On the City of Chandler program Power Conversations, Councilmember OD Harris interviewed Chris McKinley, a library branch manager, about low-cost cultural and learning opportunities offered by Chandler Public Libraries.

The Culture Pass program matters because it gives families an inexpensive way to visit cultural venues. McKinley said the pass, offered through the Valley libraries’ nonprofit partner Act 1, provides free admission for two family members per pass; patrons may check out one pass per visit.

McKinley said, “The culture pass is a pass that we've been offering for almost a decade here in the Valley. It's offered through Valley Library's, nonprofit partner called Act 1. And essentially, it just gets you free passes to local cultural hot spots. So you can check out one pass per visit per family, and each pass gets two family members into a location.” He listed locations families commonly use the pass to visit, including the Heard Museum, Reid Park and the Desert Botanical Garden.

McKinley also highlighted the library’s seasonal offerings: the summer reading challenge (this year’s theme is “Color Our World”), free ebooks and audiobooks, magician performances for children, paint nights for adults and programs for teenagers. He added that library cards are free to all Maricopa County residents, not only Chandler residents, and encouraged patrons to check branch desks or the library website for program registration.

On outreach, McKinley described a new bookmobile iteration called the Discovery Library intended to bring library services and story times to areas without a branch. “Our hope is to go into some of those places that we don't have branches next to and sort of meet the public where they're at,” McKinley said.

Library program listings and cultural-pass availability are on library branch desks and the library’s online listings.