Speaking of collaboration -- In Charlotte - Library And Children's Theatre Combine

Imaginon -- Children's Library/Theater, Charlotte, NC.

In "Imagine This: Charlotte’s ImaginOn takes a radical leap into the unknown," the School Library Journal reports the combination of a children's theater with the main library, in Charlotte-Mecklenberg, North Carolina. From the article:

It’s 10 o’clock on a Friday morning, and a large group of excited fourth graders arrives at ImaginOn in Charlotte, NC. Let free, they whiz past the information desk, and veer left, following the natural flow of this remarkable new building. One group heads for the children’s room, while another races deeper into the undulating structure, with its sloping roofs, slanted walls, and curving interior ramp, until they reach the Story Lab. Soon “ImaginOn: The Joe and Joan Martin Center” is buzzing with kids, tripping over each other to get a seat at one of the colorful computer stations or pulling armfuls of books off shelves.
Are we in a library, a museum, a theater? The kids are too engaged in playing, learning, and, yes, imagining, to care.

ImaginOn, it turns out, is a joint venture of the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) and the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte. And the Story Lab is very much its soul. Kids are no doubt drawn to its huge Story Jar (meant to represent the millions of stories in the world) and the old records, umbrellas, and shoes dangling from a Calderesque mobile hanging above.

“When we began to discuss collaboration back in 1997, we discovered that we were both in the business of storytelling,” says Bruce LaRowe, executive director of the Children’s Theatre. Thus ImaginOn’s mission: to “bring stories to life through extraordinary experiences that challenge, inspire, and excite young minds.”

Index Keywords: libraries