Published: February 24, 2008 11:30 pm      

The arts can improve education and economic development

Malcolm White, executive director of the Mississippi Arts Commission, was in Meridian Friday to participate in a program about education in the arts. The program was hosted by The Community Foundation of East Mississippi as part of its new Breakfast Series.

Dennis Sankovich, executive director of the MSU Riley Center and Nancy Ray, original project director of Poplar Springs Elementary School’s Whole Schools Initiative program also participated in the program.

During his visit to Meridian White visited with The Meridian Star’s editorial board.



The Meridian Star: Explain some of what was discussed in Friday’s program.



Malcolm White: What we sort of focused on was ‘What is the arts?’ and ‘How does the arts work in your community?’

I talked about some of the projects like the MSU Riley Center being an arts-based economic development piece that will spur the development of downtown through the arts. When you start with a performing arts center, then you add a hotel and restaurants, suddenly there’s all these amenities that have to be added. So, you have all these people coming into town and the locals are coming into town and you have all these celebrations.

And then there’s the whole education outreach piece at the Riley Center, which we are very focused on. We’ve been working with Charlotte Tabereaux with the Riley Center for years through the Whole Schools Initiative of the Mississippi Arts Commission. Poplar Springs Elementary is one of our whole schools. We go in and model about 25 schools state-wide by integrating arts in every subject.



The Star: How does art benefit education?



White: We want to offer the return of arts to the core curriculum as part of a solution to our problem of losing kids in the schools. Art captures a lot of people who often fall through the cracks. It often captures the attention of a kid who has a hard time keeping focused on traditional lecture, memorization, regurgitation style of education.

In this country some people argue we’ve taken this 19th and 20th century school system and we’ve designed it to teach to the test. So we’ve got this worn out old school system that is trying to teach to these test scores. Everything is based on a test score now. Your accreditation is based on a test score, your personnel’s salaries are based on a test score, your funding is based on a test score, your ranking is based on a test score. We’ve become obsessed in this country by these test scores and we’ve forgotten how to teach kids basic information they will need as adults to be able to think outside the box, to be able to make a living, to be able to interact with each other, to be able to be a part of a community, to be able to be a good parent, a good brother, sister, neighbor, citizen.

We think art plays a critical role in that and we want to offer that as a solution to the 40 percent dropout rate.



The Star: How do the arts help in community development?



White: In community development we promote the creative economy, the development of art-based economy, of lifting up your artisans and your craftsmen and your arts councils and your operas and symphonies and your theater groups. That really adds fabric to your community. It creates quality of life.

An interesting thing about being alive in America today is people can live almost anywhere they want to. If they are at least middle class they can really make hard decisions about where to live, and people live where culture is. They live where quality of life exists.

What does Meridian offer a person who has an option to live in Tuscaloosa, Meridian or Jackson? I think that’s sort of how you have to think about that. The answer is quality schools, quality of life, performing arts, community development, engagement, a good community foundation, a good community college, a relationship with a major university, a performing arts center, a symphony, an art museum, a theater group.

Then you’ve got your whole heritage and cultural traditions of Jimmie Rodgers and Steve Forbert and Sam Mockbee, the great architect who is from here, Sela Ward. If you look at who are these people, like Jimmie Rodgers who is the father of country music, you take that story and you develop it to get people to come to Meridian.



The Star: What obstacles are there in putting arts back in education or making people realize its importance in community development. Who isn’t “getting it” so to speak?



White: It’s one thing to “get it” and it’s another thing to formulate a plan for change. No one comes to change easily, and particularly the schools.

There’s 150 school district in Mississippi. That’ 150 buracracies with elected superintendents, a principal at every school and boards.

You have to convince the department of education that the arts should be a mandated curriculum course. It should be treated like history, geography, the sciences and everything else, that it is equal to, and not different than these other core subjects.

It’s going to take us a while. We have to formulate policies. We have to advocate. We have to have a mantra. We have to have white papers. We have to go back and say the same thing and keep delivering the good results from our Poplar Springs (and other Whole Schools). We have to constantly show that our evidence works.

The three things that separate us from them — what we do and the policy makers — is evidence. We have to have evidence that what we’re saying is documented and it’s scientifically valid and not just a hypothesis. The second thing is that policy-makers have to have a personal arts experience in their life. So we have to provide that. If you’re a state legislator, a lieutenant governor and for whatever reason you’ve never had a personal arts experience, it’s kind of hard for you to think like this. The third thing is power. We don’t have power. We’re considered this sort of extra fluff. We have to make the case we are a central part of everyday life, whether it’s in education, because it’s a better way to teach. It’s a better way to engage the teacher, the student and the parent. It makes a better school. In economic development we have to make the case that quality of life is dependent upon cultural amenities. Cultural amenities primarily are based in the arts, whether they are music, drama, dance, festivals, food.



The Star: What’s working in your favor in getting this message out?



White: Mississippi has this enormous, rich, deep, vibrant story based in literature, music, civil war, civil rights, food, architecture, and art. It’s an unparralled story Mississippi has. It’s never been harvested, it’s never been organized. It’s never been told correctly. That’s also a part of what we see as the problem. We’ve never embraced our story, we’ve never really accepted who we are and been proud to tell it. We let Memphis userp the Blues from us. We’ve never really claimed our civil war and civil rights history and talked about the irony of the histories of both the civil war and civil rights. We have this opportunity now as we enter into heritage and cultural tourism as a real live economic development entity. Just as important to the department of tourism is gaming and hunting and fishing and beaches and swimming and all the other things we promote, I say come to Mississippi and learn about culture. Come to Mississippi and learn about Elvis Presley. Come to Mississippi and learn about Jimmie Rodgers. Come to Mississippi and see our architecture. Come to Mississippi and eat our food. For the department of tourism that’s not totally foreign to them but they’ve never really seen it as a huge priority. We’re trying to make a case there as well.

East Mississippi as a region has a lot to offer and it can all start in downtown Meridian, and I think it has. I think your Mayor has done a good job. The fact that you have a symphony and a museum of arts and an arts council ... you have the full-blown array of arts institutions.