DC's Big Read                            DC's Big Read is a month-long celebration, April 19 through May 19, 2007, that encourages the entire city to come together to read Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. This citywide program includes a series of readings, discussions, panels, performances, films, a writer's workshop and a contest for youth. Activities also highlight "Hurston's Washington, DC" from her student days at Howard University and the DC literary musings of her contemporaries--Langston Hughes, Sterling Brown, Alain Locke, Georgia Douglass Johnson, Jean Toomer--who made DC the prelude for the Harlem Renaissance.  DC's Big Read is co-sponsored by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the Humanities Council of Washington, DC. It is a new national program by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), in a partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest. Washington, DC is one of 72 communities to receive an NEA grant to support the Big Read program. DC's Big Read events are free and open to the public. View the DC Big Read calendar.*  For a complete list of communities participating in the Big Read or for more information on the program, please visit www.neabigread.org. The Humanities Council of Washington, DC (HCWDC), an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), is a private, nonprofit organization that funds and conducts humanities-based cultural and educational programs for Washingtonians in every ward. For more information, please visit www.wdchumanities.org. The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts-both new and established-bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. For more information, please visit www.arts.gov. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. To learn more about the Institute, please visit www.imls.gov. Arts Midwest connects people throughout the Midwest and the world to meaningful arts opportunities, sharing creativity, knowledge, and understanding across boundaries. Arts Midwest connects the arts to audiences throughout the nine-state region of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. One of six nonprofit regional arts organizations in the United States, Arts Midwest's history spans more than 25 years. For more information, please visit www.artsmidwest.org   * This document is presented in Portable Document Format (PDF) and a PDF reader is required for viewing. Download a PDF reader or learn more about PDFs.