Daisha Walker, left, and Kathryn Lewis
Kathryn Lewis, teaching artist and retired fine arts chair at the Perkinston Campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, has been awarded a $500 grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC). This grant is a portion of the $1.2 million in grants MAC will award in 2008-2009. It will be used for Lewis and Daisha Walker, Perk speech and theatre instructor, to attend and present at the National Storytelling Network (the Mississippi Showcase) in Gatlinburg, Tenn., Aug. 7-10.
Lewis and Walker are part of the Stone County oral-history project The Telling Trees. They plan to share the collected stories at the storytelling event. “Our celebration of place has taken a few baby steps and some giant steps, but the challenge continues. We want every student to understand/appreciate this place they call home,” Lewis said, with Walker adding, “To present at the NSN is a huge honor and a wonderful opportunity to share with the rest of the nation what is happening in Stone County.”
Malcolm White, executive director of MAC, says, “The individual artists across the state continue to offer their talents to prove the value of the arts in Mississippi. Their creation of art and participation in local events and activities helps to insure the economic success of their community. The Mississippi Arts Commission is proud to support their efforts.”
Financial support for and partnership with The Telling Trees project has come from the Stone County Arts Council, Stone County Economic Development Project, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Mississippi Coastal Plains Resource Conservation and Development, the city of Wiggins, Mississippi Forestry Commission, Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, Land Trust for the Coastal Plain, Bodine Pottery, Charles Stuart Mott Foundation, the National Storytelling Network and Stone County supervisors. Also, a generous grant from the American Red Cross (Hurricane Recovery Program) provided the Longleaf Pine Basket Weaving experience for all four Stone County schools; funded many of the new murals at the schools; and scholarships for children attending the Summer Performing and Art Workshop at the Perkinston Campus of Gulf Coast.
MAC 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, MAC is funded by the Mississippi Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Wallace Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation, Donna and Jim Barksdale, the Phil Hardin Foundation and other private sources. MAC serves as the official grants-making and service agency for the arts in Mississippi.
