JACKSON, Miss. – The 2021 Governor’s Arts Awards will air on MPB Television at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19. This 33rd annual ceremony celebrates the state's noteworthy artists and arts supporters and signifies the important relationship between government and the arts. The awards are presented each year by the Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC) in partnership with the Governor’s Office.
Encore airings of the broadcast-only event are at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21 and at 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25 on MPB Television as well as 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21 on MPB Think Radio.
The 2021 award recipients are:
- Arthur Jafa – Excellence in Media Arts
Artist, filmmaker and cinematographer from Tupelo, Mississippi, who has worked to address African-American identity through contemporary imagery for the past three decades.
- Nellie McInnis – Excellence in Music
This artist best known as “Nellie Mack,” has been recognized as the first professional female bass player in Mississippi.
- Raphael Semmes – Cultural Ambassador
This bass player is a lifelong musician and songwriter as well as an event organizer based in Jackson, Mississippi.
- Tutwiler Quilters – Arts in Community
Tutwiler Quilters is a project of the Tutwiler Community Education Center in Tutwiler, Mississippi, that helps African-American women in the Mississippi Delta use their skills to support themselves and help preserve the tradition of quilt-making.
- Jesmyn Ward – Excellence in Literature
This writer from DeLisle, Mississippi is also a professor of creative writing at Tulane University. She was the recipient of the National Book Award for her books Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing.
- Benjamin Wright – Lifetime Achievement
This Grammy award-winning songwriter, arranger, composer, musical director and performer from Greenville, Mississippi, has a musical career that stretches more than half a century.
Established in 1988, the Governor’s Arts Awards recognizes individuals and organizations who have made noteworthy contributions to, or achieved artistic excellence in, the state of Mississippi.
Learn more about this year’s recipients by visiting the MAC website here, or listen to the Mississippi Arts Hour podcast which features exclusive interviews from each recipient.
For more information on MPB visit, www.mpbonline.org. Find all MPB press releases here.
Caption: Clockwise from top left: Jesmyn Ward: Photo Credit: Beowulf Sheehan; Raphael Semmes: © Portico, Photo by James Patterson; Arthur Jafa: Photographed by Robert Hamacher. Image courtesy of the artist and Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York / Rome; Nellie McInnis; Benjamin Wright; Tutwiler Quilters: Photo credit: Rory Doyle