Purpose and Proximity during the Pandemic

FAIN: GA-275907-20

Mississippi Museum of Art, Inc. (Jackson, MS 39215-1330)
Holly Harrison (Project Director: May 2020 to September 2024)

Retention of five full-time staff members and two consultants to research and plan for a traveling exhibition on the Great Migration.

The Mississippi Museum of Art requests funding to maintain its current leadership in humanities programming connecting issues of art, aesthetics, race, and equity with a specific focus on changing the American narrative to become more inclusive, and to continue the forward motion of its national research-driven exhibition exploring the impact of The Great Migration on contemporary African-American artists. Both of these components (programming stemming from its Center for Art and Public Exchange and The Great Migration) were previously executed and planned in strategies that required close physical proximity between art, artists, and community members. The Museum seeks to transition this work to virtual and digital platforms during the pandemic recovery and needs staff capacity building, staff retention, and new collections-sharing software to accomplish this transition in a manner which does not lose the power and intimacy of in-person gatherings.