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Delta Blues
Press Release
June 5, 2014
DELTA BLUES MUSEUM'S ARTS & EDUCATION PROGRAM
NAMED
2014 NATIONAL ARTS & HUMANITIES
YOUTH PROGRAM AWARD FINALIST
The nation's first museum
dedicated to the Blues is among only
50 U.S. museums recognized
for outstanding youth programming
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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[Clarksdale,
Mississippi - June 5, 2014] - The President's
Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and its cultural
partners--the National Endowment for the Arts, the
National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute
of Museum and Library Services--has named the Delta
Blues Museum's Arts and Education Program as a 2014
National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award Finalist.
The Museum's education program is being recognized
as one of 50 outstanding programs across the country
for its work in providing excellent arts and humanities
learning opportunities to young people. Of
the finalists, 12 award winners will be selected and
announced later this month.
The National Arts and
Humanities Youth Program Award is the Nation's highest
honor for out-of-school arts and humanities programs
that celebrate the creativity of America's young people,
particularly those from underserved communities.
The award recognizes and supports excellence in programs
that open new pathways to learning, self-discovery
and achievement. Each year, the National Arts and
Humanities Youth Program Awards recognize 12 standout
programs in the United States, from a wide range of
urban and rural settings. A complete list of finalists
is available on the NAHYP
website.
Recipients receive a
$10,000 grant and the opportunity to visit the White
House and accept the award from First Lady Michelle
Obama.
Awardees also receive a full year
of capacity-building and communications support, designed
to make their organizations stronger. In addition,
38 exceptional youth-focused arts and humanities programs
across the United States receive a Finalist Certificate
of Excellence.
"Our program is unique," offers
Museum director Shelley Ritter, "because we encourage
students to learn all the instruments - drums, guitar,
bass, and keyboard. In doing this the students also
develop rhythmic skills, a deeper understanding of
science - i.e tuning an instrument and how that tuning
responds to changes in temperature and climate; and
social skills. Learning all the instruments not only
makes for a better, more well-rounded musician, it
also gives the students a perspective on the importance
of each instrument to the collective whole."
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More 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 oldest music museum and the nation's first museum dedicated to the American art form known as the Blues.
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-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.
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.
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