Films to inspire you to change the world: Recommended picks from Seattle’s Social Justice Film Festival

Our guest post today is thanks to Michelle Dillon, librarian for Seattle’s groundbreaking and award-winning Books to Prisoners, a non-profit organization that puts thousands of books into the hands of incarcerated individuals each year. Learn more about the importance of this work in promoting literacy and reducing recidivism in this recent article from The Guardian, and learn about how you can support this cause at the Books to Prisoners website.  – Editor

Filmmakers have precious few moments to motivate you: to make you laugh, to move you to tears, or to lay bare important issues. The most resonant movies are often those which challenge your perceptions and expand your understanding of society. Seattle’s upcoming Social Justice Film Festival, running October 14-25, brings together 52 films on global issues of worker rights, immigration, Indigenous rights, prisoner justice, Black Lives Matter, government surveillance, and much more. We are showcasing three selections from past years at the festival—each of which is available through the Seattle Public Library. These films shed light on urgent inequities—and might inspire you to take action in your own community.

10th Anniversary Of Greenwood Library: Feb 8th!

~posted by a Teen Blogger

Greenwood library is celebrating a very special birthday this year. It’s turning a decade old! To celebrate this fantastic achievement, the library is throwing a special celebration. On the 8^th of February, many fun activities will be held; all are totally free and open to the public. The celebration will be held from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm and will be tons of fun. Drop by and check it out.  Have some refreshments and share your great memories of this amazing library with your community. We will also be sealing a time capsule. The capsule will be stuffed with whatever special memories you decide to fill it up with. There is free parking in the lower garage and refreshments to be shared, so there is no reason why you shouldn’t come down to the Greenwood library and have some fun while commemorating a huge milestone for the library and community of Seattle. 

Jet City Improv presents Live Theatre at the Library!

​Posted by Elizabeth W.

Come and contribute to a lively, rollicking comedy show where your participation is key! Jet City Improv’s talented performers will collect ideas from audience members to create short-form, unique sketches in a style similar to “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”

This show is highly participatory and fast-paced — in order to enjoy a lively and energetic performance, Jet City Improv strongly recommends that you eat a meal before the show. Created in 1992 by Mike Christensen and Andrew McMasters, Jet City Improv has grown over the years into one of Seattle’s most popular theater experiences. Now in its 21st year, it is a fast-paced, funny, audience-interactive, all-ages appropriate short-form improv show that performs in Seattle at the Historic University Theater every weekend.

The comedy show will take place at the Central Library on Friday, August 8th from 7 to 8 p.m. All are welcome!

Interested in comedy? Check out our The Art and Techniques of Writing Comedy booklist.

 

Sketch Away!

Does the very idea of drawing draw you in? We hope so! Come on down!  Downtown, that is, because The Sketchbook Project: A Traveling Library of Artists’ Sketchbooks will be visiting the Central Library, July 10-12 between noon and 3pm.

Consisting of more than 31,000 books from 130 countries and counting, the Sketchbook Project is a traveling library that is sure to draw a crowd seeking inspiration or just curious to see an artistic imagination at work. You will be able to borrow sketchbooks from the mobile library and read them, café-style, on-site in front of the Library.

Summer of Learning: Zone in This Summer!

On June 23^rd, the Seattle Public Library will be launching a brand new Summer of Learning program!

Zone In: Explore, Create, Connect!

So, what’s so new and exciting about this summer program? This year, SPL is taking reading to whole new level! Many of you may have heard about a new focus in education and libraries called STEM, an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math. More recently STEM has transformed into STEAM which includes the all-important “art” component which encourages ingenuity and design within the STEM framework. So, not only will the youth of Seattle be encouraged to read this summer, but also explore the world around them through science, create new and exciting projects – anything from poetry to robots, and also connect with new ideas through innovative programming offered at our libraries.