To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Sunshine Week, the Library is hosting Open Doors: Freedom of Information Panel Discussion and Workshop plus a discussion and viewing of select works from printmaker Kim Morski. The event takes place in Central Library’s Carnegie Room on March 18.
Sunshine Week is an annual nationwide celebration of access to public information and what it means for you and your community.
The program begins at 6:30 p.m. as artist Morski discusses her 2014 series “Populace Mechanics,” which was inspired by St. Louis Community College Sociology Professor Lisa Martino-Taylor’s research into the Manhattan-Rochester Coalition, a secret Cold War Era chemical weapons study in St. Louis.
At 7 p.m., an Open Discussion with panelists Grant Doty, Staff Attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union; Lisa Martino-Taylor, professor of sociology at Saint Louis Community College; Kim Morski, award-winning Chicago based artist, printmaker, and bookmaker; Eleanor Tutt, co-captain of OpenDataSTL, a technology-based Open Government advocacy group; and Danny Wicentowski, staff writer at the Riverfront Times, examine the past, present, and future importance of an open government. The main topics of discussion include the importance of the Freedom of Information Act and Sunshine Laws; current threats to information access; and possible strategies for finding and making available timely government information.
After the discussion, participants can stay for Information Access Workshops, where they can speak with the panelists one-on-one to discuss methods for gaining access to information and ways to get involved with open government advocacy in St. Louis.