Oregon Reads 2009 Programming Ideas

Below you will find a list of programming ideas of all kinds! Some ideas are great for libraries that have little to no resources, other ideas may require a large space and performance fees. Your Oregon Reads 2009 programs should explore or celebrate the diversity of people in Oregon, their experiences in Oregon, and how they impact Oregon. Remember, this is a community reading program so talk to people and organizations in your community that you can partner with.

Taiko

Taiko is the Japanese word for drum. In ancient Japan, taiko were used in battle, to signal various activities in villages, court music, theater, and religious ceremonies. The modern art form developed in the 1950s, and is rooted in these Japanese traditions. In the 1960s American taiko became a symbol for the reparation of Japanese American internment.

Click here for information on Oregon Taiko centers

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Fujinami Kai School of Japanese Dance

The Fujinami Kai School of Japanese Dance was founded in Portland in 1958 by Madame Kanriye Fujima. The founder was trained and received her master certification to teach and perform from the Fujima school in Japan, and immigrated to the United States to teach odori, traditional Japanese dance. The Fujinami Kai School of Japanese Dance recently celebrated their 50th anniversary!

Fujinami Kai School of Japanese Dance
Contact: Barbara Uyesugi
(503) 282-2094

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Kimonos

Toshima Tanaka is a local kimono expert and collector. She has an extensive collection of Japanese kimono. Oregonians hire her to dress them for wedding and other special events. In 2007, she curated an exhibit of historic kimonos at the Portland Japanese Garden.

Toshimi Tanaka
1538 NW Caitlin Terrace
Portland, OR 97229
(503) 671-0388

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Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center Exhibits

The Nikkei Legacy Center (http://www.oregonnikkei.org/) has developed two traveling exhibits for libraries that relate to themes in Stubborn Twig. The exhibits are displayed in two different ways to accommodate the different spaces in a variety of libraries.

Current exhibit schedules can be found here.

Large Exhibit

There is one large exhibit available for you to borrow and display at your library for one week. Libraries hosting the exhibit will be responsible for picking up the display from the previous host on Mondays. The large exhibit will be available starting January 26, 2009. For details, size specifications, and information on the content download and read pages one and two of the exhibit documentation (PDF).

Tabletop Exhibit

There are 12 copies of the smaller, tabletop exhibits that your library can borrow for one month. Libraries hosting the exhibit will be responsible for picking up the display from the previous host by the last day of the month. These exhibits will be available starting January 5, 2009. For details, size specifications, and information on the content download and read pages three and four of the exhibit documentation (PDF).

There are two requirements libraries must meet in order to borrow the exhibits:

  1. Your Library must have insurance for exhibits
  2. Your Library can contact and pickup up the exhibit at the library that has it before you.
To sign-up to borrow an Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center exhibit email the following information to Sara Charlton ([email protected]). Sara will schedule on a first-come, first-serve basis. Once complete, the schedule will be posted here on the website.

Library Name: __________________________________

Contact Person: __________________________________

Insurance for Exhibit (circle one): Yes No

Email Address: __________________________________

Phone Number: __________________________________

Exhibit (circle one): Large Tabletop

Preferred Dates : __________________________________

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Movie Night

Show an Oregon related movis and and facilitate a discussion about the film, and the Oregon experience.

American Experience: A Family Gathering

The internment of Japanese-Americans in camps during World War II stands as one of the most tragic incidents in American history. Driven by fears that these American citizens were consorting with the enemy, Japanese-Americans were summarily rounded up and taken to remote camps for the duration of the war. Their sudden exodus resulted in personal and economic losses from which many never recovered. This program documents the experience of the Yasui family, who experienced the pain and humiliation of the internment policy, the disruption of their lives, and the loss of their home and business. Archival film footage, photographs, personal accounts, and commentary by historians put the ordeal in perspective as part of the American experience.
~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide

Preview:

A Family Gathering can be ordered from the Center for Asian American Media:

Center for Asian American Media
Educational Distribution Department
145 Ninth Street, Suite 350
San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone 415-552-9550
Fax 515-863-7428
http://distribution.asianamericanmedia.org

On Paper Wings

During WWII, the Japanese military developed a new weapon intended to strike directly at the American continent - the balloon bomb. High school girls across Japan were conscripted into factories where they worked long days making paper to be assembled into giant balloons. These young students lived difficult lives as the war worsened for Japan. Most had no idea that the balloons they were making would be attached to bombs and then launched into the jet stream to drift toward North America. The idea sounded ludicrous; but thousands of balloon bombs were launched by the Japanese military, and hundreds did arrive after being carried by the wind across the Pacific. www.onpaperwingsthemovie.com

Heroes

Caught up in the patriotic fever shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, two brothers from Hawaii join the 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team, the all Japanese-American unit to fight in Europe in WWII. During their journey from raw recruits to combat veterans they learn about courage and honor, to be part of a team, and the reality of war. For its size and duration of service, the 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team is the most highly decorated unit in US Military history. Purchase the DVD at the website - http://www.altonchung.comurchase.htm.

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Haiku Workshop

Find a local expert, poet, or teacher to lead a haiku writing workshop based on May Sky: There is Always Tomorrow: An Anthology of Japanese American Concentration Camp Kaiko Haiku by Violet Kazue De Cristoforo.

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Koto Performer

Mitsuki Dazai, originally from Tokyo, Japan, enjoys introducing the sounds of her lovely koto music anywhere in the world, and just this year 2008 she completed two European tours as well as special guest appearance at the International Music Festival in San Francisco. Her musical background is both diverse and extensive as a performer and innovator, arranging and composing koto music in different styles. She graduated from Japan's renowned Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo. Then after studying the traditional music at the Ikuta School she progressed to contemporary and advanced music studies under Sawai Koto School.

In 2002, she moved to Oregon and started to perform professionally in the U.S. Besides serving as a guest lecturer at the University of Oregon and Marylhurst University, she has been performing in the Northwest, Chicago, San Francisco and Tokyo. In 2006 she organized "An Evening of Japan's Musical Heritage" at the Portland Art Museum and was one of the main performers. She also arranged for her venerable teacher, Kazue Sawai of Tokyo, Japan to participate as honored guest performer and produced "An Evening of Japanese Music" at the University of Portland in 2008.

Learn more about Mitsuki, her concert calendar, her CDs, and listen to samples of her music at her website Mitsuki Dazai's Koto (www.kotomelodies.com.)

To schedule a performance with Mitsuki, contact her:

(541) 895-5581
P.O.Box 304 Creswell, OR 97426

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Local Oral History Night

Identify 3 to5 community members who have expertise, experience, and good public speaking skills to share their oral histories with the rest of the community.

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Local History Exhibit

Invite community members to lend their historically interesting or significant artifacts, realia, or other objects to be put together in a display at the library.

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Local Culture Night

Partner with local cultural organizations, like Somali Community Services Coalition, to present a lecture, performance, exhibit, discussion, or fun night.

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Local Experts Showcase

Identify local artists, musicians, dancers, authors, poets, historians, and educators who you know are good performers or presenters and invite them to do a program at your library.

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Local Art Show

Invite a local art group or high school to create art based on themes from Stubborn Twig and display them at your library. Perhaps you could add a contest component. For example, invite the group to do drawings or paintings, put together a panel of judges, the winner gets their piece framed by a local gallery or picture framer, prints are made and distributed to the public, and it appears in the newspaper.

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  • Miller Foundation
  • Starseed Foundation
  • Oregon Public Broadcasting