Stacey Von Busch, Executive Director of the Pulaski Area Chamber of Commerce writes about the Chambers most recent project, the Reading Village. The Reading Village, a merge of public art and literacy rich environment, is supported by literacy data gathered and shared by Achieve Brown County.
The Reading Village aligns with a county wide project called Built Literacy Environments, that is apart of the Reading for the Future Initiative.
Read below to learn more about the Reading Village.
By Stacey Von Busch
“It was just last winter when I was staring at an open call for applications to the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation’s “Funds for Greater Green Bay” and wondered what sort of project I could put together for Pulaski. Two years into my tenure as Executive Director of the Pulaski Area Chamber of Commerce, I’d also spent the last seven plus years overseeing the artist advocacy non-profit, SAGE, based out of Green Bay. I was no stranger to grant applications, and over the years public art had been at the forefront of most of my efforts.
It’s not a coincidence that I’m a big fan of data; anything that assists with my application and enhances its chances of success is a vital resource to me. “Funds for Greater Green Bay” specifically encourages the use of various data, including what I chose to use, Achieve Brown County’s research around the reading proficiency of students across Brown County.
Introducing Pulaski’s “Reading Village”, an endearing little project activating a small strip of municipality owned park space in a quiet residential area. I specifically chose this location when creating this project because I knew activities needed to be quiet and peaceful given close proximity to homes. The proposal calls for a collection of tiny “houses”, structures with a solid wall along the back and two open walls that look like trellis on each side. I placed interior bench seating along these same three walls with storage drawers underneath to create efficient use of space. And to engage at least two local artists on the project, small stained-glass windows facing the rising sun and an a-frame roof creating space for mosaic design elements were added to enhance appearance. I envision sidewalk leading to each of these reading houses and a couple Little Free Libraries within the park as well.
Why a Reading Village? Achieve Brown County’s data showed me that students in the Pulaski area aren’t reading at their grade level yet, and Pulaski could use more activated community spaces. To frame a project around a community need just made sense. To make it within walking distance from school buildings made it accessible, and creating a unique space not only encouraged curiosity and intrigue but it created a signature asset that Pulaski can be known for. We’d have the only Reading Village in the county.
What I found even more valuable was the feedback collected from local parents as to the struggle to get kids to read to begin with. I remembered what it felt like to get that Book-It certificate and the sticker on my button when my mom took me to redeem it each time, and the lack of incentivization was mentioned in parent feedback. So, I reached out to my friends at the Village of Pulaski Police Department and asked if we could create a “Caught Reading in the Village” incentivization should this project come to fruition. Of course they were on board and we brainstormed the token gifts or coupons for free ice cream cones we would present a kid because they chose to be reading when we found them.
Alas, the grant application we submitted was not funded during the last cycle, but I’m so excited to share that the Village of Pulaski Parks and Rec Committee gave me permission to proceed in advocating for this idea in hopes that we do find it funded sooner than later. I’ll be honest when I say that had I not been encouraged to pull data from Achieve Brown County I don’t think I would have come up with the Reading Village project. But it’s alive and well and I’m pretty confident Pulaski is going to have something pretty special quite sooner than later.
Public Art is at the forefront of placemaking in communities across the United States and creative thinking has us utilizing local artistic talent to serve needs and propel community development. It’s a wonderful thing. The collaborative effort of analytical data and the arts is amazing, particularly for rural communities like Pulaski who often don’t have the same opportunities for community development as our urban neighbors.
An art project that addresses a community issue? Absolutely.”
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