Upcoming Events
A fun(draising) party at the Tiniest Bar in Texas!!!
817 West 5th Street Austin, TX
Saturday, November 5 8pm-2am
Free entry * DJ Dance Party * Silent Art Auction
Proceeds from this party will go toward building a free public library in Busia, Kenya. We have secured the land, and we have a plan for sustaining the operation of this library for decades to come. All we need is a building to provide 500,000 citizens of Busia County, Western Province, Kenya with access to research and communication tools, a safe space to go after school, and a... venue for civic engagement.
Many citizens of Busia and elsewhere in Kenya have already contributed and continue to offer funds, expertise and labor to support the building of a fully-equipped library in their county.
DJ Stereo Stepdad has kindly volunteered to spin some sweet soul and motown beats for us to dance to! Special thanks to him as well as the University of Texas Chapter of the American Library Association/Texas Library Association (ALA/TLA), which has offered to buy drinks for the first 5 people in the door!
Further, the Tiniest Bar in Texas is kindly donating a portion of drink sales to this effort!
We hope you donate too.
Past Events
Life on the Shores of Lake Victoria
Friday, October 7 · 8:00pm - 11:00pm
Come out for Portland's Friday Art Walk and be transported to the eastern shores of Lake Victoria. In collaboration with the Museum of African Culture, Maria's Libraries presents the art of Vincent Ouma, Erick Ayoti, and Seth Amollo. Food, wine, art. It's a celebration.
13 Brown Street, Portland, ME 04101.
Harambee to benefit Busia Community Library, Nairobi, Kenya Saturday, July 10, 2010. 3pm-6pm
The Makini School poolside
Hosted by The Honorable Member of Parliament Chrys Okemo
Featuring special readings and performance art by Kwani Trust. For directions click here.More info on our Facebook page.
Harambe to benefit Busia Community Library, Busia, Kenya, April 3 2010
All Friends of the Busia Community Library are welcome to celebrate the cultures of Western Kenya with dance, music and food! There will be raffles and activities for kids. We hope that you will buy bricks for the library!
Entry fee: One book to be donated to the Busia Community Library.
Location: On the site of Busia's future library! Next to Posta.
We look forward to seeing you on April 3!
Community Meeting Busia, Kenya July 18 2009
A gathering of all interested parties, including local educators, civic leaders, and politicians to discuss the future of the library. We generated new ideas, discussed what books the community needed and were interested in, and had a great meal!
Reading Tent Busia, Kenya July 16, 2009
Kids from 10 area primary schools came by our reading tent to check out the new books at the libraries. Kids could take out and return books. There was poetry reading, a painting competition and a reading of Maya Angelou’s children’s book Life Doesn’t Frighten Me At All. These kids have talent!
Benefit Concert at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO New York, NY June 9, 2009
New York’s funnest young philanthropists gathered at Galapagos Art Space to watch burlesque, listen to music and throw a few back for a good cause! Thanks New Yorkers for your generosity!
Bike Ride to Coney Island New York, NY April 25, 2009
Friends of Maria’s Libraries met at Riverside Park in Uptown Manhattan to ride bikes to Coney Island to raise money for Maria’s Libraries. If the good cause wasn’t enough, the Nathan’s hotdog’s waiting for us at the end were plenty reason to get on those bikes!
Maria's Libraries is a registered 501(c)3 organization and all contributions are tax deductible.