MISSISSIPPI ARTS COMMISSION PRESERVED AFTER REPUBLICAN LEGISLATORS’ BILLS FAIL

A pair of bills introduced by Republican legislators in Mississippi proposing that the Mississippi Arts Commission be consolidated with the Mississippi Development Authority—an organization that focuses on community and economic development—died during their passage through the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, writes Claire Voon of Hyperallergic. January 31 was the deadline for the bills to come out of the committees, though they were not brought up by either chairman.

MAC executive director Malcolm White told Hyperallergic: “This is a victory for public support of the arts in America . . . It’s a good coming-together for those of us who support the philosophy of public support of the arts and keeping public support of the arts apolitical. We receive enormous support from Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, and progressives, and that’s reassuring to us that what we do has value. We believe that public support of the arts is an American value and a Mississippi value, and we feel very good about where we are today.”

Lawmakers, however, could reconstitute the bills again during this congressional session, which ends in April.