Katie Mills is looking forward to making ArtPlace Mississippi bigger and better in the coming months and years.
Mills, ArtPlace’s new director of development and operations, spoke to the Greenwood Rotary Club on Tuesday and said she has hit the ground running.
“I’ve been there two weeks, and I’ve already written two grants,” she said.
A native of Greenwood and an attorney, Mills was previously the executive director of the Museum of the Mississippi Delta for more than two years before resigning earlier this month to take the job at ArtPlace.
Though she’s only been with the organization a short time, she said she has done her best to integrate herself quickly.
“I’m lucky because they’ve done such a good job running the organization,” she said. “I’m not having to build up an organization. I’ve walked in the door of an organization that’s already very well thought of in the community and the state as well.”
“ArtPlace offers anything you could imagine with the arts,” she said. “Sewing. Creative movement. Music lessons. A wide variety of things and we’re always adding things. Our mission is to really provide everyone in Leflore County with access to the arts.”
Additional new programs are coming this fall, including a new stop-motion animation class. Mills said it is a part of the STEAM offering — science, technology, arts and mathematics — designed to attract a wide variety of students.
In addition, she said the Mississippi Arts Commission has begun to once again offer grants for qualified capital improvements. ArtPlace’s plan is to create more studio space at its headquarters.
She said price for the renovations is estimated to be about $140,000. It would involve no heavy construction but a lot of floor replacement and painting. ArtPlace would be required to come up with 40% of the total funding.
Should the grant pursuit be successful, renovations could allow ArtPlace to hold three to four classes at once rather than just one or two.
Mills said that ArtPlace has entered into a partnership with Delta Arts Alliance in Cleveland. One of DAA’s artists-in-residence, Leslie Turner, will work with ArtPlace to recruit students to paint a mural on the ArtPlace building.
“We have lots of things available,” she said. “Keep checking the website. Keep checking social media. Sign up for some of those classes because we really do have some really great artists who teach these classes and are very passionate about what they do.”
Contact Kevin Edwards at 662-581-7233 or kedwards@gwcommonwealth.com.
-
