Core 5 Year Anniversary Gala
ALA Events
Did you know Core was established September 1, 2020? Please join us to celebrate Core's 5 Year Anniversary at the 2025 ALA Annual Conference in Philadelphia this summer!
The Core 5 Year Anniversary Gala will take place at the Free Library Philadelphia on Sunday, June 29 from 7:00pm-9:00 in the Skyline Terrance. The event will feature light refreshments and a featured author presentation. All are welcome to attend. Tickets start at $50. Sponsored tables are available.
Core 5 Year Anniversary Gala
Featured Speaker: Ray Arsenault
Presentation: "John Lewis, Good Trouble, and the Search for the Beloved Community”
Description: My talk will feature the extraordinary life and career of John Lewis (1940-2020), a prominent civil rights leader during the 1960s who later became a highly influential 17-term (1987-2020) congressman representing Atlanta, Georgia.. As a tireless proponent of nonviolent direct action, voting rights, racial equality, and social justice, Lewis earned an unmatched reputation for integrity, moral and physical courage, and the willingness to get into what he called “good trouble.” Throughout his life, he exemplified the virtues of compassion, reconciliation, and generosity as he followed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s lead searching for “the beloved community,” an ideal society in which no one is systematically excluded or oppressed. In the last decades of his life, he came to symbolise the promise of American democracy for millions of Americans. In my talk, I will pay particular attention to his staunch commitment to the First Amendment and the constitutional right of free expression.
Ray Arsenault is the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History emeritus, at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, where he taught from 1980 to 2020. One of the nation’s leading civil rights historians, he is the author of several acclaimed and prize-winning books, including Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice and The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America.
Event Date, Time & Location:
Sunday, June 29, 2025 from 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Free Library Philadelphia, Skyline Terrace
1901 Vine Street in Philadelphia, PA
To Register:
To register, add the Core 5 Year Anniversary Gala (event code: CORE8) ticketed event use the dashboard link in your email confirmation to view your registration and add your ticketed event. For assistance with or questions about registration, or to request a copy of your registration confirmation, please contact Compusystems at alaregistration@csreg.zohodesk.com.
Ticket Fees:
Core Member Discount: Early/Advance: $50 | Standard: $75
ALA Member: Early/Advance: $75 | Standard: $85
Non-Member: Early/Advance: $85 | Standard: $95
Tickets are limited. Get your ticket today!
Sponsor a Table at the Gala:
Leadership Half Table (5 Seats) = $1,000
Infrastructure Half Table (5 Seats) = $1,750
Purchase a table and bring your colleagues to celebrate Core's momentous occasion. Proceeds will go to support the cost of the event and support Core's operations and programming. Benefits include podium acknowledgement, Logo on Core's Sponsors web page, and acknowledgement on event marketing, the program and social media posts. To purchase a table, contact the Core Office at core@ala.org.
Interested in learning more about the sponsorship opportunities available through Core? View the 2025 Core Sponsor Guide 2025 Core Event Sponsors receive full (10 seats) or half tables (5 seats) to the 5 Year Anniversary Gala as an added benefit.
Presented By:
