“From Ballet to Blues: A Fundraiser for Public Libraries” was hosted by the Upper Peninsula Region of Library Cooperation in collaboration with the Superiorland Library Cooperative.

“It’s a celebration of community and the arts and it is a fundraiser for libraries,” said Shawn Andary, director of the Superiorland Library Cooperative.

The mission of the cooperative is to collaborate with area public libraries to provide services those libraries may not have been able to offer without help. Libraries such as the Peter White Public Library, Negaunee Public Library and the Ontonagon Township Library are members of the cooperative.

“Superiorland Library Cooperative serves libraries throughout the U.P. and part of lower Michigan, and we’re starting a new program where we provide mini-grants to our public libraries so they can have different programs, literacy programs, author talks, art programs, things of that nature, STEM programming,” Andary said. “We are trying to expand those mini-grants so we can continue to distribute them throughout the year. So, we’re increasing our budget for that and we thought this was perfect. People can come out who love the arts, and any money we make goes into having more of that.

A ballet number opened the “From Ballet to Blues: A Benefit for Local Libraries” event on Monday evening at the Kaufman Auditorium in Marquette. Proceeds raised from the event, which featured dancing, singing, poetry reading and more, will be donated to the Superiorland Library Cooperative. (Journal photo by Trinity Carey)

“No matter if you’re a small library with a population of 3,500 people or a Peter White Public Library, everybody gets to participate in that collective and there’s kind of a sliding scale for them to participate,” Andary said.

The event featured lyrical solo dance numbers, poetry readings, performances by the Borealis Dancers, piano solos, classical music, singing and more. Finding performers was the easy part, Andary said. Many reached out to her once they learned of the benefit.

While proceeds from the event go to the cooperative, it was Andary who organized the benefit, and she will donate the funds raised back to the cooperative to be distributed evenly among the area libraries.

The idea for a benefit at Kaufman came to her last summer when the director of the Negaunee Public Library, Jessica Holman, got married in the auditorium.

“She booked it, she got married here, and she had people instead of wedding gifts donate to Kaufman, and Kaufman made so much money from her wedding that they only charged her $1 for the venue, so I started thinking, well, we could do that for the public libraries, and obviously we’d pay Kaufman for the space, but we could take the proceeds and donate it back to the public libraries,” Andary said.

She encouraged everyone to consider donating to their local libraries whether it be getting items from their wish lists, making donations or checking out the programs they have to offer, Andary said.

“The libraries are so important to our community because no matter how much or how little money you have, it’s just a place that welcomes everybody,” she said. “It has something for everybody. It kind of levels the playing field and it’s a great community resource.”

She is also grateful for the community’s support of the event.

“It’s wonderful,” Andary said. “I hope they learn more about what their libraries have to offer, and then I also hope that they have a great time and the participating artists have a great time.”

228-2500, ext. 206. Her email address is tcarey@miningjournal.net.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

• Daily Newsletter
• Breaking News
• Obituaries

Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper *

• Yes
• No