This week, the Boca Raton Museum of Art became one of just 71 organizations nationwide to receive a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) as part of the organization’s Big Read program. Started in 2006, Big Read has provided more than $25 million in funding to organizations across the country, reaching Americans in every congressional district with programming centered around a particular book.
This year’s selection is 1929’s A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway’s essential account, based on his own experiences in the conflict, of a World War I ambulance driver’s love affair with an English nurse. The museum is going all out with Hemingway- and Farewell to Arms-themed programming touching myriad forms of media, including:
- An exhibition, running Nov. 21 to May 16 of next year, on the global and cultural impact of the First World War
- Book discussions at branches of the Palm Beach County Library System
- “History Harvests,” in which local veterans can share personal artifacts and stories, in conjunction with the Boca Raton Historical Society
- A World War I film series
- A lecture from an FAU professor and expert in 20th-century American literature
- A guest lecture from the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum in Key West
- Dramatic readings from the novel in the exhibition galleries performed by participants from FAU’s Department of Theatre
In a statement, Ena Heller, director and CEO of the museum, said, “We are immensely proud to have been selected for this prestigious grant, which allows us to create programming illustrating our museum’s educational pillars—the connection between art and literacy and engaging visitors of all ages across disciplines—as well as to partner widely within the community.”
All are welcome to join the Boca Raton Museum of Art this fall for all things Farewell to Arms. And if you haven’t read the book yet, accessing it is easier than ever: It became a part of the public domain last year.
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