A musical legend will drop by the Clay Center in Charleston on Tuesday.
At 5:30 p.m., Dolly Parton will visit the cultural center for “An Evening with Dolly: Celebrating Imagination Library in West Virginia.”
The event will feature a fireside chat with the singer, as well as a performance of two songs.
It is not open to the public, but will be broadcast and streamed on West Virginia Public Broadcasting television stations and social media channels starting at 5:30 p.m.
The Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences is located at 1 Clay Square, Charleston.
Parton is a singer, songwriter, actress and early childhood literacy advocate whose program, Imagination Library, is administered in West Virginia through a partnership between Marshall University’s June Harless Center and the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE). It provides a high quality, age-appropriate book each month to enrolled children from birth to age five – at no cost to families in all 55 counties.
Last year, the WVDE announced a major Imagination Library milestone with all 55 counties active in the program. Parton promised to visit West Virginia once all counties were onboard making the state one of 11 in the U.S. with the distinction. More than 3 million books have been provided to children in the Mountain State since 2007, and nearly 2 million books are mailed each month to children around the world.
Early childhood literacy is the foundation of academic achievement and success. Parton’s Imagination Library has become the pre-eminent early childhood book-gifting program and is built on decades of research demonstrating that having books in the home supports a love of reading and literacy skills.
To learn more about the Imagination Library or to enroll a child, visit the June Harless Center website or WVDE website.
Follow the WVDE online on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
The flagship program of The Dollywood Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has gifted well over 182 million free books in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and The Republic of Ireland. The Imagination Library mails more than two million high-quality, age-appropriate books each month to enrolled children from birth to age five. Parton envisioned creating a lifelong love of reading, inspiring children to dream more, learn more, care more and be more. The impact of the program has been widely researched and results suggest positive increases in key early childhood literacy metrics. Penguin Random House is the exclusive publisher for Parton’s Imagination Library. For more
information, please visit imaginationlibrary.com.
