The GRAMMY Museum has announced its “The Great Ball of Fire” 2022 Gala,raised a total of $121,000. Proceeds will directly benefit the Museum’s education programs.
The 2022 Gala was held at GRAMMY Museum Mississippi in Cleveland, on Nov. 17, and posthumously honored the late GRAMMY-winning rock and roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis with the fourth annual Crossroads of American Music Award. Jerry Lee Lewis’s wife, Judith Lewis, attended the Gala and accepted the award in his honor.
This year’s Gala also recognized Brianna Battistelli Mabry, a Mississippi-born gifted education teacher at Senatobia Elementary and Middle School, with the third annual L.U.C.Y. Award (Lifting Up Children and Youth).
"It was a bittersweet evening celebrating the late legendary GRAMMY winner Jerry Lee Lewis at our 2022 Gala,” said Emily Havens, Executive Director of GRAMMY Museum Mississippi. “Jerry had been selected as the recipient of our 2022 Crossroads of American Music Award before he passed away in late October.
"It was such an honor to celebrate his life and career, as well as the achievements of our L.U.C.Y. Award recipient Brianna Battistelli Mabry, with an incredible evening of music and fundraising," she added. "We raised over $121,000 for the Museum — critical funds that will go directly to support all of the important work we continue to do here at the Mississippi Museum to help educate our young people on the importance and value of music."
The 2022 GRAMMY Museum Mississippi Gala was presented by Walmart. Additional support was provided by Quality Steel Corporation. The sold-out event featured performances by piano prodigy Jacob Tolliver, who portrays Lewis in the musical Million Dollar Quartet, and local Mississippi band the Compozitionz.
Mandi Dickens of Laurel Magnet School of the Arts in Laurel, Miss., was recognized as the runner-up for the L.U.C.Y Award during the event. The Gala also included a live and silent auction with items to bid on from GRAMMY-winning artists such as Brad Paisley, Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift, and more.
Established by the Museum’s Board of Directors, the Crossroads of American Music Award honors an artist who has made significant musical contributions influenced by the creativity born in the cradle of American music. Previous recipients of the Crossroads of American Music Award include GRAMMY winners Charley Pride, Bobby Rush, and Marty Stuart.
Named after devoted Mississippian and community advocate, Lucy Janoush, who was instrumental in securing funding for the development of the Mississippi Museum, the L.U.C.Y. Award, which stands for Lifting Up Children and Youth, celebrates K-12 educators from the state of Mississippi who embody the educational mission of GRAMMY Museum Mississippi.
The annual GRAMMY Museum Mississippi Gala is the Museum’s signature fundraising event. Proceeds from this year’s gala will benefit the Museum’s education program, which seeks to use music as a gateway to learning by inspiring and cultivating creativity, critical thinking, and self-expression.
