Creative Placemaking Project

Main Photo [CREDIT] Reading Public Library 1

Steps at Main

Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania

In Reading, Pennsylvania, the Reading Public Library joined forces with community organizations to offers its steps as venue for community events. Library administrators recognize that performing arts are a way to build relationships with community members and transform community members’ perception of its space.

From the library’s perspective, staff were seeking a way to make the library more relevant for the low-income Latino community who live nearby. As part of this work, the library established an outreach coordinator position to develop non-traditional programming, starting with baseline surveys to identify obstacles that prevent folks from using the library. Respondents expressed challenges like working multiple jobs, inadequate transportation, childcare needs, and undocumented status. Residents also cited that the building — a Carnegie library — seemed uninviting and not built for them. The coordinator quickly understood that typical methods of outreach were not going to overcome those challenges.

The library realized its work had to become more than just getting people into the library. So they brought their programming outside. In July 2017, the library hosted its first Steps at Main event. Channing Durant performed hip hop dancing in front of a large crowd on Reading Public Library’s front steps. He had choreographed two dances, and led 18 participants in the performance.

It would be the first of many “outside the library walls” programs that the library has co-designed with different organizations. Four years after the first performance the library steps have become a community engagement platform where community members have found dance, music, theater, and poetry performances that have created a sense of “this is ours, too.” Now it is not rare to see performances taking place, or even a wedding. And because the library is a democratic space, it’s steps attract residents from all walks of life.

Impacts

International recognition.
Steps at Main was presented at the International Federation of Libraries in Oslo, Norway in 2018. The session’s focus was on increasing accessibility for libraries. There, librarians and education experts from all over the world learned about Reading’s creative strategy to address perceptions from immigrant residents about their building.
Fueled additional programming.
After the first performances took place at the steps, other organizations and community groups began using the library as a location for their own programs and performances. In a sense, library steps have become a separate branch of the library with its own community programs and independent schedules.
Creation of Community Engagement department for the Reading Public Library
Because of the overwhelming positive response from community members for the events held on the steps, library leadership understood that the future of the steps was to become a platform for community members to use. This led to the creation of the community engagement department for the library. That department is currently looking at working with community members to co-design programs rather than assume what programs they would like to attend.

Lessons Learned

Work with what you have. The library staff realized that their building made some residents feel unwelcome. Changing the actual building’s infrastructure was not a feasible financial option. Instead, they reimagined its existing spaces. Library staff held an event where residents decorated the steps with lines of poetry. Local performers were encouraged to hold concerts and flash mobs. During the pandemic, a local arts organization utilized the side walls of the library for a photography reception by projecting the photographs from the street. This approach has helped raise the profile of the library and has incurred very few expenses.

Property Type: Commercial Structure
Project Type/ New Use: Art – Small Scale (e.g. painting; performance; visual), Event(s)
Project Purpose: Community engagement
Duration: Temporary (less than one year)

Initial Cost: Under $10,000
Funding Source: Unknown

Organization Type: Artist(s)
Implementation Partners: Artist(s); Nonprofit – Arts & Culture
City: Pennsylvania
State: Pennsylvania
Community Type: Urban

Organization Website: Reading Public Library >
Social: Facebook >

Contributions By: Daniel Egusquiza

Project Photos

Last updated: October 2021 – Do you have additional information about this project? Please use the share your placemaking project form » to share that information.

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