Russian visitors view Blues Mask Collection

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Pictured here is Tricia Walker the director of the Delta Music Institute with twelve visitors from Perm University in Perm, Russia. They traveled to the Delta as a part of a U.S.- Russia- Peer Dialogue Program. They are shown here visiting the renowned Blues Mask Collection in the Ewing Building Lobby on the campus of Delta State University.

The grant is through the U.S.-Russia Peer-to-Peer Dialogue Program and is titled “Rivers of Music — Rivers of Culture.” Delta State will use the opportunity to build on existing partnerships with Perm State University, located on the banks of the Kama River in Perm, Russia.

To help foster greater contacts between Americans and Russians, the State Department launched the program in 2013. Grants up to $100,000 are provided to support collaboration, meetings, virtual interactions, exchanges and internships between American and Russian organizations.

The program will utilize music as the universal language, allowing students to explore the cultures, histories and heritages of the two countries.

There are three components specific to the Rivers of Music — Rivers of Culture: 1) Mississippi Delta Immersion Experience, in which faculty and students from Perm State will travel to Delta State in October to participate in the International Conference on the Blues, as well as other Bridging the Blues events; 2) Telebridge Project-Music of Two Rivers, a series of webinars held in the spring semester held for both universities; and 3) Permski Krai Immersion Experience, in which faculty and students from Delta State will travel to Perm in June 2015 to participate in their festival season and provide a mini summer Delta Music Institute camp experience to Perm students.

Delta State President William N. LaForge first became affiliated with Perm State as a visiting professor in 2008. He returned in 2010 as a Fulbright Fellow and has continued to network with Perm colleagues since taking office at Delta State in 2013.

“This grant and the opportunities for our students and faculty are great examples of how we can foster excellent academic exchanges with foreign university partners,” said LaForge. “It will allow students at both universities — 7,000 miles apart — to participate in common theme programming.

“This is a wonderful program that supports our international exchange program goals.”

Additional goals of the partnership include: develop and launch a lifelong learning web-based education course using the music of the American South and the Perm region for replication and dissemination among American and Russian universities and communities; promote future exchanges between the two universities; and facilitate improved peer-to-peer understanding of the two cultures.

New faculty learn about Delta

A group of new faculty members at Delta State University were treated to an introduction of the Mississippi Delta and the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area by Dr. Rolando Herts and Lee Aylward of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning on Oct. 30.

Dr. Beverly Moon, dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies and Research, organized the educational session at the Charlie Capps Archives & Museum. Emily Jones, university archivist, also provided an overview of various resources and services available at the facility.

Those who participated in the session included (l to r): Amy McAdams, instructor in health, physical education and recreation; Dr. Fatematul Jannat, visiting assistant professor in social justice and criminology; Dr. Amit Verma, assistant professor of logistics; Melaku Tadesse, assistant professor of commercial aviation; Eric Owens, visiting instructor in social justice and criminology; Dr. James Gerald, assistant professor of physics; Lee Aylward, Delta Center; Dr. Sharon Hamilton, assistant professor of chemistry; Kalilah Kemp, instructor in HPER/athletic training clinical education coordinator; Dr. Rolando Herts, director, Delta Center; and Emily Jones, university archivist.

Another Blues Trail unveiling

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Dr. Herts participated in the unveiling of the 190th marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail, "Where the Southern Crosses the Dog," at Moorhead, MS, this morning (10/2/14.)  Pictured with Dr. Herts (second from the left) are Robert Terrell, of the B.B. King Museum, Mary Margaret Miller with Mississippi Tourism, and George Holland, Mayor of Moorhead.

Delta Center offers history and culture summer workshops

Participants and staff of the June, 2014 Most Southern Place workshop stopped for a photo at the 1927 Flood Museum in Greenville.

For the sixth year, Delta State University has received major funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks in American History and Culture program. Funding will allow the Delta Center for Culture and Learning to offer two week-long workshops focusing on the Delta’s rich cultural heritage in June and July of 2015. Each workshop will serve 40 K-12 teachers who will come from Mississippi and across the U.S.

Dr. Luther Brown, former DCCCL said, “Every time we offer this workshop we have over 400 applications coming from all 50 states. This is a very exciting workshop, and we hope to draw applicants from all of Mississippi and the rest of the country.”

Classroom teachers in public, private, parochial and charter schools, as well as home-schooling parents and school librarians, are eligible to participate. They will receive a stipend to assist with expenses and gather with leading humanities scholars and Delta State staff to develop powerful lesson plans relating to the Delta’s heritage and the heritage of their own home regions.

The workshops are titled “The Most Southern Place on Earth: Music, History and Culture in the Mississippi Delta.” Participants will travel throughout the Delta as they visit sites where significant events occurred.

Discussions will focus on civil rights and political leadership, immigrants’ experiences in the Delta, the blues, the great migration, agriculture, the Mississippi River and more. Participants will sample Delta foods, visit local museums and listen to the blues. Field trips will roam as far as Greenville, Greenwood, Indianola, Ruleville, Mound Bayou, Clarksdale, Memphis and stops in between.

Brown will return to the DCCL to direct the workshops between June 21-27 and July 12-18, 2015. Each workshop begins on Sunday evening and runs through the following Saturday afternoon.

Participants can earn five graduate semester hours upon completion of the workshop.

The DCCL at Delta State promotes the understanding of the heritage of the Mississippi Delta. The center will be assisted during the workshops by Delta State faculty members along with faculty from the University of Mississippi, Sam Houston State University, Jackson State University, the University of Memphis and other institutions of higher learning. Local Delta citizens will also tell their own stories and experiences.

There are only 21 Landmarks in American History and Culture topics offered during 2015. The topics range from the transcontinental railroad, mining in the far West, the American Revolution in the Northern Frontier and several workshops focusing on the civil rights movement. A complete list can be found at http://www.neh.gov/divisions/education/summer-programs.

For more information about the Landmarks in American History and Culture workshops, visit the DCCL’s website at http://deltacenterforcultureandlearning.com/southern-place-workshop/, or contact the center at 662-846-4311.

Celebrating rice

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Dr. Rolando Herts, the new Director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University samples some of the many rice dishes prepared for the 24th annual Rice Tasting Luncheon. This was Dr. Herts' first luncheon; I bet he will be back next year! The luncheon celebrates our Delta farmers and rice production in the Delta!

Alysia Burton Steele's Delta Jewels in the New York Times

Here is a great New York Times article about Alysia Burton Steele and her Delta Jewels book. The Delta Center and the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area are proud to be working with this talented author and photographer. Delta Jewels is a compelling book about Mississippi Delta church mothers. 

Delta Center welcomes new director

During the celebration of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area designation, Dr. Rolando Herts (far right), director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning, is welcomed by (l to r) Dr. Luther Brown, former director; Lee Aylward, DCCL program associate for education and community outreach; and Heather Miller, DCCL program associate for projects. Photo by Roy Meeks.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University is pleased to announce the arrival of its new director, Dr. Rolando Herts. Herts officially began serving in his new role Aug. 18 after the retirement of Dr. Luther Brown, who established the Delta Center in the year 2000.

“I am excited about working with colleagues at Delta State and partners throughout the Mississippi Delta region,” said Herts. “The Delta Center will be managing the implementation of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, as well as overseeing the International Delta Blues Project. These and other exciting initiatives and programs will utilize the region’s rich cultural heritage as a tool for promoting education, tourism, community engagement and economic development.”

Brown said he looks forward to seeing Herts take on the leading role.

“The Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area is benefiting the entire Mississippi Delta. It has a strong management plan, and Rolando Herts will lead the effort to turn the plan into reality,” said Brown.

Herts has years of experience working in and conducting research on the Delta region. After completing undergraduate and graduate programs at Morehouse College in Atlanta and the University of Chicago, he returned to the Delta to teach second grade in Indianola with Teach For America. He also directed TRIO Student Support Services at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

While at Pine Bluff, he exposed students to educational cultural heritage and civil rights attractions in Memphis, Atlanta, Birmingham and in Arkansas communities. He earned a doctorate in planning and public policy from Rutgers University, where he examined the MDNHA as a case study of university-community tourism engagement.

“I spent formative years in Eudora, Arkansas, and graduated from Little Rock Central High School, a National Historic Site of the National Park Service — where nine black students led school integration efforts in 1957,” said Herts. “Growing up, all around me were reminders of the importance of cultural heritage, education and community.

“Attending Morehouse reinforced this with educational, social justice and heritage leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays and Dr. Wendell Whalum as exemplars. While working on my doctorate at Rutgers, I met Dr. Luther Brown through Ron Nurnberg, executive director of Teach For America Mississippi Delta. Dr. Brown has been an excellent mentor who has worked tirelessly to preserve and promote cultural heritage in and for the Delta region. I am humbled by this opportunity to help carry on this important legacy.”

Given its management role with the MDNHA and the International Delta Blues Project, the Delta Center will be expanding its capacity to serve as a regional connector and resource for understanding and celebrating the Mississippi Delta’s cultural heritage. Through funding from the Hearin Foundation, the center will soon be hiring a director of blues studies. Undergraduate internship and graduate assistantship positions also will be created, providing Delta State students with experience that will prepare them to engage with the Delta’s emerging cultural economy.

“The Delta region was fortunate to have a visionary like Dr. Luther Brown come into the Delta and open all our eyes to our rich heritage,” said Lee Aylward, DCCl program associate for education and community outreach. “With the arrival of Dr. Herts, the Delta Center will be spreading its wings, not only building on this legacy, but also expanding programming and engagement throughout the Delta.

“As a native of the Delta, Dr. Herts brings to the table an understanding and desire to help promote the region and its importance to the world. With the new program in blues studies coming to the Delta Center, and the approval of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area’s management plan, these are exciting times at the Delta Center. Dr. Herts’ education, background and energy make him the ideal person to lead us to the next level.”

To learn more about the The Delta Center for Culture and Learning, visithttp://deltacenterforcultureandlearning.com/. More information on the International Delta Blues Project is available at http://www.deltastate.edu/president/international-blues-conference/.

Meet our new director!

Meet the new Director of the Delta Center, Dr. Rolando Herts. We are excited to have Dr.Herts with us, and we look forward to great collaborations with all of you. Come see us and meet Dr. Herts!!!

Red-letter day!

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Thursday, August 21st, was a red-letter day in the life of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area! We celebrated with partners from throughout the Delta the acceptance of the MDNHA Management Plan, while also saying "goodbye" to our former director, Dr. Luther Brown and "hello" to our new director Dr. Rolando Herts!!! Thanks to everyone for a truly wonderful celebration!!

Delta Center expands learning outreach

The Delta Center donates harmonicas to the Delta Arts Alliance to support musical classes.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University recently donated over 40 “Learn to Play Harmonicas” to the Delta Arts Alliance (DAA) for music classes.

As music and art are cut from school curricula, the DAA seeks to find ways to bring the arts to schools around the Delta, and with the donation of these musical instruments, the Delta Center is helping them reach that goal.

The donation continues the working relationship between the Delta Center and the Delta Arts Alliance. In the past, the Delta Center has provided interns from the Robertson Scholars program at Duke University and the University of North Carolina to help with summer programs at the DAA.

Both entities hope that this donation will enable students from across the Delta to experience our musical heritage. Lee Aylward and Heather Miller of the Delta Center presented the packets to Rori Herbison, executive director of the DAA.

The Delta Center is the manager of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, a partnership with the National Park Service.