KUED Book Club in a Box Project Narrative

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: KUED is proposing, through the Humanities Competitive Grant, to deepen the humanities-based learning experience of its viewing audience. KUED strives to promote lifelong learning, an engaged and informed citizenry, and a safe place for children to grow and learn. The station signed on air on the January 20, 1958, nearly a decade before the formation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting created by the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act. The station’s early beginning as a public television pioneer addressed the community need for unbiased and informative content to inspire and enlighten its viewers.

KUED’s Book Club in a Box is a pilot project that will span a full year and, with proven success, continue for many years. Working with its partnering bookstore and humanities scholars, KUED will select three film and book pairings and curate a total of 30 KUED Book Club in a Box (ten boxes per book/film). Each box will contain resources and materials useful in hosting a book club discussion based on the book and a related film. KUED will provide a limited number of boxes to libraries in key underserved areas of the state where residents can check out the box. Remaining boxes will be available to book clubs, who may apply directly to KUED on a first-come-first-serve basis. Books and book club boxes are not required to be returned to KUED. By providing a first distribution to libraries, who will be able to continuously check out the Book Club in a Box. The project will reach multiple people/book clubs throughout the year. The long term vision for the project is to adopt it as an ongoing KUED program and expand the film and book pairings to more than three annually. Through the KUED Book Club in a Box project, the station is looking to engage its state-wide viewing audience, with specific focus on populations residing in key underserved areas, in participating in dialogue and critical thinking on a more intimate scale.

PBS stations are uniquely positioned to make an impact. KUED convenes communities of all kinds to talk about ideas and make connections with one another. In May of 2018, PBS will launch a national discussion called The Great American Read (TGAR). TGAR is anchored by an eight-part television series and robust multimedia campaign including a request for the public to vote on their favorite book. Book Club in a Box will complement but remain independent of the national TGAR initiative. KUED will use TGAR platforms to promote, invite, and engage public participation of Book Club in a Box.

HUMANITIES CONTENT: KUED Book Club in a Box will engage participants in exploring both literature and film as conveyers of story. KUED will design the boxes to facilitate discussions surrounding specific themes, historical/cultural significance, and community impact. The project serves to deepen the humanities-based conversation for its participants, broaden the communities’ understanding of the significance of literary and film works, facilitate a dialogue regarding potential impact on a community, and inspire continuing engagement opportunities through the presentation of various calls to action.

For each of the three book/film pairings the station plans to use a different humanities scholar. The humanities scholar will prepare materials and resources to facilitate an in-depth and engaged book club discussion on the film and book pairing. Humanities scholars will compile discussion questions, and significant historical background/information on the book author and filmmaker. The Utah Division of Arts & Museums’ Literary Arts Program will partner with KUED to identify three scholars to work on this project. The short list of recommended scholars include:

Paisley Rekdal, , [email protected] Lance Larsen, BYU, [email protected] Kate Coles, University of Utah, [email protected] Natasha Saje, Westminster College, [email protected] Rob Carney, Utah Valley University, [email protected]

KUED has yet to confirm the three humanities scholars they will select to help inform the project and prepare the discussion questions for the Book Club in a Box. The Utah Division of Arts and Museums, Literary Arts will be helping to identify and select the humanities scholars.

Ms. Alyssa Hickman-Grove, Literary Arts Manager Utah Division of Arts and Museums, Literary Arts 617 East South Temple , Utah 84102-1101 Phone: 801-236-7555 Email: [email protected]

The Utah Division of Arts and Museums, Literary Arts fulfills the Literature Humanities Discipline for the project. The three humanities scholars will provide a diverse background from multiple humanities disciplines, and facilitate the diversity of title/subject materials distributed through this project.

KUED will work with a partnering book store, humanities scholar, and the Utah Division of Arts and Museums’ Literary Arts Program to match literary works to PBS and KUED local-films. The films will provide the historical/cultural documentary/journalistic support to complement the literary work. Identification of the final film selection will depend on scheduling priorities of PBS/KUED broadcast. The examples below are meant to illustrate the type of considered film titles and book pairings:

• Film: I Am Not Your Negro A film that envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, a revolutionary and personal account of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Book Pairing: The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin. First published in 1963, this book contains two essays: My Dungeon Shook – Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation and Down at the Cross – Letter from a Region of my Mind.

• Film: NOVA: Holocaust Escape Tunnel A team of archaeologists probes the ruins of a Nazi death camp to find the truth behind tales of a tunnel dug by desperate Jewish prisoners and their daring escape. https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/06/tunnel-lithuania-nazi-death- cap/489338/ Book Pairing: Night, by Elie Wiesel or Survival in Auschwitz, by Primo Levi

• Film: Mark Twain: A Film by Ken Burns Ken Burns’ illuminating portrait of the man who is also one of the greatest writers in American history. Book Pairing: Roughing It by Mark Twain, a semi-autobiographical work of Twain’s time traveling Utah.

KUED’s Book Club in a Box will contain a curated collection of resources and materials useful in facilitating an in-depth conversation on the film and the book on which it is based and its relevancy to the community.

Inside the Box: • One book and one DVD for the book club host • Discussion questions prepared by humanity scholar and scholar’s bio/credentials • One page with book author bio and filmmaker bio, prepared by humanity scholar • Evaluation/Survey for participants (including Great American Read questions) along with a stamped envelope to return to KUED • SEVEN guides for participants • Membership information • KUED swag (buttons, stickers, magnets) • Recipe ideas for refreshments for book club • Invitation template (digital or print) for book club hosts to invite guests to their event • Relevant promo material from KUED and partners • “How to get involved” information on service organizations that might be relevant to curated content • Instructions on how to fill out an online report and join the KUED Book Club in a Box Facebook group

A total of 30 boxes, 10 for each book, will be curated. The boxes will first be offered to libraries to check out to library patrons. Remaining boxes will be provided on a first-come-first-serve basis to interested book club hosts by request. To receive a box, the host will agree to: • Invite members of their book club to check out the book from their local library or an identified partnering book store • Invite members to watch the accompanying film • Distribute all promotional material and membership information in the box at their book club • Pass out feedback cards to participants and have them complete the form as part of their discussion • Mail back the feedback cards in a pre-stamped envelope • Fill out an online report via a link that will be sent to them after their book club date

KUED will encourage book club participants to continue the conversation on social media by joining the private KUED Book Club in a Box Facebook group to upload photos and post comments.

Should demand for the KUED Book Club in a box exceed the limited number of boxes, KUED will provide digital resources including discussion questions, filmmaker and author biographies, participant evaluations, and other in-house produced materials. This material will be emailed to interested individuals.

COMMUNITY: Through this project KUED is serving to build humanity engaged communities (individual book clubs, libraries book stores, social media, viewing audience, Utah Division of Arts and Museums, and humanities scholars) and invite these communities into a forum through which participants can explore and think critically on current and topical film/literary works aims to inspire involvement and a call to action. KUED is creating and serving a number of humanities communities through this project:

Book Clubs: KUED will be reaching individual book clubs at various locations throughout Utah to engage directly in the project. Book clubs will be equipped with humanities based discussion guides and other resources to facilitate deep conversations on the book and film pairing.

Libraries: KUED will be looking to libraries to distribute boxes. By distributing boxes through libraries, and with the libraries’ ability to check out boxes and replenish material as needed, the project has the potential of reaching numerous people and book clubs through each box.

Book Stores: KUED will be looking at book stores throughout Utah to promote the project and recommend for the purchasing of books, should participants desire to purchase their own copy.

Social Media: KUED will be building a social media community, through Instagram and a dedicated KUED Book Club in a Box Facebook page. The community will facilitate a continuation of discussion on a larger and ongoing format.

Viewing Audience: The organization’s primary community is its viewing audience. KUED will invite this community to engage in the project through project promotion.

Humanities Scholars: The Utah Division of Arts and Museums and Three Humanities Scholars: The Utah Division of Arts and Museums, Literary Department will be partnering with KUED to identify three humanities scholars to assist in the project. KUED will select three humanities scholars to facilitate in creating discussion topics of the book and film pairing. These scholars will be key in creation of humanities content.

ISSUES AND IMPROVEMENT: The KUED Book Club in a Box project is inspired by the deep community engagement and discussion at recent film screenings and the lessons from past programs such as the now defunct KUED Program Book Club from twelve years ago. This project was a successful once monthly public film screening and book review. Wellers Book Works was a project partner pairing books with films. The monthly screenings and discussions brought in approximately 30-40 individuals. Unfortunately, the project failed to be sustained due to funding issues and the heavy time involvement on KUED staff. In 2016/17 KUED relaunched the project as Read and Watch, a more passive initiative. Again partnering with Wellers Book Works, Read and Watch focused on reaching individuals through book recommendations and film pairings. The project had no public engagement component and its lack of traction called for it to end.

KUED hosts film screening and panel discussions throughout the year with various community partners. With three-hundred audience members in attendance and more turned away due to capacity limits, KUED witnessed the community demand for engagement in the film/literary conversation. KUED imagined Book Club in a Box as being the intimate iteration of a large film screening. The project was designed to expand the station’s reach outside of Salt Lake County, without increased staff and minimal budget expense.

KUED, through social media, has engaged book club members into a discussion on what they would like to receive in the Book Club in a Box. Participants have overwhelmingly responded positively and provided valuable feedback that has helped inform the project. The project strives to engage participants located in rural and underserved geographic areas of Utah. The distribution to libraries is believed to help alleviate access while at the same time potentially benefit multiple book club groups with material and resources through library check-out systems. Feedback from book club members has indicated the majority of participants typically purchase their own copies through local bookstores, when possible, but more often large national book sellers. With this project in its first year of operation, KUED will be identifying accessibility issues and ways in which to overcome accessibility.

PROMOTIONAL PLAN: Advertising: KUED is capable of a large marketing campaign. KUED will promote the Book Club in a Box through Facebook (12,696 followers), Twitter (3,954 followers), Instagram (1,440 followers), and YouTube station (100,000+ views combined). Additionally, KUED will be promoting activities through weekly e-newsletters circulated to more than 30,000 members as well as the station’s monthly SEVEN channel guide.

Partner Collaborations: Utah Humanities, and additional promotional, funding, and collaborators of this project will be recognized in all acknowledgment material for the project, including promotional resources.

Outreach Events: • May 10, 2018: KUED will be hosting a table at the Mountain West Arts Conference and use the event as an opportunity to introduce the arts community to Book Club in a Box. • May 12, 2018: KUED will be partnering with the Salt Lake City Public Library for a free public The Great American Read Kick-Off. Exhibitors will include libraries, booksellers, an exhibition featuring winners from KUED Kids Writers and Illustrators Contest, potentially a voting booth, etc. We will use the event as an opportunity to introduce the literary community to Book Club in a Box. • Summer 2018: Summer Festivals and Markets. KUED will be pushing The Great American Read all summer and will include the Book Club in a Box as a component of this outreach. • September 4, 2018: KUED will host a free screening at the Broadway Centre Cinemas’ 247 seat theatre. KUED will screen the 1st episode of The Great American Read series. The station will be utilizing this event to promote the Book Club in a Box.

As more KUED events develop we will use these opportunities to promote Book Club in a Box.

EVALUATION: KUED will evaluate the overall success of this project through the number of requested boxes, collected participant feedback/survey, and engagement of users continuing the discussion through social media.

Project goals include: • To reach readers who may or may not be active viewers of PBS programs • To engage a statewide audience with KUED content beyond broadcast and screenings • To target underserved areas where it’s difficult and expensive to host a screening • To convene critical thinkers and elevate the dialogue surrounding compelling storytelling • To communicate public broadcasting’s goal to tell real stories and reach a diverse audience • To collect data for PBS’s Great American Read initiative • To gather impact data to reinforce the value of community engagement for the station • To give participants the tools to think larger than discussing the issues AND make an impact

KUED will determine if the project is a success based upon its ability to reach the following outcomes: • 25% or more of KUED’s Book Club in a Box participants have an increased desire to watch KUED programming. • 25% or more of KUED’s Book Club in a Box participants plan on sharing the book/film pairing, and any additional related program air date (information will be included in the material found in each box) with friends and family. • 20-25% or more of KUED’s Book Club in a Box participants have an increased interest in taking action in their community surrounding topics/themes relevant to the Book Club in a Box curated collection. • 10% or more in increased KUED membership and/or donations as a direct result of participants Book Club in a Box involvement.

Evaluation data will inform the station as to improvements or changes needed to sustain this project over a number of years.