The National Endowment for the Arts is Sponsoring the Greatest Literature Movement This Country Has Seen

The new NEA or National Endowment for the Arts has announced 117 new cities to participate in the agency's "Big Read" program this year.

The program will run in 400 U.S. cities this year, meaning town-wide celebrations of noteworthy authors. The program specializes in great American authors including Ernest Hemingway, Harper Lee, Ray Bradbury and Amy Tan.

There are also international Big Read programs on the way in the nations of Mexico, Russia, Egypt and China.

So what is "Big Read", and how does it work?

The reading itself is typically done aloud. The NEA has a goal of highlighting and valuing artists, authors and preserving the arts themselves. The program combines local leadership with national materials. The program is mainly a literary radio program picked up by XM Satellite Radio and features readers such as Robert Redford, Jim Lehrer, Hector Elizondo and others.

The program starts by with a local library or other non-profit group associated with a library. The public library chooses to participate in a town-wide effort and it is usually for one specific literary work.

For about four to six weeks, the NEA wants to see a well-planned and community-wide read. Programming, partnerships and participation is what the agency intends to see in order to measure the success of the program.

An example of a successful "Big Read" program is one that includes the entire community. Beauty salons, churches and blogging students who participate in the campaign make literacy a community effort and event. It also gives the community a chance to further educate themselves through a common means.

The NEA is responsible for promoting the event. A grant pays organizers to host an orientation session. There are also guidebooks for readers and teachers.

The NEA is also responsible for promotional assistance for each city's program. For example, billboards, posters, videos and an organizers' guide are all ways that the NEA helps assist each city in their literary efforts.

The materials provided by the NEA help communities get the ball rolling, and keep the effort on track.

The education based programming is one that has come a long way over the past several years. The agency has actually had quite a lot of financial difficulties, however, thanks to Dana Gioia, the organization's chair, the NEA has been able to recover and thrive. The funding for the organization has fluctuated quite a lot throughout the 1990's, which caused controversy and difficulty for the organization to stay afloat.

The NEA's grants currently total more than 2,000 per year.

The Big Read project is a great way for communities to unite over a historical, sometimes controversial, educational and inspirational literary work of art.

The organization is also unique in the today's world because it is so contrary to pop culture. Gathering together to celebrate and enjoy a literary work is simply not the norm. It does however, have potential to grow.

School teachers and librarians are certainly the likely candidates to apply for and organize such an event in their community. It is also typically led by organizers and participants who believe in the arts, the benefits of great literary works and building the community.

The chair of the NEA crisscrosses the country, working with communities who are willing to sit down and rediscover the power of literature.

According to Gioia, "The goal of the NEA is to bring forth the greatest art possible, yes. But it's also to serve all Americans, to get the broadest reach we can."

This is one organization that goes against the grain of pop-culture, and the result is a reawakening of the joy of reading great literature for the whole community.