Festival's mission is to provide a county-wide literary experience that brings together the community may share their love of books, promote literacy, encourage fellowship through education, & inspire youth to reach high. Festival is to provide a county-wide literary experience that brings together authors, teachers, students, families, and the community to share their love of books which will in
turn promote literacy, encourage fellowship through education, exercise young minds with discussion, and inspire youth to reach high. In adherence to the city's COVID safety guidelines, these opportunities will all be provided virtually for 2021. Some examples of our outreach and support last year alone included:
-Reaching over 8,200 children and teens with our programs and event
-Providing guest visits to 36 schools that couldn't otherwise afford them
-Providing author visits to the PACE Center for Girls,
-Providing illustrators and authors to the Mandel Library
-Visiting two county juvenile detention centers whose teens received author visits and 200 free books as well. These connections are crucial to them and their rehabilitation. This year, the United States Youth Ambassador and National Book Award Finalist, Jason Reynolds, will be doing a live virtual discussion with them so they can feel seen, supported, and properly represented.
-Creating new opportunities for young people. 5 schools participated in the writing workshop with Stephen Kozan, so 5 children finalists will be publishing a book.
-The student finalist from our writer's workshop at BAM even entered a mentorship with one of our authors and is currently publishing a book with him. The release of this book will be held at the event. Providing 400+ free books to students at Title 1 schools
-Busing in 5 busloads of children from 6 Title 1 schools to the free event
**One of many stories that can’t ever be summed up with bullet points:
A few BAM! Festival's ago, one of our authors, Paul Griffin, found a shy child in the crowd that had written a poem that BAM Festival's writing workshop had inspired her to write. She was soft spoken and in awe that an author had taken such interest in her writing. At the beginning of the day, this child hid behind Paul as she followed him from panel to panel; by the end, she was nothing short of exuberant with an entire pack of authors surrounding her, encouraging her. Festival Jam with Jeff Zentner and Tyler Whitesides, she was invited to go up on stage and read her poem to the crowd. Boy, did she. It was transformative. Upon finishing, she jumped out of the spotlight and returned to her tribe of authors who all applauded her. Those smiles and joyous tears of hers are something I will never forget. They solidified me as part of the BAM! Festival team. Stuff like this happens every BAM! Festival, many times, with many children. They discover their voice for the first time. They are given their first book at no cost to them. They discover a productive way to express themselves, to escape, to inspire. They find a community to feel safe in, an author that encourages them, and a character that makes them feel found. We provide all of this to the public for free. There are no tickets. We do this because we think every child, no matter their situation, should be able to access these opportunities.
