Lauren Rogers Museum of Art

Purpose: Supporting Lifelong Learning The Lauren Rogers Museum of Art is located in Laurel, Mississippi, the county seat of Jones County, a rural community with a population of 65,000. It is the only collections-based art museum between Jackson and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. This grant will support ArtReach, an outreach education program that will touch a broad base of the museum's audience and the surrounding community. The program will employ a full-time outreach coordinator, create an artist-in-residence program for schools and community groups, implement a series of classes and experiences for underserved segments of the population, expand the school tour program to include activities and lesson plans that correlate with a new Mississippi Department of Education framework, develop an emerging artist program for secondary school students, and use community talent to create public murals. The museum is the cultural hub of a seven-county region in southeast Mississippi, and the ArtReach program will build on the museum's existing education program. By using the museum's strong collections and exhibitions to create high-quality art experiences, ArtReach will open doors and pique interest in a lifelong participation in the arts.