Bobby Rush and Super Chikan launch “Storytellers” tour at Delta State

GRAMMY Award nominee Bobby Rush (left) and James “Super Chikan” Johnson will be featured in a free concert at the Bologna Performing Arts Center on Oct. 6 at 7 p.m.

Blues legends Bobby Rush and James “Super Chikan” Johnson have teamed up to perform a free concert at Delta State University’s Bologna Performing Arts Center on Oct.6. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m, and the concert will begin at 7 p.m.

The event, “The Storytellers featuring Bobby Rush and Super Chikan: Up Close and Personal,” will be the closing activity for Delta State’s second annual International Conference on the Blues, which is part of the institution’s International Delta Blues Project.

The concert is free and open to the public through sponsorship from the IDBP and the BPAC.

“We are always pleased to present free programming for our community,” said Laura Howell, executive director of the BPAC. “This partnership with the International Delta Blues Project provides a great opportunity for access to these incredible blues musicians and the stories they have to tell.”

“Storytellers” is a stripped-down concert format that invites music lovers of all ages and backgrounds to experience two renowned blues artists singing and telling stories about their lives, careers, the blues and the Mississippi Delta in distinctly personal ways.

“This concert is about telling where I come from and where my people come from — the Mississippi Delta,” said Rush. “It is about sharing my life and the lives of people who came before me. It’s about impacting the lives of those who are coming after me.

“I am 81-years-old. Now that B.B. King has passed, I am the oldest blues singer in the world. I want to tell the story of where the blues came from, what it is about and where it should go. These are stories that need to be told. I want to educate people about this, and Delta State’s International Conference on the Blues is the place to start.”

Dr. Rolando Herts, director of The Delta Center for Culture and Learning, is thrilled to bring the talented musicians to campus.

“We are excited that Bobby Rush and Super Chikan chose Delta State, the home of the International Delta Blues Project, as the place to launch their tour,” said Herts. “This concert is part of a broader effort to promote Delta State, Cleveland, and the Mississippi Delta as leading destinations for Blues music and culture. We also are pleased that generous support from the Hearin Foundation and our partnership with the BPAC allow us to make this live concert event free for Delta residents and visitors.”

The “Storytellers” concert is featured on the live music performance schedule for the Bridging the Blues Festival, an annual series of September and October events across Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee celebrating the rich music and culture of the region.

A GRAMMY Award nominee, Bobby Rush is the winner of multiple Blues Music Awards including Soul Blues Album of the Year, Acoustic Album of the Year and Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year. Rolling Stone magazine named him “The King of the Chitlin’ Circuit,” a distinguished African American cultural heritage designation that pays homage to the Southern network of clubs, theaters, halls and juke joints that catered to black audiences during the racially segregated Jim Crow Era. Rush has recorded over 100 albums in his more than 60-year career. He continues to perform over 200 shows a year from Mississippi to Japan and headlines major festivals and concerts for upwards of 20,000 people a night.

James “Super Chikan” Johnson is the recipient of the Mississippi’s Governors Award for Excellence in the Arts and the recipient of the prestigious Artist Fellowship from the Mississippi Arts Commission. He is a native of Darling, Miss., a rural Mississippi Delta community located in Quitman County. As a boy growing up in the country, he was fascinated by his family’s chickens, thus earning him the nickname “Chicken.” His critically acclaimed debut album, “Blues Come Home to Roost,” featured songs about humorous and serious aspects of life in the Mississippi Delta. The album earned him awards for Best Blues Album and Best Debut Album from the 1998 Living Blues Magazine Awards.

For more information about the “Storytellers” concert, visit http://bolognapac.com/events/the-storytellers-featuring-bobby-rush-and-super-chikan-up-close-and-personal/.

For over 21 years, the Bologna Performing Arts Center at Delta State University has been bringing together artists and audiences to celebrate the arts and enrich the cultural life of the Delta community. For more information on upcoming performances, visit www.bolognapac.com.

The mission of The Delta Center is to promote greater understanding of Mississippi Delta culture and history and its significance to the world through education, partnerships and community engagement. The Delta Center is the home of the International Delta Blues Project and serves as the management entity of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area. For more information, visit http://www.deltastate.edu/academics/delta-center-for-culture-and-learning/.

Delta Center donates linens to St. Gabriel Mercy Center

Candace Chase (left), emergency assistant/volunteer coordinator at St. Gabriel Mercy Center; Heather Miller, the Delta Center; Mavis Honorable, SGMC assistant director; and Lee Aylward, the Delta Center, recently sorted linens donated by participants in this summer's Delta Center workshops.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University once again invited participants from its residential workshops to donate bedding they used in campus dorms to the St. Gabriel Mercy Center in Mound Bayou, Miss.

The Delta Center recently completed two successful National Endowment for the Humanities  “Most Southern Place on Earth” summer workshops which brought 72 teachers from 32 states to live in the Delta and experience its rich heritage and culture for a week.

At the conclusion of each workshop, the participants donated their linens to the Delta Center, which laundered them and then donated them to St. Gabriel. Sheet sets, blankets and towel sets were among the items donated by the workshop participants. Over the years, participants have donated many sets of sheets, pillows and blankets. 

“The St. Gabriel Mercy Center enjoys working in collaboration with the Delta Center at Delta State University,” said Mavis Honorable, assistant director at St. Gabriel. “The center provides a volunteer service site to the Robertson Scholars from Duke University and the University of North Carolina, and it is always a pleasure to receive much needed donations and gifts from the Delta Center which helps us give back to the community.”

Learn more about the Delta Center’s rich history at http://www.deltastate.edu/academics/delta-center-for-culture-and-learning/. Visit http://www.neh.gov/ to read about the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Delta Center hosts Hillel Jewish group

Lee Aylward (second from right) of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning recently hosted a tour for the Hillel Jewish student group from the University of Virginia. They visited various Delta sites, including the "Cast of Blues," a collection of 54 blues masks found in the lobby of Ewing Hall at Delta State.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University recently hosted members of the Hillel Jewish student group at the University of Virginia.

Hillel is the largest Jewish student organization in the world. By participating in life-changing trips and campus initiatives, students learn to make a meaningful impact on the future of people and the world while they grow intellectually, socially, and spiritually.

The Delta Center’s Lee Aylward provided a Delta tour to significant sites in the Delta, and director Dr. Rolando Herts gave them an overview of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area.

The group will spend time throughout the Delta for a week conducting service projects and learning about the different communities. 

The mission of The Delta Center is to promote greater understanding of Mississippi Delta culture and history and its significance to the world through education, partnerships and community engagement. The Delta Center serves as the management entity of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area and is the home of the International Delta Blues Project. For more information, visit http://www.deltastate.edu/academics/delta-center-for-culture-and-learning/.

MDNHA updates provided in Greenwood

Dr. Rolando Herts (left to right), director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning and the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, recently met with Cheryl Taylor, executive director, Museum of the Mississippi Delta; Tonja Ray Smith, executive director, Greenwood Convention & Visitors Bureau; and Luther Wade, president, Greenwood Rotary Club.

Dr. Rolando Herts, director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning and the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area (MDNHA), visited Greenwood recently to share updates on the implementation of the MDNHA Management Plan. The visit included a tour of the Museum of the Mississippi Delta to discuss their renovation plans and a presentation to the Greenwood Rotary Club.

Cheryl Taylor, executive director of the Museum of the Mississippi Delta, gave Herts a tour of the museum, which is scheduled to reopen in May. Taylor will use the MDNHA Management Plan to help guide the creation of new exhibits that will interpret the history of the Mississippi Delta. 

“We are excited to learn about the museum’s plans to incorporate our five cultural heritage themes,” said Herts. “The Management Plan was written as a resource for the people of the Mississippi Delta, particularly for cultural programming that stimulates tourism in the region and promotes local education and pride of place. By doing this, the Museum of the Mississippi Delta not only will be fulfilling its mission, but it also will be demonstrating how our institutions and citizens can actively engage with the Heritage Area.”

The MDNHA’s five cultural heritage themes are: (1) The Mississippi Delta and the Land It Embraces; (2) The Culture of the Blues and the Birth of an American Sound; (3) Moving Toward Freedom: Changing America’s Character in the Struggle for Rights; (4) Growing More than Cotton: The Delta as a Wellspring of Creativity; and (5) The Delta Divide: Creating the Delta’s Diverse Communities. 

“The Museum of the Mississippi Delta sees the importance of telling the Delta’s story comprehensively and inclusively,” said Taylor, “We can achieve this by interpreting Heritage Area themes in our new exhibits. The Museum is well known for its extensive Native American collection, as well as military and agricultural artifacts and Mississippi artwork. We look forward to using our collections to create innovative exhibits centered on the MDNHA themes.” 

After touring the museum, Herts spoke at the Greenwood Rotary Club. The presentation included an overview of the Delta Center’s role as MDNHA’s management entity, as well as the MDNHA’s goals and themes. Herts also discussed recent expansion of the MDNHA Passport Program throughout the 18-county region. The Greenwood Convention and Visitors Bureau serves as the passport stamp location for Leflore County. 

“The Greenwood CVB is pleased to collaborate with the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area Passport Program,” said Tonja Ray Smith, CVB executive director, “By hosting the passport for Leflore County, we will welcome travelers to our community, direct them to area attractions like the Museum of the Mississippi Delta, and encourage them to visit other destinations throughout the Mississippi Delta that will educate tourists about the national significance of the Delta’s culture.” 

Herts also highlighted upcoming partnership events that promote MDNHA cultural heritage themes. These events include the opening reception of the Winning the Race diversity conference at Delta State University scheduled for March 30, which will provide Delta residents and visitors an opportunity to meet Robert Stanton, the first African American director of the National Park Service. The MDNHA will also be hosting Delta Jewels Community Gatherings featuring journalism professor, Alysia Burton Steele, and her new book of photography and oral histories on African American church mothers from the Delta. The gatherings will take place in municipalities across the region, including Clarksdale, Charleston, Ruleville, Indianola and Yazoo City.

The MDNHA is a partnership between the people of the Mississippi Delta and the National Park Service. The MDNHA was designated by U.S. Congress in 2009 and is governed by a board of directors representing agencies and organizations defined in the Congressional legislation. More information about the MDNHA, including the complete approved management plan, is available at www.msdeltaheritage.com.

The mission of the Delta Center is to promote greater understanding of Mississippi Delta culture and history and its significance to the world through education, partnerships and community engagement. The Delta Center serves as the management entity of the MDNHA and is the home of the International Delta Blues Project. For more information, visit http://www.deltastate.edu/academics/delta-center-for-culture-and-learning/.

DCCL observes cultural celebration

L-R: Rabbi Harry Danzinger, Lee Aylward, Nate, Emily, and Zoe Rubenstein, children of Tammy and David Rubenstein of Oxford, and Dr. Rolando Herts.

Dr. Rolando Herts and Lee Aylward of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University recently participated in the Chanukah (or Hanukkah) observance at Temple Adath Israel in Cleveland. They attended the service to celebrate the holiday with community members, as well as to represent the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area.

“The National Heritage Area promotes and celebrates various aspects of the Delta’s living culture, including religious, racial, national, and ethnic diversity,” said Herts, director of The Delta Center. “Jewish people came to the Delta in the late 19th and 20th centuries seeking economic opportunity. They developed businesses here and brought their rich culture with them, which includes expressions of faith. While Jewish congregations are not as large today as they once were, one can still find temples operating in Cleveland, Greenville, Vicksburg, and Clarksdale.”

Temple Adath Israel is a Reform Jewish synagogue in Cleveland, Miss. The Congregation was organized in 1923; a Hebrew school had been started the previous year. The congregation’s Byzantine Revival synagogue was built in 1927. An annex, designed by architect Harold Kaplan of Greenville, Miss., was completed in 1949-1950. The Temple was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

Chanukah is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the re-dedication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire of the 2nd century B.C. Chanukah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar. This is Jewish Year 5775, and Chanukah is observed from sunset on Dec. 16 until nightfall on Dec. 24, 2014.

The festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a unique candelabrum, the nine-branched menorah or hanukiah, one additional light on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night. The typical menorah consists of eight branches with an additional visually-distinct branch. The extra light is called a shamash and is given a distinct location, usually above or below the rest. The purpose of the shamash is to have a light available for practical use, as using the lights themselves for purposes other than publicizing and meditating upon Chanukah is forbidden.

The Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area is a partnership between the people of the Mississippi Delta and the National Park Service. The MDNHA was designated by U.S. Congress in 2009, and its management plan was approved in August 2014. More information about the MDNHA, including the complete approved management plan, is available at www.msdeltaheritage.com.

The mission of the DCCL is to promote greater understanding of Mississippi Delta culture and history and its significance to the world through education, partnerships and community engagement. The Delta Center serves as the management entity of the MDNHA and is the home of the International Delta Blues Project. For more information, visit http://www.deltastate.edu/academics/delta-center-for-culture-and-learning/.

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/.

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.

Herts to lead Delta Center

Dr. Rolando Herts will begin his duties as the new director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning on August 18.

After a national search, Delta State University’s Delta Center for Culture and Learning has found a replacement for retiring director Dr. Luther Brown.

Dr. Rolando Herts, who conducted his dissertation research at Rutgers University in New Jersey, will follow Brown, who served at Delta State for 14 years. Herts will begin his duties August 18.

“It is a tremendous honor to be selected by Delta State University and community leaders from throughout the Mississippi Delta region to direct the Delta Center for Culture and Learning,” said Herts. “The Mississippi Delta is where I began my teaching career, and it’s also where I spent formative years of my youth witnessing how education, community prosperity and pride of place are intertwined.”

Herts’s research has focused on roles of universities with tourism planning and development as an emergent form of community engagement and place making.

Originally from Little Rock and Eudora, Ark., Herts has years of experience working in the Delta region. After completing undergraduate and graduate programs at Morehouse College and the University of Chicago, he returned to the area to teach second grade in Indianola with Teach For America.

Soon after, he assumed directorship of TRIO Student Support Services at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

“For over two decades, I have been a student, administrator and faculty member in geographically diverse university settings in both urban and rural communities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Newark and the Mississippi Delta region,” said Herts.

The Delta Center also serves as the management entity for the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, an area acknowledged by Congress in March 2009.

“During a conversation with Dr. Brown, I learned about the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area,” said Herts. “I have been following its development ever since and have met with several other stakeholders about the MDNHA over the years — including Kappi Allen, Webster Franklin, Frank Howell, Ann Shackelford and Shirley Waring.”

Recognizing that the Delta is a unique landscape with a distinct culture that is unusually rich in heritage stories, efforts began in 2003 to organize partners to promote National Heritage Area designation.

Delta State Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Charles McAdams, said he’s thrilled to have Herts as the new DCCL leader.

“I am very excited to have Dr. Rolando Herts join us as the director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning,” said McAdams. “Dr. Herts has an impressive academic record, significant experience in university/community partnerships and a love of the Delta.

“His dissertation work explored the relationship between public universities and local tourism planning and development. These are the exact issues we are working on now at Delta State, Cleveland and Bolivar County.”

The search committee, comprised of representatives from Delta State and the MDNHA board, believe Herts has the enthusiasm, personality and vision to build on the success of the Delta Center.

Learn more about the center’s rich history at http://www.blueshighway.org. Visithttp://www.msdeltaheritage.com to read about the MDNHA.

Delta Center director receives service award

L to R: Heather Miller and Lee Aylward of the Delta Center, Dr. Henry Outlaw, formerly of the Delta Center, and Dr. Charles McAdams, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Delta State.

The Mississippi Heritage Trust recently awarded Dr. Luther Brown, Director of the Delta State Delta Center for Culture and Learning and the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area the “Heritage Award for Distinguished Service.”

“I’m deeply honored to receive this award in recognition of the establishment of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area. Many people and numerous entities have worked hard to make this Heritage Area possible, and some have worked for over a decade to see this happen,” said Brown.

This recognition is in honor of all of these individuals and groups who have partnered to promote the Delta’s heritage, and I thank them for their continued enthusiasm and hard work.”

The Delta Center is the manager of the Heritage Area. The award was presented in Tupelo during the Mississippi Heritage Trust’s annual meeting. Dr. Brown could not attend in person, so Lee Aylward of the Delta Center accepted the award on his behalf.

“It is very fitting that Dr. Brown has been recognized by the Mississippi Heritage Trust at its bi-annual meeting with an award for Distinguished Service. From its inception fourteen years ago, the Delta Center through his leadership has introduced hundreds in this country and abroad  to the importance of the Mississippi Delta to our country and to the rest of the world, and it is through his efforts that the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area is being established,” said Aylward.

His work will remain as a standard for others to continue this important work.”

Delta Center director receives service award

L to R: Heather Miller and Lee Aylward of the Delta Center, Dr. Henry Outlaw, formerly of the Delta Center, and Dr. Charles McAdams, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Delta State

The Mississippi Heritage Trust recently awarded Dr. Luther Brown, Director of the Delta State Delta Center for Culture and Learning and the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area the “Heritage Award for Distinguished Service.”

“I’m deeply honored to receive this award in recognition of the establishment of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area. Many people and numerous entities have worked hard to make this Heritage Area possible, and some have worked for over a decade to see this happen,” said Brown.

This recognition is in honor of all of these individuals and groups who have partnered to promote the Delta’s heritage, and I thank them for their continued enthusiasm and hard work.”

The Delta Center is the manager of the Heritage Area. The award was presented in Tupelo during the Mississippi Heritage Trust’s annual meeting. Dr. Brown could not attend in person, so Lee Aylward of the Delta Center accepted the award on his behalf.

“It is very fitting that Dr. Brown has been recognized by the Mississippi Heritage Trust at its bi-annual meeting with an award for Distinguished Service. From its inception fourteen years ago, the Delta Center through his leadership has introduced hundreds in this country and abroad  to the importance of the Mississippi Delta to our country and to the rest of the world, and it is through his efforts that the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area is being established,” said Aylward.

His work will remain as a standard for others to continue this important work.”