Bakersfield's Big Read

Bakersfield Museum of Art launches celebration of  Harlem Renaissance and The Big Read
In December, The Bakersfield Museum of Art will begin almost two months of celebration and activities focusing on the Harlem Renaissance, a flourishing, historical period of arts and culture that took place in Harlem, New York during the 1920s and 1930s.

The celebration will begin with the opening of the Museum’s Harlem Renaissance exhibit on December 11. Outstanding artists of the time period and those influenced by those artists will be on display through February 15, 2009.

Additionally, on January 15, the Museum, along with the Kern County Library, will kick-off  “The Big Read,” a community-wide effort to read Zora Neale Hurston’s book “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Hurston was an author during the Harlem Renaissance and is recognized as one of that era’s most influential writers.

The Big Read is funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Sponsors are Kern County Superintendent of Schools, KGET, The Bakersfield Californian, Institute for Library and Museum Studies, American General Media and San Joaquin Community Hospital.

A host of activities associated with the Harlem Renaissance exhibit and The Big Read is planned. Please see accompanying material for more information.

The Museum has undertaken these activities as part of its mission to diversify its audience and expand its cultural base. In 2007, the Museum received a three-year grant of $250,000 from the James Irvine Foundation, part of which was to be used to expand cultural outreach and bring new audiences into the Museum. The Harlem Renaissance/Big Read programs are part of that effort.

A committee comprised of leaders in Bakersfield’s African-American community, library officials, Kern County Superintendent of Schools and Museum board members has been active in developing this cultural celebration.

Big Read Schedule of Events
Thank you to the outstanding sponsors of The Big Read