Gilded Age Ball Introduces The Big Read

Massillon Museum’s Gilded Age Ball Introduces The Big Read

Imagine dancing the night away at a “Gilded Age Ball” on the stage of the Lions Lincoln Theatre to period music by members of the Canton Symphony Orchestra.

The Massillon Museum will launch The Big Read 2009 with a gala event on Saturday, February 28. The music will start at 8:00 p.m. and conclude at midnight, when free copies of The Age of Innocence will be distributed to all who attend. This year’s book selection, The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, portrays social life during The Gilded Age—the late 1800s and the turn of the 20th century.

Tickets, $25 per person, include refreshments. A cash bar will be available. Tickets for The Gilded Age Ball are available at the Massillon Museum in person, by phone at 330-833-4061, or online at www.massillonmuseum.org. The Museum accepts cash, checks, Visa, and Mastercard.

For those who simply wish to watch and those who need to brush up on their waltz and fox trot steps, skilled ballroom dancers will be on hand to demonstrate and instruct. “We hope that many area people who have taken up ballroom dancing as a result of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ will plan to attend the ball,” said Gretchen Schrantz, a Museum volunteer who is chairing the event.

“Costumes and period clothing are encouraged, but certainly not required,” said Massillon Museum Executive Director Christine Shearer, who leads The Big Read project. “Many of the staff and committee will be in ball gowns and tails,” she said. “That means there will be enough Victorian flavor to set the atmosphere and make anyone comfortable who wants to come in costume. But we know that many guests will prefer to wear contemporary clothes.” Museum events often invite costumes, but there is always an easy mix of styles.

The Big Read will be a month-long celebration of The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, funded by a competitive grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Massillon Rotary Foundation has provided additional funding to purchase copies of the book for classroom use. 2009 marks the second year the National Endowment for the Arts has granted funding for the Massillon Museum’s ambitious participation in The Big Read—a national initiative to help Americans return to reading for leisure.

The Big Read, the largest federal literature program since the W.P.A., is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents the Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. The Big Read brings together partners across the country to encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment.

For more information about western Stark County’s Big Read project, call the Massillon Museum at 330-833-4061 or visit www.massillonmuseum.org or www.NEABigRead.org.

Media Contacts:

Christine Shearer - Massillon Museum Executive Director - 330-833-4061

Margy Vogt - Massillon Museum PR Coordinator - 330-844-1525