National Endowment for the Arts Announces Participating Theater Companies for 2006-2007 Shakespeare for a New Generation Program


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National Endowment for the Arts and National Park Service Host Literary Event

Contact:
Victoria Hutter
202-682-5692
hutterv@arts.gov

Complete list of guest speakers and schedule available

Washington, D.C. – The Homestead National Monument of America along with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), an independent federal agency and the largest annual arts funder in the United States, will host The Heartland Experience. This one-day literary festival will be held on Saturday, May 6 from 10:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Homestead National Monument, four miles west of Beatrice on Highway 4.

The event will celebrate literature as inspired by the great natural landscapes of the American West through the voices of renowned authors, poets, and scholars. The festival is also held as a challenge to the findings of the NEA’s report, Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading, which found a dramatic decline nationwide in literary reading. Presentations for adults and children take place in two tents with all events free except the evening reception.

Following is the schedule of major events.

Adult Activities

10:00	Discussion of Willa Cather's works with Cather scholars Steve Shively and Dr. Charles Peek
	Willa Cather (1873-1947) who wrote 12 novels, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1923, wrote about the land and the people of the prairie and plains of Nebraska.
11:00	Discussion of the legacies of John Neihardt and Willa Cather by Nancy Gillis, executive director of the John Neihardt Center, and Betty Kort, executive director of the Willa Cather Foundation
	John Neihardt (1881-1972), a poet, writer and philosopher who wrote about the pioneers and American Indians of the Great Plains, was Nebraska’s poet lauerate for 52 years.
1:00	Discussion of NEA literature programs by David Kipen, NEA director of literature
	David Kipen, a former book critic and current author, oversees the NEA grant programs and national initiatives in literature. He will discuss The Big Read, Poetry Out Loud, and other NEA initiatives.
2:00	Discussion with Percival Everett by Ladette Randolph
	Percival Everett is professor of literature at the University of Southern California and author of 14 novels. Ladette Randolph is a writer and the humanities editor at the University of Nebraska Press.
3:00	Discussion with Ivan Doig by Ladette Randolph
	Ivan Doig, a former ranch hand and journalist, has written 11 novels, many set in the Montana country of his youth.
4:00	Book signings by the authors

Children’s Activities

10:00	Steve Otto & Jim Two Crows Wallen

1:00	Rajean Shepherd C is for Cornhusker

2:00	Bill Clemente

3:00	Steve Otto & Jim Two Crows Wallen

Evening Activities

6:00	Reception with music by Chris Sayre and keynote speech by Ted Kooser
	A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, Chris Sayre has performed and promoted traditional and contemporary folk music for 25 years. Ted Kooser is Poet Laureate of the United States. Tickets ($15 per person) are required for the dinner and must be purchased in advance by calling Kelly Morgan at 402-228-8244.

The National Endowment for the Arts issued Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in July 2004. The survey sampled 17,000 households and found that literary reading (includes novels, short stories, poetry, and plays) is in dramatic decline with fewer than half of American adults now reading literature. The report notes drops in all groups studied, with the steepest rate of decline - 28 percent - occurring in the youngest age groups. The report is available free for download at http://www.arts.gov/pub/ReadingAtRisk.pdf or in hard copy by calling 202-682-5400.

The Heartland Experience is made possible by the support of Arts Midwest, Nebraska Humanities Council, Nebraska Arts Council, Southeast Community College, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial, John Neihardt State Historic Site, Nebraska Center for the Book, Bess Streeter Aldrich House & Museum, Peru State College Lincoln City Libraries, and the Beatrice Public Library.

For more information about this event, call 402-223-3514. For more information about the literature programs at the National Endowment for the Arts, please call 202-682-5570

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