Springfield library’s multicultural summer events begin this week

QuickTake:

The library’s multicultural summer series kicks off Wednesday with a Hawaiian hula presentation.

The Springfield Public Library launches nine weeks of multicultural music, dancing and storytelling events at its outdoor plaza this week.

Every Wednesday morning, from June 18 to August 13, the library is hosting free, public programs with diverse artists and organizations from around Oregon.

“It’s an opportunity for us to do literacy that is not just book literacy, but also social-cultural literacy,” said Mindy Linder, Community Engagement Specialist for the Springfield Public Library and History Museum.

The library typically hosts storytelling at that time, but it suspends that programming during the summer for the outdoor presentations. Linder said previous years’ summer programs have drawn several hundred people each week.

The first event, at 10:30 a.m. on June 18, features dancers from a Eugene-based Hawaiian cultural center and dance studio, Halau Hula o Na Pua o Hawaii Nei. The group will share stories of Hawai’i and will also demonstrate ancient hula with chanting and modern hula with Hawaiian music. Participants will learn some hula steps.

Linder said her goal with these programs is to “maximize representation of a diverse array of artists and culture holders that the community may not otherwise get to see and celebrate in person.”

Other programs will include a community sing-along and performance by Queer Choir Collective, a Mariachi presentation and Charro demonstration, a Bollywood dance party, a concert by a Zimbabwean-born artist, a First Nations music and dance celebration, and more. For a full lineup, visit the library’s webpage at https://wheremindsgrow.org/events/summer.