>> PORTFOLIO REVIEWS 
Saturday, March 21 
 
AUSTIN BRITT
photo credit Rory Doyle 

The Delta Arts Alliance Artist Survival Workshop Series continues with a PORTFOLIO REVIEW  on Saturday, March 21.

 

The portfolio review provides an opportunity to get valuable feedback and critical advice on your work from established art professionals, including AUSTIN BRITT, photographer, graphic designer, visual artist and musician; as well as JOSHUA VINCENT, academic and photographer. 

Make an appointment for your individual consultation and come prepared with a portfolio of your best work.

 
Arrive at 9:30 am for coffee. 

The portfolio reviews will run from 10am to Noon.


Free for DAA members. $15 for non-members.


For more information contact the Delta Arts Alliance at (662) 843-3344. To reserve a seat email signup@deltaartsalliance.org.


>> Tate Exhibit to Close Thursday

Boundaries, Jamie Tate
Jamie Tate's boldly exquisite exhibition opened in mid-February and the reviews since have astoundingly, resoundingly positive and praiseful. 

Her exhibit sadly leaves the gallery Thursday, March 19. Gallery Hours are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; 9.30am - 5.30pm & Wednesday and Friday, 8.30am - 4pm. 

For more on Jamie's work, please visit jamietateart.com. 
artist.in.residence (SPOTLIGHT)
ASHLEY BURTON
Ashley Burton introduces a map of Africa to her after-school arts enrichment students in Indianola. Burton is teaching African Drumming to over 20 children Mondays & Tuesdays at the B.B. King Museum as part of DAA's work with Delta Health Alliance.























QUESTION Why do you think it is so important to offer arts enrichment programs to the youth of the Mississippi Delta?

ANSWER: I t hink it is important for the youth in the Mississippi Delta to experience arts enrichment programs to further their education. Most of the youth aren't exposed to what these programs teach them. At their schools they may have music and art classes, but rarely. These enrichment programs give the students a chance to learn further into these subjects, and learn hands-on. 

QUESTION:  What are the benefits of teaching African Drumming?

ANSWER:  African Drumming teaches the students to work together to attain goals. Not only do they learn how to play drums, they also learn the African culture and the spiritual meanings of the rhythms. African Drumming is more than playing drums, it's about working together for a purpose.

QUESTION:  What has been one thing you didn't anticipate teaching? What has surprised you?

ANSWER:  I know exactly what I'm going to teach and in what order, but it doesn't always work like that. These students are so eager to learn every piece of information. I have never seen such a group of students that couldn't get enough. When I was teaching them about Africa and their culture, they had a thousand questions. They wanted to know everything possible. I didn't anticipate answering so many questions and them being so engaged. We spent most of the class period learning everything about Africa from what they eat to what they wore at weddings and celebrations.

QUESTION: Share with us some rewarding moments, funny moments, or poignant moments you've experienced thus far teaching?

ANSWER: Everyday seems to be rewarding for me. It's rewarding to see the students learn something new and see the excitement when they understand. Just with any group of students, there are countless funny moments. It's so important to have fun in the classroom and make the experience memorable.

QUESTION:  You may have the title instructor, but so often these kids teach us just as much as we teach them. What have you been taught this semester by this group of students?

ANSWER:  Each day I walk into the classroom, whether I have had a bad day or a good day, these students have taught me how to smile and laugh. No matter what, they are eager to learn and have fun. 

aspiring.artist (SPOTLIGHT)
MIA POWELL,  age 4
S HOW TIME! 
Mia is all smiles getting ready 
for the BIG SHOW. 

QUESTION 01: 
What are your favorite things about INTRO to STAGE ARTS dance class?

MIA's ANSWER:
"

Chass�.

Chass�.

 

Chass�.

 And, I love that we do pli�s."

 

QUESTION 02: 
What do you like about your MINI-MASTERPIECES art class on Tuesdays?

MIA's ANSWER:
"I love to glue things on."

QUESTION 03: 
 
LOOK WHAT I MADE! 
Mia shows off the first step
in her prehistoric, 
hieroglyphics art piece. 
What do you think it takes to be a great artist?

MIA's ANSWER:
"Painting good pictures."

QUESTION 04 
that became a CONVERSATION: 
Let's talk creativity, Mia. How do you define creative?

MIA:
"To be creative means, 'Be nice. Do the right things.'"
FIRST DAY! 
Mia joined the School of Dance 
in January 2014.


What do you need to be creative, to make art?

MIA:
"Paint...paint brushes, paper and WATER."

What do you have inside of you, inside of your head?

MIA:
"A BRAIN.'"

QUESTION 05: 
Are you going to continue to do art and dance classes, as you become older? 

MIA's ANSWER:
"Yes. It is fun."

TO SUPPORT DELTA ARTS ALLIANCE or TO BECOME A MEMBER, please visit our website at  deltaartsalliance.org
 and visit the support tab. 



THE DELTA ARTS ALLIANCE IS SUPPORTED, IN PART, BY FUNDING FROM THE MISSISSIPPI ARTS COMMISSION, A STATE AGENCY, AND THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS, A FEDERAL AGENCY. 


NEW E-NEWSLETTER

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
rori.eddie.herbison

Welcome, Readers to
Delta Arts Alliance's first issue of its NEW electronic newsletter,
FROM THE MIDDLE. 

If you look at a map of Cleveland, MS and drop your pen directly to the middle of the town, HI! That's us...Right there in the middle, 104 South Court Street, home to the Ellis Theater and the many, many happenings at the Delta Arts Alliance. 

But there is more to the name than location, it also speaks directly to our mission as an organization.

The Delta Arts Alliance is committed to being in the middle, to playing the middle man. We want to be the conduit of access into the inspiring, challenging, life-changing and wildly creative world of art and arts education. 

Our programming is vast and our work, worthy. Our job is to connect this community and its neighbors to the awesome opportunities that do exist and are available in this area for art lovers and patrons, alike, to the mildly curious to the relatively new.

I believe with all my soul, all my being - THE ARTS ARE FOR EVERY ONE. 

Do you have a favorite song? How does that song make you feel? You see, you've just had a meaningful and rich experience with the arts. 

Can you remember the first time your teacher read a book to you and you wanted to reread it yourself, because it was just that good? There you go, my friend. Another meaningful interaction with words and literature, all disciplines of art. 

As humans, we are drawn to interaction and the visual arts allow for interaction on a very visceral level. 

I have stood in this very gallery I am blessed to call my office and listened to sisters, couples and friends debate which painting, which piece, which artist is better. The beauty to their question, there is no better. There is no right, no winner to the debate. 

I will never get my mother to agree with the paintings I enjoy most or feel led to like, just as she can never get me to feel a song as she does. We may both like a piece of pottery or a dance routine, but it is impossible to say we feel it, we process it and we connect to it the same, exact way. 

And that is what I love so much about our work here at the Delta Arts Alliance. 

This month, we welcomed in H.T. Chen & The Chen Center Dancers from New York City. They used our dance studio, in preparation for their Chinese New Year performance at Delta State University. While here, the dancers performed two master classes for our DAA School of Dance. The Chen Dancers essentially taught the identical class for each group: same material, same dancers, same instruction, same props. SAME EVERYTHING, yet, our students, ranging in age from four to 12, could not have reacted more differently. Some thought the dancers were powerful, others thought they were graceful. Some thought the material was emotional, some thought it was historic. Beauty of the tale, neither are wrong. It was powerful, just as it was graceful. It was emotionally driven work, just as it was historically accurate work. Our students' take-away were varied, but all correct, and all personal. 

At the performance of "South of Gold Mountain," many of the DAA dancers were in attendance and again, their reactions as varied as their ages. 

And at the middle of it all,  FROM THE MIDDLE of it all, the Delta Arts Alliance - doing our work to connect, bringing access to dance, to the arts. It is what we do. It is what we believe in doing and it is what we are proud to do. 

I hope you will enjoy our first issue of today's newsletter and we look forward to bringing you more news, more spotlights, more stories in April. 

Until then,  MIGHTY THANKS to you all for your continued support of the Delta Arts Alliance. 

-rori 




up.next@THE.ELLIS

MARCH 31: Fundraising & Development Strategies, Presented by the MS Center for Non-Profits, 9am - 3pm. REGISTER HERE. 

APRIL 18: Cleveland Crosstie & Jazz Festival, Gallery Show Featuring MARY LOU LIBERTY. 
MORE INFORMATION 

MAY 01: SAVE THE DATE
Delta Arts Alliance Fundraiser, 1950s-Themed Dinner Theater





DELTA ARTS ALLIANCE IS A 501(C)(3) ORGANIZATION. 
GIFTS ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE.