LA Kids Read Festival at Central Library

CauseConnect transformed LA Kids Read Festival by raising first-ever corporate sponsorships and introducing marketing strategies that quadrupled attendance from previous years — growing from 5,000 attendees at each of the first four festivals (1995-1999) to more than 20,000 children and their families (the venue’s capacity) in 2000 and every year until the event ended in 2004. The official kick-off for the citywide Summer Reading Club, this free festival for children and their families was held at the Central Library of the Los Angeles Public Library. Activities included puppet shows with Wonderworld Puppets, L.A. Puppet Professionals (now Swazzle), and P&T Puppet Theatre; African Drum Circles with Leon Mobley and da Lion; Razzle Bam Boom, a musical variety show by Mark Beckwith & Obediah Thomas; live children’s theater by Creative PlayGround of Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum; songs and stories for young children with Cowboy Ken Frawley and We Tell Stories; and art workshops.