MassMu to receive annual NEA Big Read grant
“Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?” is a memoir by a celebrated New Yorker cartoonist who brings her signature wit to the topic of aging parents.
The Massillon Museum will receive a grant to host the NEA Big Read in Western Stark County. An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with Arts Midwest, the NEA Big Read broadens readers’ understanding of their world, their communities and themselves through the joy of sharing a good book.
MassMu is one of 78 nonprofit organizations nationally to receive an NEA Big Read grant to host a community reading program between September 2019 and June 2020. The NEA Big Read in Western Stark County will focus on “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?”by Roz Chast. Activities will take place in between April 4 and May 2.
“Working with community partners, MassMu develops top-notch programming to add interest and depth to reading good literature,” said the museum’s education and outreach manager Stephanie Toole, who will coordinate the NEA Big Read locally.
Massillon Public Library, the lead partner, is joined by long-term partners as well as organizations appropriate to the book selection each year.
Toole said readers can look forward to traditional Big Read activities — a kick-off event and book giveaway, one-act plays, book discussions, related Brown Bag Lunches and a History Happy Hour, and a keynote program — as well as new activities that target this year’s book themes.
“Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?” is a memoir by a celebrated New Yorker cartoonist who brings her signature wit to the topic of aging parents. The graphic novel is told through four-color cartoons, family photos, documents and a narrative balancing laughs with tears. The book provides both comfort and comic relief for anyone experiencing the life-altering loss of elderly parents.
“It is inspiring to see both large and small communities across the nation come together around a book,” NEA acting chairman Mary Anne Carter said. “We always look forward to the unique ways cities, towns and organizations like the Massillon Museum explore these stories and encourage community participation in a wide variety of events.”
The NEA Big Read showcases a range of titles that reflect many different voices and perspectives, aiming to inspire conversation and discovery. Each participating organization chooses its book from the NEA options. The main feature of the initiative is a grant program, managed by Arts Midwest, which annually supports community reading programs, each designed around a single NEA Big Read selection.
Since 2006 the NEA has funded more than 1,400 Big Read programs, providing more than $20 million to organizations nationwide. Big Read activities have reached every Congressional district in the country. Over the past 12 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, visit www.arts.gov/neabigread.