Germantown is the recipient of a grant for $12,000 to host the NEA Big Read.
An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest, the NEA Big Read broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book.
The City of Germantown is one of 84 nonprofit organizations to receive an NEA Big Read grant to host a community reading program between September 2020 and June 2021.
This is the fifth NEA Big Read grant that the City has received since 2015.
The NEA Big Read in Germantown will focus on Circe by Madeline Miller. Activities will take place in September through October.
“The Big Read is a wonderful opportunity for the community to come together and share in the joys of reading,” said Germantown Community Library Director Daniel Page. “As a community-wide event, the Big Read inspires early childhood literacy, as well as lifelong learning for all ages.”
“We have become even more aware this year of the important ways the arts help us connect with others, and how they bring meaning, joy, and comfort to our lives,” said Mary Anne Carter, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. “These 84 organizations leading NEA Big Reads will provide opportunities for deep discussion and ways to help us better understand one another.”
The NEA Big Read offers a range of titles that reflect many different voices and perspectives, aiming to inspire conversation and discovery.
The main feature of the initiative is a grants program, managed by Arts Midwest, which annually supports dynamic community reading programs, each designed around a single National Endowment for the Arts Big Read selection.
The main feature of the initiative is a grants program, managed by Arts Midwest, which annually supports dynamic community reading programs, each designed around a single National Endowment for the Arts Big Read selection.
Our community partners include the Germantown Community Library, Germantown Performing Arts Center (GPAC), Germantown Community Theatre, Germantown Chamber of Commerce, Germantown Symphony Orchestra, Germantown Education Foundation, Tennessee Woman’s Suffrage Heritage Trail and WKNO-FM Book Club.
“We are honored to continue our partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts on this incredible program,” said Torrie Allen, president & CEO of Arts Midwest. “For more than 14 years this national effort has invested in communities as they gather to discuss the stories and ideas that connect us to one another. We are especially inspired by the projects and organizations that are finding new, virtual ways of creating those connections with their communities and are thrilled to support them at this critical time.”
Since 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts has funded more than 1,600 NEA Big Read programs, providing more than $22 million to organizations nationwide.
Over the past 13 years, grantees have leveraged more than $50 million in local funding to support their NEA Big Read programs.
More than 5.7 million Americans have attended an NEA Big Read event, approximately 91,000 volunteers have participated at the local level, and 39,000 community organizations have partnered to make NEA Big Read activities possible.
For more information about the NEA Big Read, including book and author information, podcasts, and videos, visit arts.gov/neabigread.
