Forty-three libraries to host
Contact: Lainie Castle
PPO
312-280-5055
For Immediate Release
June 9, 2006
Forty-three libraries to host "Looking At: Jazz"
film discussion series
CHICAGO - National Video Resources (NVR), in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, has named 43 public and academic libraries nationwide as pilot sites for the documentary film viewing and discussion series "Looking At: Jazz, America's Art Form."
This six-week initiative features six carefully curated viewing and discussion programs accompanied by a selection of compelling documentary films, essays written by eminent scholars, and an extensive resource guide for additional reading, Web sites, videos and DVDs.
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) provides support for "Looking At: Jazz."
"Looking At: Jazz" explores the history of jazz music, an art form that evolved in the 20th century to occupy a unique place in American cultural history. Themes for the six programs in the series are: New Orleans: The Birthplace of Jazz; The Jazz Age and the 1920s; The Women of Jazz; The Jazz Swing Era; Jazz Innovators: From Bebop, to Hard Bop, to Cool and More; Latin Jazz.
A total of 50 nonprofit institutions were selected to participate. Each one will receive materials and resources (films, written materials, publicity materials, access to an electronic discussion list and project Web site), inclusion in a 1.5 day training workshop and a cash grant of $1,000. The training workshop will be held September 29-30, 2006 in Chicago.
The 43 libraries selected for the pilot program are:
* University of Alaska, Anchorage, Anchorage, Alaska
* Central Arkansas Library, Little Rock, Ark.
* Phoenix Public Library, Phoenix, Ariz.
* Berkeley Public Library, Berkeley, Calif.
* Sacramento Public Library, Sacramento, Calif.
* San Diego Public Library, San Diego, Calif.
* New Haven Free Public Library, New Haven, Conn.
* Jacksonville Public Library, Jacksonville, Fla.
* Orange County Library, Orlando, Fla.
* University of South Florida Tampa Library, Tampa, Fla.
* Albany State University Library, Albany, Ga.
* Athens-Clarke County Library, Athens, Ga.
* Cedar Rapids Public Library, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
* University of Idaho Library, Moscow, Idaho
* Bloomington Public Library, Bloomington, Ill.
* Oak Park Public Library, Oak Park, Ill.
* Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Ind.
* University of Kansas Libraries, Lawrence, Kan.
* Wichita State University Library, Wichita, Kan.
* Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.
* East Baton Rouge Parish Library, Baton Rouge, La.
* New Orleans Public Library, New Orleans, La.
* Albert S. Cook Library, Towson University, Townson, Md.
* Detroit Public Library, Detroit, Mich.
* Minneapolis Public Library, Minneapolis, Minn.
* St. Louis Public Library, St. Louis, Mo.
* University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, N.H.
* Princeton Public Library, Princeton, N.J.
* Northern Onondaga Public Library, Cicero, N.Y.
* Queens Library, Jamaica, N.Y.
* Kent State University Library, Kent, Ohio
* Carlson Library, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio
* Multnomah County Library, Portland, Ore.
* Langston Hughes Memorial Library, Lincoln University, Lincoln University, Pa.
* Gumberg Library, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pa.
* Brown University Library, Providence, R.I.
* Charleston County Public Library, Charleston, S.C.
* University Libraries, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tenn.
* Dallas Public Library, Dallas, Texas
* Williamsburg Regional Library, Williamsburg, Va.
* Bellingham Public Library, Bellingham, Wash.
* Milwaukee Public Library, Milwaukee, Wis.
* Natrona County Public Library, Casper, Wyo.
"Looking At: Jazz, America's Art Form" builds on five earlier programs developed by NVR in partnership with the ALA Public Programs Office and funded by the NEH. These programs offer public library programmers and academics a new model for public discussion through the following series: "From Rosie to Roosevelt: A Film History of Americans in WWII"; "Post War Years, Cold War Fears: American Culture and Politics, 1946-60"; "Presidents, Politics, and Power: American Presidents Who Shaped the 20th Century"; "The Sixties: America's Decade of Crisis and Change"; and "The World War I Years." For more information on these series, please visit
www.nvr.org.
National Video Resources (NVR) is a not-for-profit organization established in 1990 by the Rockefeller Foundation. NVR's goal is to assist in increasing the public's awareness of and access to independently produced media & film and video as well as motion media delivered through the new digital technologies. For more information, visit
www.nvr.org.
Established in 1992, the ALA Public Programs Office has a strong track record of developing library programming initiatives, including the acclaimed reading and discussion series "Let's Talk About It!," film discussion programs on humanities themes, traveling exhibitions, LIVE! @ your library®, and other programs. Recently, it has established the Cultural Communities Fund, an endowment fund created to help all types of libraries across the country bring communities together through cultural programming (
www.ala.org/ccf).
More than 8,000 libraries and at least 10 million individuals have participated in library programming initiatives supported by the Public Programs Office. For more information, visit
www.ala.org/publicprograms
.
