Union library named finalist for National Medal
Here's a belated note worth sharing with Hub readers today. – Ed.
Earlier in March, the Institute of Museum and Library Services today announced 30 finalists for the 2019 National Medal for Museum and Library Service. The National Medal is the nation’s highest honor given to museums and libraries for community service. Over the past 25 years, the award has celebrated institutions throughout the nation that have demonstrated extraordinary and innovative approaches to public service.
Union County Carnegie Library was named to the finalist list. Throughout March and April, IMLS will celebrate the excellent community work of these institutions through its six-week Share Your Story social media campaign, which began last week. Anyone with a story to tell about these libraries and museums is encouraged to share comments and pictures with #IMLSmedals and tag IMLS on Facebook and Twitter.
"We are thrilled to be a finalist for the National Medal, and we know that this is due in large part to our facility and partnerships. We wanted to share this great news with you and tell you how much we appreciate our partnership and are thankful for your support," Executive Director Rieta Drinkwine said.
The S.C. Arts Commission was one such partner, as UCCL was host of the first Communal Pen writing workshop series that has since worked its way through South Carolina since last September.
National Medal winners will be announced later this spring. Representatives from winning institutions will receive their medals at a ceremony on June 12 in Washington.
Learn more about the Union County Library System here.
Brought to you by the South Carolina Theatre Association
The S.C. Arts Commission and S.C. Humanities are excited to debut Communal Pen, a writing workshop in Union on Saturday, Oct. 6 to help you write to celebrate and explore connections to place and community.
And they have two questions:
Deeply rooted in South Carolina, Communal Pen co-facilitator Eboni Ramm fell in love with the arts at a young age and was encouraged throughout her youth to express herself. Today, she is a gifted vocalist known for her special blend of timeless jazz classics with a pinch of poetry. Ramm resides in Columbia, where she conducts jazz poetry workshops in schools, libraries, and various learning centers. She serves her community as Richland Library's literary resident and as a teaching artist with ARTS ACCESS South Carolina and Youth Corps. She is a featured musician on SCETV’s education web portal, 
Communal Pen co-facilitator Michelle Ross is a folklorist and adjunct faculty in anthropology at the University of South Carolina Sumter. She holds a master's from the Folk Studies and Anthropology Department at Western Kentucky University. Ross embraces stories of all kinds. She helped establish the S.C. Center for Oral Narrative, through which she has co-created several writing workshops. Ross also works with the Mothers of Angels in telling and writing about grief from the death of a child, and has worked with veterans in telling and writing their stories. Her work has been published in The North Carolina Folklore Journal and an anthology of mother-in-law essays titled His Mother!; her poetry has appeared in Sandhill and The Petigru Review. For the past five years, she has been working on telling her Pontian Greek family’s refugee story, her most important project to date.
Communal Pen coordinator Laura Marcus Green is Folklife & Traditional Arts Program Director at the South Carolina Arts Commission, where she manages several grant and award programs, and at the University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum, where she develops programming in conjunction with folklife exhibitions. She holds a Ph.D. in Folklore from Indiana University and an M.A. in Folklore/Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin. Selected prior positions include Community Engagement Coordinator for the Museum of International Folk Art’s Gallery of Conscience, and work as a folklife fieldworker and researcher, writer, curator and consultant for the Louisiana Division of the Arts Folklife Program, the South Carolina Arts Commission, the Iowa Arts Council, New Mexico Arts, and the Idaho Commission on the Arts, among others.
