Vicksburg Wins the Mississippi Public Art in Community Grant

VICKSBURG, Miss. (VDN) — The City of Vicksburg has won a grant for an art installation to be placed at the Washington Street Park in downtown Vicksburg.

The Mississippi Arts Commission is pleased to announce Walter Anderson Museum of Art, in partnership with Moss Point Main Street, and Heritage Guild of Vicksburg Warren County, in collaboration with Vicksburg Main Street, as the two recipients of the new Mississippi Public Art in Community Grant.

The Walter Anderson Museum of Art, in partnership with Moss Point Main Street, will install a fifteen-foot-tall sculpture in Riverfront Park in Moss Point. The installation will serve as a visible anchor for the riverfront, framing the natural backdrop while symbolizing the city’s commitment to quality of life. The sculpture will serve as a gathering point for a three-year Levitt Music Series. In addition, the community will use the space as a backdrop for civic and cultural events for years to come.

The Heritage Guild of Vicksburg Warren County, in partnership with Vicksburg Main Street’s sound sculpture installation, “In the Key of Freedom,” will be installed at Washington Street Park in downtown Vicksburg. The sculpture will engage the senses with its oversized key design serving as a striking visual landmark, while its gentle chimes create a living soundtrack tied to the Mississippi Blues Tradition. In addition, the Guild will activate the site for the Beyond the Levitt Music series, featuring programming that highlights “storytelling in the key,” in which local musicians and historians connect the sculpture’s symbolism to Vicksburg’s past, present, and future.

MAC partnered with the Levitt Foundation, The Maddox Foundation, Visit Mississippi, Mississippi Main Street Association, Fred Carl Jr. Small Town Center, and the Mississippi Humanities Council to create the new Mississippi Public Art in Community Grant, which supports community engagement in the design, installation, and activation of accessible public art.

For more information about the Public Art in Community Grant and other grant opportunities, visit arts.ms.gov.