Embedded Files
The Big Read Morongo Basin engages over 2,000 residents regionwide for an annual month-long community-wide reading program, bringing together art and literacy and partnering with over 20 local community organizations and the San Bernardino County Libraries. Funded by a $20,000 grant from National Endowment for the Arts, The 4th annual Big Read Morongo Basin in 2022 featured Tommy Orange’s There, There, a novel about experiences in Native communities. Events included a community kick-off, staged readings, pop-up exhibition, talks, book, discussions, and readings. Big Read Morongo Basin distributed 600 Big Read books to adults and teens and 150 Little Read books to youth. Big Read programming served 2,165 participants in 2022 and has significant local impact: Local school partners now plan to use and adapt Native American curriculum and cultural history in the elementary and middle schools.
Big Read Community Kick-off
Big Read Community Kick-off
The Big Read Kick-off took place at Joshua Tree Retreat Center, on Septermber 10th, 2022. The NEA Big Read grant allowed for the Arts Connection programs to provide free books for it's programming, centering Morongo Basin residents, for its fourth year in a row.
There, There, by Tommy Orange is a multi-generational, relentlessly paced story about a side of America few of us have ever seen: the lives of urban Native Americans. One of The New York Times' top books of 2018 and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, There There shows us violence and recovery, hope and loss, identity and power, dislocation and communion, and the beauty and despair woven into the history of a nation and its people.
“It is inspiring to see how NEA Big Read grantees like Arts Connection utilize these books as launch pads for their own programming, often creating opportunities for community conversations, new partnerships, and encouraging participants to incorporate art into their daily lives."
“It is inspiring to see how NEA Big Read grantees like Arts Connection utilize these books as launch pads for their own programming, often creating opportunities for community conversations, new partnerships, and encouraging participants to incorporate art into their daily lives."
-Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts.
-Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Staged readings
Staged readings
Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions in Larissa FastHorse’s wickedly funny satire, as a troupe of terminally “woke” teaching artists scrambles to create a pageant that somehow manages to celebrate both Turkey Day and Native American Heritage Month.
The Thanksgiving Play premiered off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in New York City on October 12, 2018. Performances by Abe Daniels, Ann Van Haney, Kevin Hayles, Kurt Schauppner, and Katherine Wehler.
Directed by Miri Hunter.
Discovering Native American Art
Discovering Native American Art
The Beatnik Lounge opened a pop-up exhibition, "7 Essential Understandings for California Indian History and Culture," as part of the Big Read Morongo Basin 2022 events. The exhibit exploreed the diversity among the over 150 Native American tribes of California in their languages, cultures, histories and governments. Community members learned about a part of California Native History that is rarely taught in school.
The Beatnik exhibition also served as the Big Read learning hub, and it included educational resources for community members to learn about Native American culture, history and contemporary life, in support of the fight against invisibility and erasure.
Gerald Clarke Presents Discovering Native American Art, Flyer, 2023
Mer Young, "Together We Are Power" and "Vote in Solidarity," 2022
Outise the Beatnik Lounge Pop-Up Exhibition, 2022
This is a public community archive which has the Arts Connection past programming. We are highlighting some key photographs we found. We encourage you and the community to go into the Big Read Archive to check out the rest of the program highlights.
This is a public community archive which has the Arts Connection past programming. We are highlighting some key photographs we found. We encourage you and the community to go into the Big Read Archive to check out the rest of the program highlights.
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