Delta Blues Museum has received a $16,000 grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission, as part of the American Rescue Plan and in conjunction with the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This additional COVID relief funding will be used to help offset general operating expenses as we continue to face financial concerns due to the pandemic.
The Mississippi Arts Commission is a state agency serving more than two million people through grants and special initiatives that enhance communities, assist artists and arts organizations, promote arts education and celebrate Mississippi’s cultural heritage. MAC is funded by the Mississippi Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mississippi Endowment for the Arts at the Community Foundation for Mississippi and other private sources.
Established in 1979 by the Carnegie Public Library Board of Trustees and re-organized as a stand-alone museum in 1999, the Delta Blues Museum is the state's oldest music museum. The museum was a 2013 recipient of the IMLS National Medal for Museum and Library Services - the nation's highest honor for museum and library service to the community - as well as a 2014 winner of the National Arts & Humanities Youth Program Award.
Trumpet Records
A traveling exhibit featuring the story of Trumpet Records will be on display beginning in early 2022 in the Museum gallery.
Funded by the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area (MDNHA), our new exhibit and website feature chronicles the history of Jackson-based Trumpet Records, founded and developed by Lillian McMurry, and follows the success of its Delta-based artists.
"We are excited for our visitors to learn more about the history of Trumpet Records and the amazing woman behind it,” said Museum Director Shelley Ritter. “Lillian Shedd McMurry - with no prior experience in the music industry - opened a record store, launched a record label, and ran a recording studio where she produced, promoted, and engineered many Blues classics by artists such as Elmore James, Big Joe Williams, and Sonny Boy Williamson.”
Fender donates guitar, amps
The Delta Museum Student Band was recently gifted two new amplifiers and a new bass guitar, courtesy of Fender.
As the museum’s Arts & Education program classes have resumed in-person, its students and instructors are excited to get new gear--a new Fender Rumble 200 bass amp, a Mustang GTX50 guitar amp and a Fender Precision bass are each being put to good use already.
