Grants help fund work at Riley Center, other projects
By By Penny Randall / staff writer
Feb. 25, 2004
Four projects in Meridian including the Riley Education and Performing Arts Center are among 34 statewide that will receive grants from the Mississippi Arts Commission, it was announced Tuesday.
The Riley Center project includes the renovation of the Marks-Rothenberg building, the Newberry building and the Grand Opera House in Meridian. It will receive the largest award at $400,000.
Other Meridian organizations that will receive money from the commission's Building Fund for the Arts program include the Meridian Redevelopment Authority, $122,000; the Meridian Little Theatre, $11,023.60; and the Wechsler Community Arts Center Association, $31,601.25.
Meridian Little Theatre plans to use its funds for a new heating and air system. Representatives with the Meridian Redevelopment Authority declined to comment on the grant or say how they plan to use the money.
Jesse Brewster Jr., president of the Wechsler Community Arts Center Association, said his group will use the money to help renovate the auditorium of the old Wechsler School.
Brewster said when the $2 million Wechsler project is complete, the center will host plays, concerts, art classes, dance classes and other activities that benefit the community.
Wechsler was the first all-black school built in Mississippi with bond funds in 1894. The Wechsler Community Arts Center Association is raising funds to match the grant they will receive.
To help officials with the Wechsler Community Arts Center raise money, people can send a donation of $25 or more to Wechsler Restoration Fund, Trustmark National Bank, P.O. Box 5778, Meridian, MS 39302.
Funding from the Mississippi Arts Commission can total up to 60 percent of a project's final cost, but grantees are required to raise matching funds before state monies are disbursed.
The commission's building fund program began in 2001 and has since awarded $11 million in grants to state communities. This year it awarded an additional $3.26 million.
Following a panel review of this year's applications, the commission's board of directors approved the funding for the renovation, repair, expansion and enhancement of cultural projects around the state.
Commission Executive Director Tim Hedgepeth said the program, established by the state Legislature and funded through general obligation bonds, is designed to give the arts a stronger presence within Mississippi's communities.
The building fund grant program is "a unique and dynamic program, and one that you are not likely to see in many states," Hedgepeth said.
