The people like to read! The Big Read — a community reading program funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) — concluded recently, and the returns are quite impressive.
There were 50 public events with about 12,500 people attending to discuss Ray Bradbury’s science-fiction classic “Fahrenheit 451.” Additionally, there were 36 book groups with about 500 attending; 28 educational activities impacting about 1,600 students in grades 6-12; and 30 community partners, including five libraries or library districts, four museums and seven participating schools.
Closer to home, the Department of English in Arts & Sciences, provided lecturers, book-group facilitators and other resources to support more than 75 events from far North St. Louis County to Wentzville, Mo. WUSTL also distributed 15,000 readers guides, 75 teachers guides and 750 audio guides.
“We all found The Big Read enjoyable,” said David A. Lawton, Ph.D., professor and chair of English in Arts & Sciences. “We loved working with community partners, and also Washington University ones such as the Kemper Art Museum. We’ll aim to keep up these connections. I’m especially grateful to Cheryl Adelstein, whose work sustained the entire enterprise, and to our faculty and graduate instructors. We undertook a mass of activities, and have refined our sense of what works best. Now we’re wondering what to do next — an international version?”
The NEA requires an evaluation process be made available to program participants. This process includes event evaluation forms, readers post cards and an online survey.
To participate in the evaluation process, visit survey.rockman.com/Big_Read/Big_Read_Participant.html.
Additionally, a link to many of the audio and video highlights — including lectures and videoconferences — is available at bigread.wustl.edu/media.php.