Southport's Pequot Library Receives Philanthropic Arts Program Grant

News release from Pequot Library:

FAIRFIELD, CT — Pequot Library is pleased to announce the receipt of a Philanthropic Arts Program grant award in the amount of $10,000 from Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation in support of Passport to Pequot Library: K-12 School Programs for Special Collection Exhibition tours and Meet the Orchestra (MTO) for K-12 students during the academic year of 2024-2025. “We’re grateful for Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation’s generous support in helping Pequot Library continue to remove barriers to student access for high-quality educational enrichment that reinforces and develops academics while at the same time cultivating the joy of lifelong learning,” says Stephanie J. Coakley, Pequot Library’s Executive Director.

Since 2015, Passport to Pequot Library has served students from CT schools across Fairfield, Bridgeport, and Westport, with an annual threshold of 70 percent of students each year from Bridgeport Public Schools. The library offers the program at no cost to Title I schools, including bus transportation for field trips. “Whether they are analyzing 16th century maps, reading 1830s children’s books by LED candlelight, or puzzling over annotations in the margins of Shakespeare’s second folio, students engage with primary sources from Pequot Library’s Special Collections and make connections to the past in ways that aren’t possible in many other places. It is truly a privilege to be part of the process in making this happen,” says John Kofron, Pequot Library’s Youth and Teen Library Services Manager.

ABOUT PASSPORT TO PEQUOT LIBRARY:
Passport to Pequot Library enriches classroom curriculum, aligns with Connecticut Common Core
Standards, strengthens academic skills, expands knowledge in a subject area, fosters lifelong interests in reading and learning, and increases student awareness of their own community and the world around them. The program accomplishes these goals through engaging and interactive programs that include Special Collections Exhibition tours and MTO concerts, incorporating PL’s Special Collections of rare books, manuscripts, and archives, one of the most robust collections of any public library in Connecticut.

ABOUT MEET THE ORCHESTRA:
Meet the Orchestra is a live concert series for Bridgeport students, grades K-8, in partnership with Music for Youth. Dovetailing with Pequot Library’s Special Collections exhibitions, the series introduces students to orchestral instruments, repertoire, and ensembles during an interactive experience in Pequot Library’s architecturally and historically significant auditorium.

ABOUT THE CORNELIA T. BAILEY FOUNDATION:
The Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation was founded in 2007 due to the generosity of Cornelia Tarrant Bailey and is dedicated to her memory. Mrs. Bailey enjoyed supporting philanthropic organizations centered on education, veteran outreach, medical research, and most significantly, the arts in all forms. Its mission is to promote the arts, education and initiatives that seek to better our world utilizing nature and the sciences.

Cornelia T. Bailey Philanthropic Arts Program (P/Arts) stands for Philanthropic Arts and is the
Foundation’s initiative launched in 2019 to help catalyze non-profit, tax-exempt public charities,
accredited schools and universities, and government or public agencies. They want to help implement or enhance educational programs utilizing the arts in daily curricula for early childhood education programs as well as K-12 students.

ABOUT PEQUOT LIBRARY:
Founded in 1889, Pequot Library’s mission is to enrich lives by serving the cultural, educational, and intellectual needs of the entire community. Its annual programs for adults and children serve more than 45,000 participants a year. As a public association library 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the library relies on the generosity of individual donors and foundations, special event fundraisers, grants, corporate and community partners, and Friends of Pequot Library memberships. Follow Pequot Library on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.