What do Librarians want?
We have been travelling the country working with libraries and librarians and these are the things we have found to be true.
That librarians want:
- To engage and delight the community with their programming slate.
- Develop programming that showcases the library as a fun, relevant, cutting edge place to be as well as a place to relax and snuggle up with a good read.
- To have their work be a hub for community building.
- To share their love of lifelong learning.
- To have fun at work and continue learning themselves.
- To stretch the programming dollar as far as possible.
- To positively impact the wellbeing of their communities.
- To engage tweens and teens.
We help libraries to achieve the above which is why we have a waiting list of 16 regions that are keen to bring our programs to them and 15 regions that just received the first round of our Click Happy programming.
Click Happy Visual Poetry Jams in Libraries
What is Click Happy?
Click Happy is an award-winning wellbeing program that is hidden inside a hands-on engaging photography workshop.
The Click Happy Visual Poetry Jams are opportunities for schools to meet up in the neutral ground of the library and collaborate and create art that builds community.
It is a day-long workshop held at the library or a library run building that teaches the following
- Cellphonography - how to unlock the power of your cellphone's camera so you can use it like a DSLR (the fancy big cameras)
- Mobile editing - how to quickly edit your photos using a free version of the tools used by pro photographers
- Street Photography - The photography challenges are done on an outdoor hunt through the city or town.
- Creative Grit - What is needed to truly develop your talent
- Creative Collaboration - Teams mixed up from the schools go on a Visual Poetry scavenger hunt to develop a portfolio of images to compete for prizes.
The students from the winning group receive scholarships to continue studying with Click Happy Plus.
Grit Scholarships will also be available for students who complete a 30-day Visual Poetry streak.
What does it cost our library to host a Visual Poetry Jam Session?
Nothing out of pocket but there is an investment of a librarians time to help promote the workshops with schools and organize space in the library and write a letter of request.
We do the work of getting grants to cover the cost of the road trip and facilitation as well as the National online program. Click Happy is funded from grants from COGS, District boards, and Creative Communities Funding.
Sounds Great! What do we need to do to become a collaborative partner with Click Happy?
- Send a letter on library letterhead stating you are willing to provide space and will act as the liaison between Click Happy and the schools.
- Contact 2-3 schools in the region starting with the lowest decile or the most remote schools first. (we can teach up to 30 youth in one session)
- years 7+ so typically ages 11 and up.
- Offer them space for their top 10 young visual artists to come and have a spot on the Visual Poetry Jam day. If you can only get two schools you can offer them each 5 extra or liaise with the local homeschooling families.
- Confirm dates
- Then confirm the schools that will be attending.
- We will run the workshop, and provide the prizes and scholarships and provide photos after the event to use in your library PR.
- If it goes well write us a letter of recommendation so that we can continue to be seen favourably by the local funding bodies.
Chris Pigott, Manager Libraries & Museum
"The workshops in three of our libraries were well-facilitated and well-attended. Mandi Lynn was confident and professional with the participants. The sessions were an appropriate mix of some theory and proportionately more activity – students learning through doing, with an expert hand to guide them.
There would be real value in Click-Happy courses continuing, particularly in areas like the Far North, where there are high levels of social deprivation and limited access to quality equipment and instruction. These sessions also have the potential to flick a switch for some of the participants and open up potential career pathways that they may not have realized existed.
We recommend the Click-Happy, and hope that it continues and grows."
Looks great. How do we get Click Happy to our library?
Easy just start the process off by writing us a formal letter requesting us to come to your library and email it to us on official stationery. This is the first step. We then use this letter when we are applying for grants to come and visit. We will stay in touch during the process but we find we are much more successful when we have a local request instead of us applying on our own.
In the letter it is good to include
- what libraries you would like us to visit
- that you will liaise with the local schools on behalf of the Visual Poetry Jam Collaboration Team (the team being Click Happy and the Library)
- what venue support you will provide
- What personnel support you will provide
- How this program fits with the mission of your library and what unique role it will serve in getting you patronage from that hard to access age group.
Then attach that letter to this form and we will be in touch.
Our wonderfully amazing brilliant funders & sponsors
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And Youth Librarians! We had no idea how amazing these community treasures are until recently! Thank you to all of the Youth Librarians who have seen the beauty in the project and have invited us to bring it to their region and who are helping to spread the word. You have halved our work and quintupled the number of youth who get to experience this program. What gifts! |
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