Living Libraries America launch plan taking form.
The Living Library US launch project plan is beginning to take form, the first events are planned to take place in the fall. Far from all locations have been confirmed yet and its estimated that there is still a months work ahead, before the plan is complete and ready to be made public.
What is the US launch project about.
The Living Library US launch program is set out to be a three year project to introduce the Living Library in the United States and to spur the interest of future organizers to secure a nation wide distribution and long term implementation as seen in Australia. After the first wave of Living Libraries, a series of regional two-day seminars for new organizers will follow. Facilitated by trainers and experts from Europe and the US, new organizers will be able to send their staff to the trainings and become part of a national organizers network. In the final phase of the launch project, a national networking seminar for all US based Living Library organizers will close the project in 2011.
Who can join the launch.
Most Living Library events are staged in public or private institutions such as libraries, educational institutions or at major companies, that want to challenge their workers in the lunch break. In principle everybody is welcome, however its a project priority to ensure that the methodology is tested in a variety of settings, and to see to it that the introduction is directed at different target groups, through events in different communities. This means that in one city the Living Library will take place at a public library, while in another town the event will take place at a college campus or as an event integrated into a festival. Interested parties that want to learn more about becoming part of the first series of events are encouraged to contact us.
Living Libraries America.
Ultimately the aim of the project is to help build a network of Living Libraries in America. If the introduction is succesful, the project will go on to train more organizers, support the staging of events in new states and collect organizers in a national network structure. This entails collecting and making available experiences and organizer resources from the get go and securing a follow up to all new organizers. With hard work and good fortune the project will support the establishing of the network structure, that will be able to continue to function and carry out Living Library events beyond the initial project period.
US based project coordinator starts in August.
Until the funding is secured we have applied for a volunteer US Coordinator and been fortunate to find a motivated and competent candidate that will start working part time from August. This means the coordination of the launch phase can move from Europe to the United States and efforts to allocate the remaining funding can be strenghtened, while the chain of events is expanded. Preparing and running a Living Library is not necessarily a very costly affair. One of the advantages of the methodology is its ability to be staged at very little cost. Making it an attractive activity for organizers with ambitions to offer something different and of special value.
A meeting of local organizers is set to take place in Indiana in the second week of August.
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Reply #5 on : Mon August 11, 2008, 18:32:05