Mississippi Arts Commission’s Leslie Barker visits Columbus Arts Council
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Places like the Columbus Arts Council and similar organizations rely on grants to keep operations running smoothly.
That’s why Leslie Barker with the Mississippi Arts Commission visited the Columbus Arts Council today for ‘Meet the MAC.’
The Mississippi Arts Commission Travels throughout the state to discuss grant opportunities for artists, teachers, nonprofits, or any individuals who want to do art-related events for the community.
Barker said the MAC has project grants, which help arts and non-arts organizations doing arts projects.
Executive Director for the Columbus Arts Council, Quan Walker, said grants help their organization operate in ways that pour back into the community.
“I firmly believe, and we all do at the Mississippi Arts Commission, that the arts bring us together. It’s a way to share stories, it’s a way to process, it’s a huge part of our Mississippi Legacy. A lot of our projects are very community-centered. They might be after-school programs, they might be Main Street programs, they might be something like public art that literally beautifies the community. So, there are so many levels of what art can do, whether it’s gathering people, beautifying a community or again, just a way for us to share our stories with each other,” said Barker.
“I hope the community takes away that there are people willing to help us. We just have to actually go and apply for the grant to actually get the help. I think we can do so much more if we have money. People don’t know we have the resources, so this is just trying to show people there are actually resources out there where we can do more art-related things in our community,” said Walker.
The grant round is open from Feb. 1 to March 1.
For more information on grants, you can visit arts.ms.gov. You can also call (601)359-6030.
