NEA Chairman Jane Chu to Visit Mississippi July 17-18, 2017

Washington, DC –Jane Chu, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), will visit Jackson, Oxford, Clarksdale, and Indianola, Mississippi, July 17-18, 2017. While in the state, she will visit arts organizations funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Mississippi Arts Commission and give remarks at an event open to the public in Jackson. Chairman Chu will begin her trip on Monday, July 17 in Jackson, first meeting with a community group of quilters called SEW, an acronym for Sewing Every Wednesday. This group began with support from the Mississippi Arts Commission and meets weekly to sew and offer guidance on each other’s projects. Next, Chairman Chu will visit the Mississippi Museum of Art (the Museum), which received an FY 2017 grant of $10,000 from the NEA to support an upcoming interdisciplinary symposium to explore the issues related to art and identity in the American South. Chairman Chu will tour the Museum and hear about the impact of an NEA FY 2014 Our Town grant on the Museum’s Art Garden. At 11:00am at the Mississippi Museum of Art, Chairman Chu will give remarks about the ways the arts are bringing vitality to Mississippi communities while also supporting our national and local economies. Following her remarks, Chairman Chu will participate in a conversation with Malcolm White, executive director of the Mississippi Arts Commission, moderated by Betsy Bradley, director of the Mississippi Museum of Art. This event is free and open to the public. That afternoon, Chairman Chu will visit Yoknapatawpha Arts Council in Oxford. Chairman Chu will tour the arts council’s facility, The Powerhouse, and meet with their community partners, including artists who have participated in the Arts Incubator project, which the NEA is supporting with an FY 2017 grant of $10,000. The next day, Chairman Chu will visit Mississippi’s Delta region and two organizations supported by the Mississippi Arts Commission. First, she will attend a reception at the Delta Blues Museum, the world's first museum devoted entirely to blues, which in 2014 received a National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award in recognition of the Delta Blues Museum Arts and Education Program. At the reception, the Delta Blues Museum Band will perform. Next, Chairman Chu will tour the B. B. King Museum in Indianola. In 1991, B. B. King received a National Heritage Fellowship from the NEA, the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. The B. B. King Museum, in addition to Mississippi Museum of Art, Delta Blues Museum, and several other Mississippi museums are taking part in this summer’s Blue Star Museums program, a collaboration among the NEA, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and museums across America to offer free admission to the nation’s active-duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day. To find recent direct NEA grants to Mississippi organizations, visit the NEA’s grants search. The following events are open to the media but closed to the public, except where noted below. Media who wish to attend must RSVP in advance to the NEA at auclaire@arts.gov. July 17, 2017–Jackson and Oxford 9:15–9:45am Meet with SEW Sewing Every Wednesday quilting group Location: Pearl Street AME Church, 2519 Robinson St, Jackson, MS 39209 Participants: Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts Malcolm White, executive director, Mississippi Arts Commission Rhonda Blasingame, fellow with the Craftsmen's Guild of Mississippi/master quilter, Mississippi Arts Commission SEW quilters

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10:00–10:45am Tour of Mississippi Museum of Art Location: 380 South Lamar Street, Jackson, MS 39201 Participants: Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts Malcolm White, executive director, Mississippi Arts Commission Betsy Bradley, director, Mississippi Museum of Art Ellen Leake, chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mississippi Museum of Art Mayo Flynt, past chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mississippi Museum of Art Jochen Wierich, interim chief curator, Mississippi Museum of Art Julian Rankin, director of Art and Public Exchange, Mississippi Museum of Art

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11:00am–noon Public Event—Remarks and Conversation. This event is open to the public and no RSVP is required. Location: Mississippi Museum of Art, 380 South Lamar Street, Jackson, MS 39201 Participants: Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts Malcolm White, executive director, Mississippi Arts Commission Betsy Bradley, director, Mississippi Museum of Art

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4:00–5:00pm Site visit with Yoknapatawpha Arts Council Location: 413 South 14th Street, Oxford, MS 38655 Participants: Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts Malcolm White, executive director, Mississippi Arts Commission Wayne Andrews, director, Yoknapatawpha Arts Council Mrs. Robyn Tannenhill, mayor, City of Oxford Yoknapatawpha Arts Council staff Mr. Jon Maynard, CEO & president, Oxford Lafayette Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development Foundation Allen Kurr, vice president, Economic Development Foundation Dr. Jeff Dennis, board member, Yoknapatawpha Arts Council Andrea (Andi) Bedsworth, Art –to – Go Derek Brown, Life Long Productions

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July 18, 2017—Clarksdale and Indianola 11:00am–noon Reception with the arts community at the Delta Blues Museum. *Note- there are some photography restrictions at the museum. Location: Blues Alley Ln, Clarksdale, MS 38614 Participants: Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts Malcolm White, executive director, Mississippi Arts Commission Shelley Ritter, director, Delta Blues Museum Chuck Espy, mayor, Clarksdale, Rep. Orlando Paden, Mississippi House of Representatives Senator Robert L. Jackson, Mississippi State Senate

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2:00–3:00pm Tour of B.B. King Museum. *Note- there are some photography restrictions at the museum. Location: 400 2nd St, Indianola, MS 38751 Participants: Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts Malcolm White, executive director, Mississippi Arts Commission Malika Polk-Lee, executive director, B.B. King Museum John (Bill) McPherson, board chairman, B.B. King Museum Allan Hammons, founding board chairman and current board member, B.B. King Museum Robert Terrell, director of Operations, B.B. King Museum Verna Ransom, education coordinator, B.B. King Museum