MSU Riley Center to be featured on MPB TV this Thursday, May 3, 2007 at 8:00 pm

Program Recorded in Center’s Historic Theater Marked Opening of Smithsonian’s Exhibit on American Roots Music

Meridian, MS—A program featuring performances by a variety of Mississippi “roots” musicians in the Mississippi State University Riley Center’s historic theatre will be aired statewide on Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB) Television on Thursday, May 3, 2007, at 8:00 pm. The one-hour television program will include performances by a diverse group of artists who performed at the MSU Riley Center to mark the opening of the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibit, entitled New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music.

The MSU Riley Center hosted a national kick-off celebration on Saturday, March 27, 2007, that included a two-hour program of roots music in the Center’s historic theatre. The program was free and open to the public and was aired live on MPB Radio and recorded for airing on MPB Television. Thursday’s television program will include performances by The Vernon Brothers (Bluegrass), Fiddling’ Bill Rogers and Chris Goertzen, Cadillac John and Bill Abel (Blues), Britt Gulley as Jimmie Rodgers (Country) and The Rust College Choir (Gospel), as well as interviews with Mississippi Humanities Council and MSU Riley Center personnel. Bill Ellison, host of MPB Radio’s Grass Roots on Saturday nights, served as the emcee for the program. The Smithsonian’s traveling exhibit, which was housed in the MSU Riley Center’s Grand Lobby throughout the month of April, is scheduled to be at the following locations before moving onto other states:

New Albany: Union County Heritage Museum May 6 – Jun. 21, 2007

Vicksburg: Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation Jun. 28 – Aug. 9, 2007

Gulfport: Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Sept. 1 – Sept. 28, 2007

Columbia: Marion County Historical Society Museum & Archives Oct. 2 – Nov. 14, 2007

Clarksdale: Delta Blue Museum Nov. 21, 2007 – Jan. 16, 2008

While the exhibit was at the MSU Riley Center, several events—most free and all open to the public—were hosted to support and complement the exhibit, including a lecture by Scott Barretta, host of MPB’s Highway 61 and past editor of Living Blues magazine; educational workshop for teachers with study guide materials provided; group tours for school children, including a scavenger hunt exercise to help students explore the exhibit; a studio theatre performance by New Orleans blues and folk rock musician, Spencer Bohren, and finally a performance by folk country and Celtic artist, Kathy Mattea. In addition, the Meridian Museum of Art hosted a photography exhibit showcasing Mississippi blues artists by Meridian’s own award-winning photographer, Marianne Todd. The photography exhibit has since been shown at the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion and is scheduled to appear in other locations where the Smithsonian Exhibit will be traveling.

“Hosting the Smithsonian exhibit was a tremendous opportunity and honor for our center and our community. Aside from the incredible relevance of the exhibit's content to this area, the exhibit attracted many newcomers that came to experience the Riley Center for the first time,” said Dennis Sankovich, executive director of the MSU Riley Center. “The exhibit also provided a fabulous opportunity for us to partner with a variety of other organizations that help promote and further the arts and education, including Mississippi Humanities Council, the Jimmie Rodgers Foundation, Meridian Community College, and the Meridian Museum of Art to name a few.”

“We will continue to work with other groups to further the community’s interest and participation in the arts as a means to improve our area’s quality of life and enhance the community’s appreciation for our culture and heritage, as well as that of others around the nation and the world. The arts provide a wonderful means to understand and appreciate our cultural differences and similarities. In many ways, that is what this exhibit was all about,” said Sankovich. “In the future, you can expect us to continue partnerships and activities that further this type of learning, growth and development through the arts.”

Each time the Smithsonian exhibit moves to a new location across Mississippi, MPB TV will air the New Harmonies program recorded at the Riley Center again as a means to remind Mississippians of the exhibit and encourage them to visit a location near them. For more information about MPB, visit www.mpbonline.org.

About the New Harmonies Exhibit:

New Harmonies was made possible in Meridian by the Mississippi Humanities Council and a partnership between the Jimmie Rodgers Foundation, Meridian Community College and MSU Riley Center. New Harmonies is part of Museum on Main Street, collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the Federation of State Humanities Councils. Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress.

About MSU-Riley Center:

The Mississippi State University Riley Center for Education and Performing Arts is committed to improve the quality of life and contribute to economic development in this region by providing cultural enrichment, educational opportunities and a state-of-the-art conference space that attracts meetings, conferences and special events, boosting local and state tourism activities. The multi-use center presents a variety of performing arts events designed to appeal to people of all ages, backgrounds and interests, in addition to providing educational performing arts programming for students K-college and arts education training for teachers. The multi-use center includes the restored Grand Opera House of Mississippi and a four-story, state-of-the-art conference facility. The center is operated by Mississippi State University - Meridian Campus.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Penny Kemp, marketing director

601-696-2203 / 601-480-7557 / pkemp@riley.msstate.edu