Clarksdale’s Griot arts youth program will be featured in a new True Delta Project documentary that will air on Mississippi Public Broadcasting stations in March.
The documentary “Griot Grit: Cultivating Community Through the Arts” tells the story of the special partnership between a group of dedicated teachers and students who spread hope in the Mississippi Delta by cultivating the arts and a sense of community in an after-school program called Griot Arts.
Inspired by the Griots of West Africa, they impart love and respect for the music and culture of Clarksdale, while nurturing a sense of responsibility for carrying on tradition and forging new ways of strengthening civic bonds. Together they embody Griot grit.
“Mississippi is this complex braid of people, race, religion, land, love, hate, smells, sounds, art, culture, fish tales and sordid truths and out of that can come so many incredible stories of hope, resilience and strength – “Griot Grit” is one of them,” said filmmaker Erickson “EB” Blakney.
“The film is a tribute to some great work that’s being done in the Delta,” said writer and director Dr. Lee Quinby.
She added, “The idea for the program came from a wonderful woman named Cali Larson Noland, who fresh with a degree from the University of Mississippi, wanted to give back to the community that raised her.”
Of the organization she founded, Noland said, “I hope that Griot will continue to be a light to dark places in Clarksdale and the Delta. There is so much negativity, but I have seen so much beauty over the last eight years. I pray it continues to be a bridge for disparate sectors of our small town.”
Noland said she learned the importance of acting on a dream by launching the nonprofit youth development organization.
“Don’t be afraid to be a dreamer,” Noland said. “God gives us ideas and inspiration and he wants us to trust him as we walk in faith day by day.”
University of Mississippi journalism and multimedia instructor Ji Hoon Heo served as director of cinematography and editor on the film.
Griot’s job-training component is the Meraki coffee roaster and café, located on Sunflower Avenue in downtown Clarksdale.
“Griot Grit” premieres Friday, March 22 at 9.30 p.m. on Mississippi Public Broadcasting television. The documentary airs again on MPB TV March 24 at 2 p.m and March 26 at 10 p.m.
“Griot Grit” is the latest work from the True Delta Project, founded by Quinby and Blakney.
The inception of the project was a 37-minute documentary film entitled “True Delta” (2012), a Lucky Find Production directed by Dr. Quinby and Daniel Cowen that focused on aging blues musicians, educators, business leaders and Delta Blues Museum members who are working to “keep the blues alive.”
“Howl-N-Madd” (2014) was the second documentary for the True Delta Project.
MPB aired two other tribute documentaries focusing on community programs in the Delta. “From the Crossroads to the White House” and “Enriching Destiny.” Both are available for viewing at PBS.Org. The soundtrack of “Enriching Destiny” features artist and award-winning Delta Blues musician James “Super Chikan” Johnson.
Blakney currently works for the Pinkerton Foundation and CBS News in New York City.
For the last 12 years, he has been a board member of the DreamYard Project, a social justice and arts education program in the Bronx. He plays a similar role on the board of the Clarksdale Animal Rescue Effort and Shelter (CARES), a no-kill rescue, adoption and educational organization in the Mississippi Delta.
