The City of Meridian Cultural Affairs Coordinator has a variety of duties. The purpose of the division is to serve as a resource to the community to encourage/promote development of festivals, special events, and cultural resources, to work with local art organizations and artists, and to promote and establish awareness of cultural activities in the city.
Click here to view the calendar of events.

Cultural Affairs is involved in the following events:

 

Arts in the Park
Arts in the Park is held each year on the first Saturday in April at Bonita Lakes Park and features a juried art show and sale, stages filled with local entertainment, local non-profit food vendors, free hands-on children's activities, and paid children's activities including inflatable fun activities and a rock climbing wall. Admission to Art in the Park is 1.00 for adults; children under 12 are free. Each year Art in the Park generates approximately $36,000.00 in revenue, which does not include restaurant sales, artist and vendor supplies, hotel and motel rentals, gasoline purchased by out of town artists, vendors, and tourists. Art in the Park is a fun and entertaining event held each year by the Meridian Council for the Arts, Inc., but it also represents a strong economic impact to the city, it's businesses, as well as art and charitable organizations e.

 

City of Meridian Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony
The City of Meridian Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony is held at the beginning of the Meridian Downtown Association Holiday Season promotional presentations. These events are held the last week of November or the first week in December, starting with the Official Tree Lighting Ceremony and finished by the Meridian Downtown Christmas Parade. The tree lighting has been held on the lawn of Meridian's City Hall in the past, but due to renovations being made at the City Hall building, this year the official "Tree Lighting" was held on Dumont Plaza with a tree especially selected for the Plaza. The offical "City of Meridian Tree Lighting" is planned for Dumont Plaza until the renovations are complete at City Hall. The Holiday Season is full of plays, a symphony concert, and events at the MSU-Riley Center and various other sites throughout the City. Check the calendar of events for specific details.

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Threefoot Art Festival

October 13th 2007, will be the date of the Fith Annual Threefoot Art Festival.

Meridian Council for the Arts, Inc. is dedicated to providing high quality art experiences and the Threefoot Festival is no exception.

The mission of the Threefoot Art Festival is to showcase work of exceptional quality and creativity by artists in a variety of mediums. It is our goal to nurture artistic expression by providing an opportunity for artists to share and sell their work; to educate the public about the creative efforts of artists; and to add to the cultural climate and quality of life in the community, state, and region.

The festival is held on and around Dumont Plaza , and on 4th and 5th Streets between 22nd and 23rd avenues. This is the area next to the MSU-Riley Performing Arts and Educational Center now called “The Riley Center” in the heart of downtown Meridian .

Twenty-five to thirty exhibitors from several states will be selected to be a part of our festival using a juried-artist criteria that is governed by Meridian Council's for the Arts standards of quality, originality, and creativity as interpreted by a jury of visual art professionals. Many of the artists will be from out of town. Most of the out of town artists will arrive on Friday night and stay overnight in local motels at least one night and eat in local restaurants as well as purchasing gasoline for their return trip home. The Lauderdale County Tourism Bureau is working with our local hotels and offering packages and special festival prices to the artists to entice them to stay at their hotels.

Approximately $3,750.00 is awarded to the artists participating each year during the Threefoot Art Festival as Artist Merit and Best in Show Awards. There is also approximately $2,500.00 spent with the artists in the form of art purchase awards. These purchase awards are sponsored by corporations and individuals and guaranteed to be spent with the artist during the festival. Our participating artists turn in sales tax receipts showing a total of approximately $8,000.00 in art sales for the day of the festival.


The Threefoot Art Festival also features live music and entertainment throughout the day and a Chili Cook-Off. Chili Cook-Off Teams decorate their booths and cook their chili on site to compete for trophies and $ 1,600.00 dollars in prize money not to mention the bragging rites as “Best in Show” Threefoot Art Festival Chili Cook-Off Team for the year. The crowds of festival goers will choose a People's Choice Chili for 2007 as well, by sampling the wares of the Chili Cook-Off Teams. Festival goers are also able to purchase food and beverages from local organizations scattered throughout the festival. Local downtown stores join in on the fun and hold special sales and promotions. So you can see that the festival is turning out to be an economic plus for the downtown merchants, local restaurants, hotels, and for the artists that participate in the festival.

Admission to the festival is free so it is hard to get an accurate count of attendees. We do know that sales were good for the artists and that the crowds were heavy for the chili cook-off teams and to listen to and watch the free entertainment. We estimate 4,000 to 5,000 people will attend this year's festival.

This year's Threefoot Art Festival is shaping up to be a banner year, by growing in size and in economic impact.

The Meridian Council for the Arts is proud of the public reception to our newest art endeavor and is pleased to be able to say that the Threefoot Art Festival project is a success in every way.

Please click HERE to view the the flyer for the upcoming ThreeFoot Arts Festival.

 

Main Event
Cultural Affairs is on the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation’s “Main Event” committee. Each year in April the event is held and the entire main stage entertainment is organized and provided by Cultural Affairs/Meridian Council for the Arts. The stage is filled with free local talent from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Main event is a business and industry expo that showcases businesses and industry.

 

Meridian Day-Neshoba County Fair
Meridian Day at the Neshoba County Fair, billed as the Nation's Giant House Party, is coordinated by the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation and is held each year on the last Wednesday during the Neshoba County Fair. Politicians and local Meridian residents gather at the fair to partake in a political forum, win door prizes, and in general have a good time. Cultural Affairs is in charge of the City’s participation in Meridian Day. We provide a tent and display that features local Cultural Affairs, Arts Council, Main Street, Retiree Recruitment, and Keep America Beautiful events that are held throughout the year in Meridian. Cultural Affairs also provides various items with the city logo on them to give away to everyone attending Meridian Day.

Around Town Carousels Abound
Cultural Affairs has also helped in the coordination of the fun outdoor public arts project Around Town Carousels Abound. The project is intended to promote community pride and spirit throughout the county, region and state. It excites the creative thought-process of many seasoned and aspiring artists. It encompasses the hard work and association of many volunteers and generous contributions of many carousel horse sponsors.

 

 

 

 

 

July 4th Pops Concert
Meridian Symphony Orchestra finishes their concert year with the annual pops concert. The day features good food supplied by food vendors, and plenty of fun for children at Bonita Lakes Park, and the evening features the best toe tapping patriotic symphonic music found anywhere. The concert usually includes a military fly-over and is ended with a fireworks show that is both beautiful and exciting! The annual MSO Pops Concert and City of Meridian 4th of July Fireworks Show, which draws in approximately 10,000 people, is Free to the public and has grown into a fun filled family day you don’t want to miss.

 

 

 

 

The Cultural Affairs Division keeps an up to date local calendar of events that is listed on the City of Meridian’s Website as well as distributed to local media and publications. This division also supplies the city’s website with information on art news and art events. If you have an even that you would like to have submitted please go to www.meridianms.org and click on events.

 

Meridian Council for the Arts Inc.
History of Organization:
The Meridian Council for the Arts (Meridian Arts Council) held its first meeting on January 30, 1978. At this meeting Norma Bourdeaux was elected as chairman, Betty Maude Downer was elected Treasurer, and Laura Kimbrell was elected as Secretary. The organization was officially chartered on October 30, 1978. During its first year the Arts Council became the fiscal agent for the Lively Arts Festival and presented its first program, Kaleidoscope, “an experience in art” aimed to reach children from 6 to 12 years of age. The first member organizations were the Meridian Little Theatre, Meridian Symphony Orchestra, Mahogany Performing Arts, Meridian Museum of Art, and Meridian City Schools.

The Meridian Arts Council evolved and progressed for the next nine years into an organization that held a children’s festival, art showcases, a newsletter, an art calendar of Events, and in general was an ambassador for the arts in the city. In 1987 & 1988 the council grew to the point that it hired a part time secretary and decided it was time to begin developing long- range planning for the council and its programs. The first long-range planning retreat was held for the arts council board in August 1987. This planning practice is still carried out by the council when it holds all day and or weekend retreats to develop their five year strategic plans and their long range program schedules.

In 1986 the Mississippi Legislature adopted bill SB#2257. This bill gave governing authorities of any municipality or county the power at their discretion to expend monies from municipal or county general funds for the purpose of matching any other funds available for the purpose of supporting the development, promotion and coordination of the arts within such municipality or county. The passage of this bill was the beginning of a movement within our state to have local arts agencies designated as the local umbrella agency for the promotion of the arts. The Meridian Arts Council used Jackson’s Art Alliance and Clarksdale’s Mississippi Delta Arts Council as examples in their bid to be designated as Meridian’s local art agency. This designation allowed the local art agency selected to pursue state and federal funding through grants available to local designated agencies.

On October 16, 1987 the City of Meridian declared the Meridian Council for the Arts the official arts agency for the City. Meridian Arts Council received its first funding from general funds in November of 1987 in the amount of $2,000.00.

In 1989 the Meridian Arts Council took over the Arts in the Park Festival and incorporated into it their own Children’s Festival held on July 15, 1989. Beginning on April 6-8, 1990 The Arts in the Park Festival was expanded into a three-day event. It has now moved to Bonita Lakes and is held on the 2nd Saturday in April. In 2002 the Meridian Council for the Arts added the Threefoot Art Festival to its program schedule. The Threefoot Art Festival is a juried Fine Art Festival held in Downtown Meridian on the second Saturday in October on Dumont Plaza and the streets surrounding the plaza.

On December 1, 1989 the Arts Council was recognized as the official arts agency for Lauderdale County.

The Meridian Arts Council continued to grow and mature. It patterned itself after arts agencies in the state and around the nation. They used Jackson’s Art Alliance, Clarksdale’s Miss. Delta Arts Council as examples as well as art agencies in Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia. Most of the agencies they learned from had a close working relationship with their city and were being funded by donations from their city, county, and state arts commissions as well as receiving in kind donations such as printing, office space, and staff from their local governments. Some of the cities had a position on their staff for a city event coordinator, special event coordinator, or cultural coordinator. These positions were often part of a Parks and Recreation Department in various cities.

On June 4, 1990 the City of Meridian hired Virginia Brown as Cultural Affairs Coordinator. This position was part of the Parks and Recreation Department at the time she was hired.

In September of 1991 the City’s Cultural Affairs Coordinator, Virginia Brown was moved into the Community Development Department of the City and her office and services were offered to the Meridian Council for the Arts as their Executive Director. This same restructuring of Events Staff was taking place in other cities as well. The state and nation were making a link with art organizations because they saw them as an economic/development and redevelopment tool to be used as an asset in their community planning strategies. The Cultural Affairs Division of the Community Development Department of the City of Meridian now not only has a fulltime coordinator but also shares a full time secretary with Keep America Beautiful, and is located in the downtown Arts District Parking Garage.

The services of the Cultural Affairs Coordinator and that of her secretary are given as an in-kind contribution to the arts council as their staff as well as the use of office space, office equipment, and various citywide services. This link works well for the city and the arts council in many ways. It promotes art and art organizations in the city, which in turn helps to promote the area to prospective industries that are being recruited to locate here. It helps to provide outlets for art organizations, and artists, brings in revenue when it sponsors events and presents art performances. In the last few years a strong trend that ties art organizations and presentations to downtown redevelopment/revitalization has been growing by leaps and bounds. (Example – MSU-Riley Center for Education and Performing Arts) At the present time many cities are wishing that they had a stronger link to their local art agencies and local art agencies are looking for strong links to their city and community development. Meridian is lucky to have had leaders that saw this trend coming and took steps to create these strong alliances early on. Feel free to check out the Meridian Council for the arts website by clicking here Meridian Council for the arts.

e-mail Cultural Affairs culturalaffairs@meridianms.org