OCTC, partners get grant for 'Big Read' event 11/15/2007 By Joy Campbell Messenger-Inquirer Owensboro Community & Technical College and a number of local partners learned this week that their collaboration has earned a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and a chance to participate in a national event called The Big Read. The idea behind The Big Read is for communities across the country to celebrate one of 16 novels from January to June. "We're so excited to finally get to tell everyone about this," said Kaye Brown, OCTC English instructor. "We've been participating in the Common Reading program for several semesters, but this will give us a chance to involve the whole community in a greater way." The Common Reading program invites students and faculty members at OCTC to read the same book, and it ends with a presentation from a well-known author. The OCTC grant collaboration was one of 127 groups to receive funding from the national arts group. Joining OCTC in the lead on the program are The Learning Community, the Community Foundation of Owensboro-Daviess County, Owensboro Area Museum of Science and History and the Daviess County Public Library. More than 30 book discussions as well as other community activities will take place in Owensboro as part of the program. A steering committee made up of representatives from the lead organizations picked author Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club" as the novel for reading and discussion in the region. "It appealed to us because of the opportunity to learn more about another culture and for potential enhancement of recent exchanges," said Tracy Marksberry, executive director of The Learning Community. The kickoff event for February will be announced later with a schedule of activities completed after the first of the year. The group is working to turn its ideas into details for the community activities, Marksberry said. The ideas include cultural exhibits, film screenings and youth writing workshops. "It's quite an honor to receive a national grant," Marksberry said. "I really think our partnership made our proposal stand out." The groups will get a $7,500 matching grant from the national arts endowment. The local match is coming from more than $2,000 in in-kind contributions and more than $5,000 in local funds. The idea behind the national program is to bring citizens back to reading and to "restore reading to the center of American culture." Brown is concerned about statistics that show Americans aren't reading as much as they once did. "We've heard recently that if we don't fix that, we won't have a citizenry that's capable of being a democracy," she said. "This won't be a fix-all, but it's a great opportunity." Reading good literature engages your whole brain, Brown said. And these skills transfer well to other kinds of reading including those needed for retraining. Colleges and schools, cultural institutions, community agencies and businesses also will be invited to join in the celebration, Marksberry said.