Archive: Arts & Entertainment

From May 4th through the 6th, the Community Arts Partnership (CAP) will present Spring Writes, the 2012 Finger Lakes Literary Festival. During this year's weekend-long festival of all things written, CAP will be collaborating with the Family Reading Partnership of Tompkins County(delete) for a special celebration of this year's "The Big Family Read." 

On Saturday, May 5th, from 10 am to 1 pm, E.B. White's classic, Charlotte's Web, will get the marathon treatment, as guest readers drop in to read the book aloud from beginning to end. The whole family is welcome to join the fun at the Thaler/Howell Program Room at the Tompkins County Public Library.

According to Brett Bossard, Executive Director of CAP, this partnership has been years in the making.

"I was inspired in 2010 by the Public Theatre's marathon reading of the Great Gatsby and really wanted to do something like that here," says Bossard. "We couldn't get all the moving parts together in time for last year's festival, which turned out to be serendipitous, since I had always had Charlotte's Web in mind."

The 1952 Newbery Honor winner was selected by the Family Reading Partnership as this year's Big Family Read, and 5,000 copies were distributed to families throughout the county, including every 2nd and 3rd grade student, thanks to the Triad Foundation.

The marathon kicks off at 10 am with a recording of the author, E.B. White himself reading the first chapter and ends with local writer Emily Rhoads Johnson reading chapter 22. Sandwiched in between are 8 other "local celebrities" in fifteen to twenty minute shifts showing off their storytelling skills. Visitors to the reading can also enjoy the E.B White Exhibit on display at the public library. It features replicas of the original manuscript of "Charlotte's Web" and photos of E.B.White.

Partially supported with grant funding from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the Tompkins County Tourism Program, the weekend-long Spring Writes Literary festival features a constellation of 27 literary themed events, from workshops and panel discussions for writers, to readings and performances by local poets, playwrights, essayists and novelists. A full schedule of events is online at www.SpringWrites.org.

Spring Writes, the 2012 Finger Lakes Literary Festival, is a program of the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County (CAP). CAP was founded in 1990 to serve as the arts council of Tompkins County, providing technical assistance, grant opportunities, and professional services and information to artists and arts organizations, as well as public programs that celebrate and support the arts community in the county.  For two decades, CAP has helped to distribute more than $2.5 million to artists and arts organizations in the community.

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