Raising Literacy: A Photographic Survey of Libraries and Literacy in San Joaquin County

The Library & Literacy Foundation for San Joaquin County, in collaboration with the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library, has secured a Creative Work Fund grant which will enable the creation of a photographic documentary of libraries and literacy efforts in San Joaquin County beginning in March 2014 and continuing through December 2014.

The Creative Work Fund (CWF) awarded 19 grants totaling $683,922 for projects in the greater Bay Area counties. This year marks the CWF's 19th year of supporting projects in which artists collaborate with nonprofit organizations to create new work with total grant making in excess of $10 million.

The Creative Work Fund was launched in 1994 by four Bay Area foundations that wanted to contribute to the creation of new art works and support local artists. It is now a program of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund that also is supported by generous grants from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and The James Irvine Foundation.

The Library & Literacy Foundation project will be entitled Raising Literacy: A Photographic Survey of Libraries and Literacy in San Joaquin County and will feature the artistic expertise of Robert Dawson, author of several books including The Great Central Valley: California's Heartland (1993) and Public Library: A Photographic Essay (to be published in April, 2014). Mr. Dawson's photographs are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the National Museum of American Art (Smithsonian); the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona; the Getty Museum and the Library of Congress.

The Raising Literacy project will begin with a reception on Saturday, March 1, 2014, and will continue with photographs taken and research conducted from March through December 2014. The resulting photograph exhibit will be displayed in several venues throughout San Joaquin County in 2015.

The public is invited to attend the Raising Literacy reception on Saturday, March 1, 2014, from 6-8 p.m., at the Cesar Chavez Central Library to meet Mr. Dawson and learn more about this community project.

The Cesar Chavez Central Library is a part of the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library and is located at 605 N. El Dorado Street in Stockton. For more information, call (209) 937-7778. Visit the Library's website at www.ssjcpl.org and fan or follow us on twitter.com/ssjcpl and facebook.com/ssjcpl.