Volume 33 Nº 3 - August 1997

Bess Thomas Award for Ashfield Library

Julie-Ann Vellios

Ashfield Library received the Bess Thomas Award for a series of workshops on aspects of performance. The award of $250 was used as an impetus to begin projects for older upper primary children whom we has previously seen only during major events such as Book Week. In our experience, they have always been the most difficult target group as well as the most difficult group to hold onto.

The award money allowed us greater freedom in choosing our workdhop leaders and in catering for larger groups. The idea of performance-focused workshops came from the realisation that a large percentage of our local students came from non-English speaking backgrounds, making such events as author talks and 'literary' programs less enjoyable or less relevant to them...

For further information on The Bess Thomas Award please visit the Children and Youth Services Section home pages.