Natchez Festival of Music Receives Grants

Natchez Festival of Music Receives Grants From the Mississippi Arts Commission and the Southern Arts Federation in Partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts

Ronald McGowan, Chairman of the Natchez Festival of Music has announced that the Natchez Festival of Music has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC). This grant is a portion of the $1.2 million in grants the Commission will award in 2008-2009, and will be used to provide partial funding for the Festival’s May 2009 season.

The grants are made possible by continued funding from the Mississippi State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

“Organizations across the state who receive grants from the Mississippi Arts Commission continue to prove that arts programs are vital to the growth of their area. The grants awarded by the Commission provide funding for the staging of festivals, theatre performances and many other arts-related activities,” said Malcolm White, Executive Director of MAC. “Communities across this state are also learning the effect the arts have on the education of their children. Arts-based activities have a proven positive impact on at-risk youth and children enrolled in after-school programs.”

The Natchez Festival of Music provides a month-long festival of musical activities in May of each year. This year’s activities include a children’s opera, which will be performed in Braden Auditorium and surrounding area schools, recitals in antebellum homes and churches, major productions in the Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center, and numerous other performances in Natchez and the local community.

This year the Festival will begin with a performance on May 3 by the Alcorn State University Concert Choir at St. Mary Minor Basilica. Other major productions are an “Evening of Jazz” on May 9, the musical The Fantasticks, on May 16, and the opera Carmen on May 30.

Check www.natchezopera.com for more detailed information on the musical events scheduled.

The Mississippi Arts Commission is a state agency that serves more than 1.7 million people of the state through grants that support programs to enhance communities, assist artists and arts organizations, promote the arts in education, and celebrate Mississippi’s cultural heritage. Established in 1968, the Mississippi Arts Commission is funded by the Mississippi Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Wallace Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation, Donna & Jim Barksdale, the Phil Hardin Foundation, and other private sources. The Commission serves as the official grants-making and service agency for the arts in Mississippi.

In addition, the Natchez Festival of Music has been awarded a technical assistant grant from the Southern Arts Federation in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Southern Arts Federation (SAF) is a not-for-profit regional arts organization that has been making a positive difference in the arts throughout the South since 1975. SAF creates partnerships and collaborations; assists in the professional development of artists, arts organizations and arts professionals; presents, promotes and produces Southern arts and cultural programming; and advocates for the arts and arts education.

The organization works in partnership with the nine state arts agencies of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

* photo by Elodie Pritchartt