Delta Blues Press Release

July 25, 2024

Delta Blues Museum Receives $23,400 MAC Grant

Clarksdale, Mississippi

Two-year grant awarded to help offset operating expenses

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[Clarksdale, Mississippi - July 25, 2024] - Delta Blues Museum is the recipient of a $23,400 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 2025 and will be used to support Museum operations over the course of the two-year grant period. MAC's annual grant funds come from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Mississippi State Legislature. Awards were made in 92 Mississippi House of Representatives districts and 52 state Senate districts.

"Mississippi is synonymous with the quality of art that emits from our state. The arts enhance the quality of life and local economies,” said David Lewis, executive director for the Mississippi Arts Commission. "With the generous support from the Mississippi Legislature, we can activate our citizens' innate creativity and invest in our communities.”

Museum Director Shelley Ritter underscores the importance of the state's arts commission. "MAC is an anchor for arts organizations, artists, and arts education in our state. We are grateful for this generous support," Ritter offers, adding, "MAC's investment is key in helping the Museum continue to preserve blues culture and heritage, passing along its unique character and traditions to future generations of citizens."

About the Mississippi Arts Commission

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.

~ ends ~

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.