The City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs is one of seventy-five nonprofit organizations receiving a grant to host an NEA Big Read project between September 2017 and June 2018. Working in partnership with the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture and the Charleston County Public Library, the Office of Cultural Affairs presents the NEA Big Read of Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric in September and October of this year. Read the media advisory here.
Follow this page for the latest updates on NEA Big Read events in Charleston, SC.
Charleston’s NEA Big Read Kick-Off
September 25, 2017 at 3:00pm
Venue: Charleston County Public Library
Address: 68 Calhoun Street
Admission: Free
Join the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs, the Avery Research Center and the Charleston County Public Library as we kick-off programming for Charleston’s NEA Big Read.
NEA Big Read Keynote Panel, “Identity in Performance”
Monday, October 2 at 6:00pm
Venue: City Gallery
Address: 34 Prioleau Street
Admission: Free
Themed around the topic of “Identity in Performance,” this panel assembles local and regional performers in a timely discussion about identity, especially as it applies to creative decision making and audience preconceptions. Participants include choreographer Ronald K. Brown; actor Joy Vandervort-Cobb; musician Manny Houston, and hip-hop artist Benjamin Starr. Dr. Patricia Williams Lessane of the Avery Research Center moderates.
Blank Page Poetry
Saturday, October 14, at 6:00pm and repeating at 8:00pm
Venue: PURE Theatre
Address: 477 King Street
Admission: $10
Blank Page Poetry is a unique, site-specific cultural event presenting poetry in performance along with dance movements, as local poets explore and mine themes of identity, displacement and disruption. This is a ticketed event, presented in partnership with the Free Verse Poetry Festival.
Poets Respond to Race
Monday, October 16 at 6:00pm
Venue: City Gallery
Address: 34 Prioleau Street
Admission: Free
Regional poets Len Lawson and Al Black, poets from Beaufort and Columbia, will visit Charleston to celebrate their book, Poets Respond to Race. The book features Marjory Wentworth and many other local and regional poets. Discussion and reading will focus around themes of Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine. This event is presented in partnership with the Free Verse Poetry Festival.
BOOK DISCUSSIONS
Hurd/St. Andrews Regional Library
Date: 10/2/2017
Time: 2pm
Address: 1735 N. Woodmere Drive, Charleston, SC 29407
Dorchester Road Regional Library
Date: 10/7/2017
Time: 2-3:30pm
Address: 6325 Dorchester Road, North Charleston, SC 29418
Folly Library
Date: 10/11/2017
Time: 2:30pm
Address: 55 Center Street, Folly Beach, SC 29439
Charleston County Public Library
Date: 10/11/2017
Time: 6:30pm
Address: 68 Calhoun Street, Charleston, SC 29401
Dorchester Road Regional Library
Date: 10/16/2017
Time: 6-7:30pm
Address: 6325 Dorchester Road, North Charleston, SC 29418
Johns Island Regional Library
Date: 10/17/2017
Time: 2pm
Address: 3531 Maybank Highway, Johns Island, SC 29455
One80 Place Family Center*
*This reading is only open to residents of One80 Place Family Center.
Date: 10/17/2017
Address: 35 Walnut Street, Charleston, SC 29403
John L. Dart Library
Date: 10/19/2017
Time: 6:15pm
Address: 1067 King Street, Charleston, SC 29403
Otranto Road Regional Library
Date: 10/19/2017
Time: 6:30pm
Address: 2261 Otranto Road, North Charleston, SC 29406
Mt. Pleasant Regional Library
Date: 10/25/2017
Time: 6:30pm
Address: 1133 Mathis Ferry Road, Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464
Daniel Library, The Citadel
Date: 10/3/17
Time: 2:00-3:00pm
Address: 171 Moultrie Street, Charleston, SC 29409
Daniel Library, The Citadel
Date: 10/10/17
Time: 2:00-3:00pm
Address: 171 Moultrie Street, Charleston, SC 29409
Daniel Library, The Citadel
Date: 10/17/17
Time: 2:00-3:00pm
Address: 171 Moultrie Street, Charleston, SC 29409
Daniel Library, The Citadel
Date: 10/31/17
Time: 2:00-3:00pm
Address: 171 Moultrie Street, Charleston, SC 29409
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) designed to broaden our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. The City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs is one of 75 not-for-profit organizations to receive a grant to host an NEA Big Read project between September 2017 and June 2018. NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.
