Delta Blues Museum Receives $26,400 MAC Grant

August 12, 2026

Three-year grant awarded to help offset operating expenses

Clarksdale, Mississippi

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[Clarksdale, Mississippi - August 12, 2026] - Delta Blues Museum is the recipient of a $26,400 grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC). This grant is a portion of the more than $1.7 million in grants MAC awarded in Fiscal Year 2027 and will be used to support Museum operations over the course of the three-year grant period. MAC's operating grants are available specifically for arts-focused institutions as operating support to assist organizations in maintaining their financial stability, building their organizational capacity, improving their artist programs, and broadening their programs throughout the community.

"MAC is proud to support outstanding artists, arts organizations, and arts programs across Mississippi," said David Lewis, executive director of MAC. "We are grateful to Governor Reeves and the Mississippi Legislature for continuing to support the arts in Mississippi. With the crucial funding MAC receives from the Mississippi Legislature and support through the National Endowment for the Arts, we consistently witness how our grantees energize their communities through dynamic programming and enhance the lives of Mississippians."

Museum Director Shelley Ritter underscores the importance of the state's arts commission. "We are grateful for this support from the Mississippi Arts Commission. MAC's support is more than an investment in Delta Blues Museum-it is an investment in the cultural life of Mississippi. Operating support gives the Museum the capacity to keep our doors open, our programs active, our collections cared for, and the musicians' art and stories carried from one generation to the next. This investment from MAC helps ensure that the music and spirit of Delta blues artists continues to be preserved and heard."

The Mississippi Arts Commission is a state agency serving more than two million people through grants and special initiatives that enhance communities, assist artists and arts organizations, promote arts education and celebrate Mississippi's cultural heritage. MAC is funded by the Mississippi Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mississippi Endowment for the Arts at the Community Foundation for Mississippi and other private sources. For more information, visit www.arts.ms.gov.

For information about the Mississippi Arts Commission, please contact Ellie Banks, Communications Director, 601-359-6546 or ebanks@arts.ms.gov.

About Delta Blues Museum

Established in 1979 by the Carnegie Public Library Board of Trustees and re-organized as a stand-alone museum in 1999, the Delta Blues Museum is Mississippi's first music museum. A 2013 recipient of the IMLS National Medal for Museum and Library Services--the nation's highest honor for museum and library service to the community - and a 2014 recipient of the National Arts & Humanities' Youth Program Award, the Delta Blues Museum is dedicated to creating a welcoming place where visitors find meaning, value and perspective by exploring the history and heritage of the unique American musical art form, the Blues. The Museum is also recognized as a Great River Road Interpretive Center. For more information on events or programs, please call (662) 627-6820, or visit the Museum web site at www.deltabluesmuseum.org.

Members of the press may register in the PRESS ROOM on the Museum's website to access further information, downloadable images and related materials.

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This newsletter is supported in part by funding from the Mississippi Arts Commission, a state agency, and, in part, from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

This site is made possible through support from the Mississippi Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Rock River Foundation.