A state that spawned the likes of B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf and Elvis is not surprisingly well known for its musical heritage. But Mississippi is also a hub for visual and performing arts, literature and other cultural pursuits ranging from the Magnolia Independent Film Festival to the USA International Ballet Competition. Mississippi also brims with group-friendly venues for arts, culture and history. Following are 10 great cultural spots throughout the state.
1. MISSISSIPPI MUSEUM OF ART, JACKSON
www.msmuseumart.org
At the center of the state’s arts scene, Jackson’s Mississippi Museum of Art features an extensive collection of more than 3,000 works, including the world’s largest collection by and relating to Mississippians and their heritage.
In October, the museum opened its Art Garden, a 1.2-acre green space with outdoor installations. Its outdoor terrace dining, native garden beds and fountain areas are open to groups. The garden’s outdoor galleries host music and dance lessons, as well as festivals, art fairs and other community events.
“Our building is a magnetic force downtown, at the center of the cultural district,” says Julian Rankin, public relations coordinator for the Mississippi Museum of Art. “We opened a new building in 2007, and the Art Garden’s opening offers preeminent green space in the capital city. The location next to the Jackson Convention Complex means that all conventions that come in can look out onto 1.2 acres of green space and enjoy art in the outdoor installations.”
Other areas of the museum open to group functions include the Trustmark Grand Hall, Selby and Richard McRae Lobby and the Museum Garden Patio. Groups can also arrange a private viewing of the permanent collection. For more intimate gatherings, the Yates Community Room can host 70 for seated dinners or 80 standing.
The museum can also close off the new Art Garden for large private events or make areas of the garden available to groups.
“One of the facets of the garden is the Art Garden stage. It will be one of the best venues for bands,” Rankin says. “We’re going to have a free concert series every Friday night. Bands can lease the space, too.”
Groups can also take advantage of the Museum School, which offers summer classes and now outdoor art classes in the garden.
2. TUPELO AUTOMOBILE MUSEUM, TUPELO
www.tupeloautomuseum.com
For car buffs, the Tupelo Automobile Museum exhibits more than 100 antique, classic and collectible automobiles, illustrating the progress of over 100 years of automobile design and engineering.
Groups can take a self-guided tour that starts with an 1886 Benz, representing the birth of the automobile, and culminates with a never-driven 1994 Dodge Viper. The collection, valued at over $6 million, includes a rare Tucker, a Lincoln previously owned by Elvis Presley, one of Liberace’s elaborate cars and The Leslie, one of the two pickup trucks cosmetically modified to duplicate the appearance of the 1907 Thomas Flyer in the 1965 film, The Great Race.
“Groups can enjoy the automobile museum as well as have an event there,” says Linda Elliff, director of sales for the Tupelo CVB. “Some of them have had formal functions. They love it. They can theme their event. Groups have hired Elvis tribute artists for parties. We can move the cars into a certain area for a backdrop or we can theme for whatever the imagination allows, such as a Bonnie and Clyde ’60s-era theme.”
3. OHR-O’KEEFE MUSEUM OF ART, BILOXI
www.georgeohr.org
Biloxi’s Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, designed by Frank Gehry, features an array of art and pottery by Mississippi artist George E. Ohr, known as “The Mad Potter of Biloxi.
The museum was originally housed in the George Ohr Arts and Cultural Center, which opened in 1994. It was set to reopen in a new Gehry-designed construction in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina destroyed both the new construction and the original cultural center. Last year, the first phase of the museum’s new $35 million complex debuted, including the Mississippi Sound Welcome Center, IP Casino Resort Spa Exhibitions Gallery, Gallery of African American Art and the Pleasant Reed Interpretive Center, each of which can host events.
“We can also arrange for local artists to demonstrate if groups would like,” says Julie Gustafson, marketing and development manager for the museum.
The Mississippi Sound Welcome Center and Plaza are also available for party rental.In addition, the Center for Ceramics is slated to open by June 2012. According to Gustafson, the center will house a working studio on the first floor, a community space with an outdoor terrace that groups can rent on the second floor and a boardroom on the fourth floor available for rent. There is a resident potter on staff who could potentially offer group pottery lessons or demonstrations.
4. MSU RILEY CENTER, MERIDIAN
www.msurileycenter.com
The MSU Riley Center, which debuted in fall 2006, is located in the heart of downtown Meridian and offers cultural and artistic performances as well as educational options. The center includes a fully restored 1889 grand opera house theater that seats approximately 950, a 200-seat studio theater and 30,000 square feet of meeting space.
“We use every room in the building,” says Suzanne Helveston, conference sales manager of the MSU Riley Center. “Groups can use the opera house itself for banquets. The stage has been used for various dinners. The beauty of having a conference here is that we often try to schedule a performance to complement the conference.”
Despite its history as an opera house, the center presents a variety of musicians and performances.
“Our opera house was a grand opera house, but now we offer a lot,” Helveston says. “We’ve had the Charlie Daniels Band, children’s performances and performances in partnership with the Kennedy Center.”
Pre-show socials can be organized, as well as private receptions followed by a concert. Groups can also have an artist come for a Q&A session, workshops or a master class in dance or music. Concert requests would have to be placed far in advance.
“They can’t always request an artist but we try to work with them,” Helveston says.
5. BAY ST. LOUIS LITTLE THEATRE, BAY ST. LOUIS
www.bsllt.org
Though the original Bay St Louis Little Theatre was heavily damaged from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the theater recently completed a renovation and reopened in its original historic building.
The theater company was founded in the living room of John and Mary Bell in 1946, and two years later a local physician donated land located on Boardman Avenue to the Little Theatre. The auditorium and stage were originally constructed from dismantled war-surplus barracks from the Seabee base in Gulfport. The theater remained there for 57 years until the hurricane.
The theater’s claim to fame is its appearance in the 1966 Robert Redford film This Property Is Condemned.
In 2008, the theater’s board of directors purchased the building with a grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission and a grant from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, which funded the renovation.
Groups can use the theater for events and offsite receptions.
6. SAENGER THEATER, HATTIESBURG
www.hattiesburgsaenger.com
The historic Saenger Theater in downtown Hattiesburg was designed by famed New Orleans architect Emil Weil and opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1929. The 1,000-seat movie palace, which is listed on the National Register of Historical Places, has characteristics typical of Neo-Classical Revival and Art Deco styles as well as a few Mayan-inspired elements.
In addition to its architectural virtues, the theater is home to a 778-pipe Robert Morton Pipe Organ, which is one of the only Morton organs in the country still in its original location.
Meetings and events held at the Saenger can include keynote addresses and wine and cheese receptions.
The theater can also theme an event or provide unique characters.
“We have had ‘Charlie Chaplin’ there in the past to greet guests, hand out roses, open the doors, and walk the red carpet,” says Kristen Brock, sales manager for Visit Hattiesberg. “That has always been a large hit, and it fits with the era of the facility.”
7. MONMOUTH PLANTATION, NATCHEZ
www.monmouthplantation.com
Built in the early 1800s on the outskirts of Natchez, Antebellum Monmouth was a grand estate house on nearly 30 acres of land. But with the coming of the Civil War to Natchez, its once wealthy owners could no longer afford the upkeep.
Monmouth fell into ruin until the 1980s, when it transformed into a restored historic site and a small luxury hotel.
Today, Monmouth Plantation offers a number of venues for groups, including the Main House, which was built in 1818 and can be used for receptions. The Quitman Study and Lounge, both located in the wing of the Main House, can host small board meetings and luncheons.
Larger groups can use the Marguerite Guercio Conference Center, named for one of the workers during the restoration period. Its Garden Room hosts meetings and receptions.
Monmouth’s 26 acres of manicured gardens also feature a variety of options for groups. Garden venues include the Reuben Harper Sanctuary, Wisteria Pergola and the Gazebo, each of which can host 150.
Groups can arrange cooking classes focusing on ethnic and regional cuisines as a team-building option. Most classes are two to three hours in length. Art classes are also available.
8. GATEWAY TO THE BLUES MUSEUM, TUNICA
www.downtheroad.tunicatravel.com
Set for a summer 2012 debut, the Gateway to the Blues Museum will mark Tunica’s spot as an introduction to America’s Blues Highway.
“The focus of the museum is as a primer to the larger blues product throughout the Mississippi Delta,” says Webster Franklin, president and CEO of the Tunica CVB. “It will track the history of blues and roots as it grew from the Delta and spread to larger cities to what we now know as rock ’n’ roll.”
The museum exhibits and design are currently under development, according to Franklin, but the exhibition will include over 500 blues artifacts from the Blues and Legends Hall of Fame formerly at the Horseshoe Casino. Included will be an extensive guitar collection as well as blues memorabilia from throughout the world.
“There will be interactive options, such as an exhibit where guests play their own blues riff and can print it out on a CD and take it with them,” Franklin says.
The museum will be attached to the newly restored Train Depot that will open in November as the home of the Tunica Visitor Center. The center will become the main entry to the new 4,000-square-foot museum.
“We are working with the Mississippi Blues Commission to develop an interactive kiosk that features the sites, sounds and history to be found along the blues trail, along with a separate kiosk that will focus on the Tunica destination,” Franklin says.
After-hours events will be possible for 150 to 200. In addition, the depot has a porch-like waiting platform that will be outfitted for musicians to play.
Other nearby blues museums include the Delta Blues Museum and Rock N Blues Museum in Clarksdale and the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola.
9. POWERHOUSE COMMUNITY ARTS CENTER, OXFORD
www.oxfordarts.com/powerhouse
Home to the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council (YAC) since 2006, the Powerhouse Community Arts Center in Oxford was originally a vintage 1928 brick and stone warehouse that housed the Oxford Electric company. Renovations began in 2005 to transform the facility into a community arts space offering gallery exhibits, live theater, concerts and dance. The space hosts 12 art exhibits per year focusing on Southern artists plus a diverse array of programs such as Mississippi’s only Fiber Arts Festival and poetry readings.
The Powerhouse features two large rooms: the 2,800-square-foot exhibition hall, which hosts a rotating art exhibit and offers seating for 200 or space for a reception for 400, and the theater, which features seating for 250. The rooms are connected, offering space for 820 for a dance or reception.
In addition, the YAC is able to create special events based on the group’s requests.
“We have provided Mississippi singer showcases, mini art classes, talks by regional artists and literary readings by nationally recognized authors,” says Wayne Andrews, director of the YAC and the Powerhouse Community Arts Center. “The Powerhouse not only provides the location for the event but the tools to craft a unique experience that highlights the cultural heritage of Oxford.”
10. OLD COURT HOUSE MUSEUM-EVA W. DAVIS MEMORIAL, VICKSBURG
www.oldcourthouse.org
Vicksburg’s Old Court House Museum-Eva W. Davis Memorial, built in 1858, stands as the city’s most historic structure, having hosted the likes Ulysses S. Grant, Booker T. Washington, Teddy Roosevelt and William McKinley.
After surviving Union shelling, a direct hit by a tornado in 1953 and years of neglect, the building was again in danger when a new Warren County Court House was constructed in 1939. To preserve the original court house, the museum’s founder, Eva Whitaker Davis, established the Vicksburg and Warren County Historical Society, which led to its opening as a museum in 1948.
The memorabilia includes Confederate flags, the tie worn by Jefferson Davis at his inauguration as Confederate president, the trophy antlers won by the steamboat Robert E. Lee in an 1870 race, antebellum clothing, toys and an original “Teddy Bear” given to a local child by Theodore Roosevelt.
The museum can host banquets for up to 125.
