Lauder Companies WRITING CHANGE initiative. Burnsville Public Library is one of the nationwide selections.
Quincy Potasnik will be the artist for the Burnsville Public Library. She will co-lead the program with BPL Librarian Beth Anderson.
WRITING CHANGE is a three-year global, literacy initiative in partnership with Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, award-winning writer, and Estée Lauder Global Changemaker. Libraries will partner with local artists to implement arts programming that builds literacy and digital skills. Teams were selected from a national application process conducted in June and July 2022.
From August 2022 to March 2023, the cohort will participate together in workshops and coaching led by Civic Imagination Stations Lead Artists: Willa J. Taylor, Goodman Theatre’s Walter Director of Education and Engagement; and Michael Rohd, founding Artistic Director of Sojourn Theatre and Co-founder of the Center for Performance and Civic Practice. Civic Imagination Station cohort teams will culminate their work with the development and implementation of short-term original arts-based projects. In addition, the Civic Imagination Stations program will model processes by which other librarian/artist partnerships can work together to create locally appropriate and meaningful civic imagination projects.
“Libraries and artists are natural partners and have much to gain and learn from each other,” said ALA Executive Director Tracie D. Hall. “I envision making library collections and services more visible to our communities as one of the key outcomes of this project. This initiative also seeks to direct the ingenuity of artists, librarians, and library staff on the issue of bridging the digital literacy divide which this current pandemic has starkly exposed.”
Other ALA’s Civic Imagination Stations Pilot Cohort recipients includes:
Bowdoinham Public Library in Bowdoinham, ME, Brandon Free Public Library of Brandon, VT, Chicago Public Library Thurgood Marshall Branch in Chicago, IL, Edith B. Siegrist Vermillion Public Library in Vermillion, SD, Fayetteville Public Library, Fayetteville, AR, Neal Marshall Black Culture Center Library & Herman B Wells Library in Bloomington, IN, Memphis Public Libraries – Cossitt Branch, Memphis, TN, Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Library and Learning Commons, Mount Mary University in Milwaukee, WI, The People’s Library, Fox, AR, St. Louis Public Library of St Louis, MO, and Thomas Memorial Library in Cape Elizabeth, ME ALA is the foremost national organization providing resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. For more than 140 years, ALA has been the trusted voice of libraries, advocating for the profession and the library’s role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all. For more information, visit ala.org.
