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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 16, 2005
Contacts:
Rena Paradis, New Mexico Coalition for Literacy
(505) 982-3997
Cheryle Mano Mitchell, Project Manager
(505) 476-5055
“Lasting Impressions” Adult Literacy Guide Available
Santa Fe, NM — The Palace of the Governors and the New Mexico Coalition for Literacy have joined in an effort to assist adult New Mexicans who are learning to read.
Together, the coalition and the museum have produced an “Adult Literacy Guide” to the Palace exhibition Lasting Impressions: The Private Presses. The guides—with complimentary, single-visit tickets to the Palace—will be distributed by reading teachers working in adult literacy programs.
The eight-page booklet will serve as both lesson plan and exhibition guide for those wanting to read about New Mexico’s private press movement. Rena Paradis, director of the New Mexico Coalition for Literacy, drew from the text-filled gallery guide, written by exhibit curator Pamela Smith, to produce a publication that is new-reader friendly.
In it Paradis offers not only short lessons but also concisely written panels with information about the presses, the books, and the artists, craftsmen and writers in the exhibition.
Frances Levine, director of the Palace of the Governors / The New Mexico History Museum, then arranged for 600 complimentary tickets to be stapled into the guides.
Paradis added that the next step will be to contact literacy programs, encouraging them to have their volunteer tutors use the guides to prepare their adult literacy students to attend exhibits.
“This is a wonderful new approach to teaching reading,” said Paradis. “Fran and I have thought this out very carefully, and it will be a refreshing break in routine for both tutors and students, while making the world of museum treasures meaningful to those not accustomed to visiting exhibits.”
“As with the Lasting Impressions Curriculum packet for New Mexico educators, what the ‘Adult Literacy Guide’ can bring about is the real focus of this exhibition,” said Levine. “Yes, we want to make the museum more inviting to those who may not have come before, and the exhibition itself is reason enough to come.
“But if we can help those learning to read to further appreciate the written word, and come to love books and all that they offer, then we’ve helped to change someone’s life.
“Without a doubt, the Palace will continue to work with Ms. Paradis and the New Mexico Coalition for Literacy. Rena already has rewritten three more Palace brochures for literacy students and has agreed to review others for the new New Mexico History Museum.”
Additional “Adult Literacy Guides”—without free-admission tickets—are available at the Palace of the Governors and on the exhibition Website, www.privatepress.org, as is the “Lasting Impressions Curriculum, Teacher Guide and Lesson Plans” for early literacy and other students.
The Adult Literacy Guide was made possible by funding from the Dusty and Kathy Loo Fund, Pikes Peak Community Foundation and from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal grant-making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners by helping libraries and museums serve their communities. The IMLS and the Brindle Foundation funded research, writing, graphic design and printing of the curriculum guide. To learn more about the IMLS, please log on at
http://www.imls.gov
The Palace of the Governors is part of the Museum of New Mexico/Department of Cultural Affairs.
www.palaceofthegovernors.org
