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Grantee: Spark Central

Project Title: Little Libraries, Big Stories
Year awarded: 2022, Round 2

Located in Kendall Yards, Spark Central’s core organizational goal is to ignite creativity so people of all ages can discover and grow in their skills. With a special focus on Spokane’s West Central neighborhood, Spark’s learning center and community space provides the resources to break down barriers to creativity so that people of all economic backgrounds can create the future they imagine.

In a new project titled “Little Libraries, Big Stories,” Spark Central will collaborate with local artists to create and auction three unique little free libraries, stocked with books from local authors and youth, in part generated from a Spark Central workshop designed to ignite young West Central residents’ imaginations and strengthen their writing skills. As the youth are guided through the creative writing process, they will explore innovative ways to build with words. Seeing their stories become part of permanent literacy-focused art installations will be both rewarding and inspiring. Once the libraries are auctioned, they will be installed outdoors throughout the community. The funding Spark will raise from the auction will be used to support Spark Central’s ongoing youth-focused literacy and arts programing.

SAGA joins Spark Central’s multifaceted and innovative project, supporting local artists’ work, building youth literacy skills, creating and displaying art in the community, and creating an opportunity for community members to support Spark Central’s mission to ignite literacy and creativity.