Philadelphia Reads! Community Night at the Penn Museum: Kicking off a Month-Long Children's Book Drive |
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April 2, 2013,
Volume 59, No. 27 |
It’s a groundswell, and it’s building momentum—Philadelphia’s cultural community is putting the spotlight on reading, literacy and community engagement. Reading opens up worlds of opportunity—and books, like the many cultural treasures in the city, bring so many worlds vividly to life.
Penn Museum, in cooperation with the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s GroundSwell initiative, opens its doors Wednesday, April 10, from 5 to 8 p.m, for a free Philadelphia Reads! Community Night and the official kick-off of a month-long children’s book drive to benefit the teachers, the children and ultimately, the community of Philadelphia.
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A young visitor looks into the eyes of history. This gilded mask originally covered the head of a mummy, Ptolemaic-Roman Period (after 300 BCE). The deceased, in a long wig, is shown in an idealized fashion. The golden flesh may represent the skin of the immortal Egyptian gods. At Philadelphia Reads! Community Night, stories come to life as Museum curators, keepers, staff, and graduate students tell their favorite stories in the galleries. |
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The free event is an invitation for people young and old to explore the world through the Penn Museum’s many-cultured galleries—filled on this evening with a host of special activities and a literary twist. Guests are welcome to bring a gently used or a new children’s book—suitable for pre-kindergarten through elementary school—to contribute to Philadelphia Reads, a program that provides books and literacy resources to educators in the City of Philadelphia.
Philadelphia Reads provides volunteer opportunities for individuals and groups to help put children on the path to academic success. The Philadelphia Reads Book Bank provides children’s books for classroom libraries and school supplies for students—free of charge—to Philadelphia educators who teach in under-resourced public, charter and parochial schools, day care centers, after school programs and other educational sites. In the 2011–2012 school year, 91,000 books were supplied to under-resourced classroom libraries.
A Night to Celebrate Reading
Penn Museum curators, collections keepers and graduate students join in the celebration with gallery storytelling and hands-on activities.
The Museum has the world’s largest collection of ancient clay cuneiform tablets with Sumerian literature—featuring some of the earliest storytelling in the world.
- Irene Plantholt, a graduate student in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, teaches guests how to write in ancient Sumerian on clay tablets in a “first day of school” workshop at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m.
- Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs workshops, where everyone can learn to write his or her own name in hieroglyphs, are offered by Allison Hedges, recent Penn MLA graduate in Ancient Studies, at 6:30 and 7:15 p.m.
- Guests can enjoy favorite stories from diverse cultures, presented by curators, keepers and staff in the Museum’s related galleries:
- International Classroom Program Manager Prema Deshmukh at 5 p.m.;
- Egyptian Section Associate Curator Jennifer Wegner at 5:30 p.m.;
- Near Eastern Section Assistant Curator Lauren Ristvet at 6 p.m.;
- Mediterranean Section Associate Curator Ann Brownlee at 6:30 p.m.;
- Physical Anthropology Curator Janet Monge at 7 p.m.; and
- Executive Director, Philadelphia Reads, Adrienne Jacoby, at 7:30 p.m.
Community presenters and performers will join in the evening. Teaching artist, actor and storyteller Jan Michener of Arts Holding Hands & Hearts leads an interactive program using newspaper headlines to create and perform poetry. Youth poets from ArtWell will perform throughout the evening.
The West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC) joins the night too. WePAC opens and staffs elementary school libraries with screened and trained volunteers, making a difference for more than 5,000 students. They will provide information on ways to volunteer in their effort to promote literacy.
Do Something Good for a Change! GroundSwell, an initiative of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, is building a movement of residents who take action to make Philadelphia a world-class place to live, work and play and who speak out on behalf of the region’s cultural assets.
Guests are invited to sign up in advance and share the invitation with friends: http://philadelphiareadscommunitynight.eventbrite.com/
Walk-ins are welcome, too.
Additional Book Drop-Off Points
The GroundSwell Philadelphia Reads Book Drive is supported by multiple locations and books are being collected through Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 12, 2013. Check hours at individual organizations before dropping off donations.
On the Penn campus:
• Penn Museum, 3260 South Street, www.penn.museum
• Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 3860 Walnut Street, www.pennpresents.org
• Arthur Ross Gallery, 220 South 34th Street, www.upenn.edu/ARG
• Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 South 36th Street, www.icaphila.org
• Office of Community and Public Affairs,133 South 36th Street, 5 fl, www.upenn.edu/ogca
In Center City:
• Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, The Philadelphia Building, Lobby 1315 Walnut Street, www.philaculture.org/
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The Museum's rich collection of art and artifacts from around the world provides the setting for a night of stories and a celebration of literacy. Pictured here, a Museum docent tells stories in a related gallery. At Philadelphia Reads! Community Night, guests can hear stories from around the world, selected and told by the Penn Museum keepers, curators, staff and graduate students. |
Year-round, students and families come face to face with world cultures and genuine art and artifacts, including this 12-ton Sphinx, which dominates the Egypt (Sphinx) gallery. At Philadelphia Reads! Community Night, guests can learn to write their name in Egyptian hieroglyphs and then hear a fable told by Egyptian section curator Jennifer Wegner. |
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