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57 years of serving the community, over $440,000 in arts funding distributed since 2017, and more than 150,000 arts interactions per year.

Hello, I'm Julie Cooke.

On this edition of Tennessee is Talking, the topic is the Jackson Art.. Chartered by the state of Tennessee on December 13, 1967, the Jackson Arts Council has raised millions of dollars for the arts, brought hundreds of thousands of dollars of grant funding to this region, built a cultural arts center in Jackson, hosted c.. and cultural events, and provided arts advocacy locally, statewide, and nationally.

Let the conversation begin.

That's so cool.

-Then that's when I said that-- -The problem with that idea is-- Wow.

That was amazing.

Then, I came up with a solution.

What was that about?

Here's what I think about it.

Now we're talking.

West Tennessee PBS presents Tennessee is Talking.

Let the conversation begin.

Thanks for joining the discussion here on Tennessee is Talking.

Hello, I'm Julie Cooke.

For the past 57 years, the Jackson Arts Council has been an umbrella organization and support and advocacy for arts groups, artists, and cultural organizations.

Here to tell us more is executive director Dr. Delita Johnson and office manager Erin Eller.

Thanks for joining us.

The Jackson Arts Council, we have always heard about it, and we welcome you because your tenure as executive director is less than a year.

-It is.

It's actually five months.

I'm five months old.

[laughter] You're learning a lot and adding a lot to the-- [crosstalk] I'm learning a lot, a whole lot, but it's a fun lot.

-It is.

I know, Erin, you've been with the Arts Council for a few years.

Two years.

Two years as of two weeks ago.

Yes, it's been a great time.

I've learned a lot, and it's really fulfilling work, so I'm grateful.

It's volatile.

Your role changes at different times and different trends.

I guess you have the same mission, of course, but I'm sure one day is never the same as the next.

No, but that's the fun part, that every day is different, and it's fun.

That's what makes it so fun, is just every day is different.

Yes, I was just telling Delita the other day, I was like, "I never spend my day doing exactly the same thing as the day before."

It's all different.

You're right.

It does make a job [?]

[crosstalk]- -Very interesting, yes.

-news.

It is.

It is.

It never does that.

Just to start off, and I think it helps for people to understand the real function of the Arts Council, of course you have a board.

We do have a board,- - overseeing board, but your primary focus, your primary mission is?

Our mission is to strengthen our community through arts and culture, and so what we do is we promote arts organizations and individual artists.

We provide them with marketing.

We're like a hub for communication services in promoting their arts and promoting what they do.

That's the mission of the Jackson Arts Council.

That's a great resource for not only the public to know what is going on in the arts community.

How do you support the artists?

Primarily, we're thinking visual arts because the performing arts have their different organizations.

Right.

Well, there are several disciplines in the art, it's a wide range of it, and so one of the most important things that we do is we provide grant funding for arts organizations and individual artists.

The grant, that's Erin's specialty.

[laughter] Yes, so we just recently, specifically for individual artists, we recently started our creative support grant for artists that live in Madison County.

Six artists will get grant funding for this fiscal year, and not only do we provide grant funding for artists, but we also have our artist membership, and through our artist membership, we have a directory on our website where you can go and see all the different artists, what their discipline is, if you're looking for somebody that makes ceramics, if you're looking for somebody that draws, if you're looking for a performing artist.

We have that directory on our website, and multiple artists have come up to me and said, "This works.

I've had somebody contact me through your directory and I've been able to commission a piece."

We provide information services.

We have our artist membership.

It's really important to not only support our arts organizations but our individual artists as well, because who makes up those art organizations?

It's the artists that are a part of that.

It's really important to us to have both sides of the coin.

I'd be pretty comfortable in saying that a lot of artists who are really, really talented are not geared, I want to say, towards the marketing, the business end of it.

It's hard to go outside of your world, I've heard people say.

Exactly.

A lot of people may ha.. -Right.

-That is exactly right.

That's one thing that I love, that we support our artists with the marketing and skills and tools that they need so that they can promote their art.

We find out what they're doing.

Erin always posts on social media, and I love that.

I love that we help them in that type of way.

There's so many, just to look around, I guess I've always been an arts advocate, arts lover of different types.

When you think about fabric, arts and the fabrics, dyeing and weaves and different-- there's arts, fabric artists, sculptors.

I guess there's so many different kinds that, unless you make an effort, you don't really see around-- [crosstalk] -Right.

Exactly.

On our artist directory, we have the artists separa.. fine art, fine craft, performing art, public art.

We recently started.

-The jewelry.

-Jewelry, right, exactly.

There are so many different artistic disciplines.

There's something for everybody.

It's really neat to see all the different artists and all the different kinds of art that you can find right here in Jackson.

I know that showcased, which is one exciting thing, that the Friday Art Walks had started and are in place at certain times of the year.

How do the artists benefit from that, for those who are not familiar?

Because those take place in downtown, first Friday of certain months of the year.

Yes, the first Friday of each month, except for-- and I'm still learning on which months we are not going to have the Art Walks.

The hottest ones.

The hottest ones for sure.

-And the coldest ones.

-The real [?].

For sure, right.

Yes.

I enjoy that.

That's one of the things that I do enjoy that we do on the first Friday of each month.

With our first Friday Art Walk, there's, of course, our individual artists, and they're showcasing their work and their art and what they do.

They're able to make money from that.

That's one way we do market our individual artists.

There's also live entertainment, which I always thoroughly enjoy.

Then, we also added line dancing from 6:00 to 6:30, which is really fun.

Even the youngest attendee has fun doing that between 6:00 and 6:30.

It's a lot of fun.

We have a lot of fun.

There are also food truck vendors as.. You can eat, you can shop, and then you can enjoy live entertainment.

I think it makes a difference too.

If you want to purchase something, it's just always interesting to talk to the artist- It is.

It is.

- and have them tell you about a piece of pottery or.. or something like that.

-It is.

It makes it mean a little bit more.

That's a really great concept.

-Yes.

One thing that is fairly new to the Arts Council, and I love this idea, and I want you to explain it, the Art Box Program for- -Absolutely.

- K-12 in the Jackson-Madison County School System.

I know there's some fundraising for this at different times of the year.

There is.

There's a little bit more to it than people might think.

It absolutely is.

That's my heart, the Jackson Art Box.

Let me tell you this.

Since its inception in the.. we have prepared and distributed 1,467 boxes.

We're getting ready now for a big distribution of 470.

We distribute the boxes twice a year, once in the fall and in the spring.

That's what we're gearing up for now.

The boxes are prepared for trained counselors in the Jackson-Madison County School System, and they will give those to the students of the Jackson-Madison County School System.

These students use those to, I guess, express their emotions.

I always tell everybody, that's how I used to express my emotions in high school, by drawing and writing.

It's just to support them with their emotions.

That's one thing that I do love about the Jackson Art Box.

You mentioned, yes, we're always taking donations for that specific project.

It helps the students in the Jackson-Madison County School System.

That's what I love about that.

The counselors keep the boxes there so that when they see th.. or they get to take them home?

Both.

The counselors can keep them and tell the child, "Hey, I've got an art box for you," or, "Do you want to come play with your art box today and use the art supplies that are in your box," or the counselors can let the child take their art box home.

There's a spot on the art box for the child to write their name.

It's their box, that's their art supplies, their box.

It's really important sometimes for students to have something that they feel like is theirs.

It's just a great opportunity for students to express themselves.

-Yes.

-I think there's more awareness, and I hope so, about how expression, whether visual arts or music or dance or any of that, is so helpful.

-It is.

-We have so many at risk children.

Right.

It's just such a delight to see so many kids .. and arts programs and things like that, because it is-- and every year on, I don't know if it's the Grammys or one of them, but there's a Music In Our Schools Month.

They always talk about support music in our schools and keep this going.

A lot of our arts programs have turned too to celebrating our diverse community.

We've just seen recently we had the International Food and Arts Festival here in Jackson.

-Yes, it was wonderful.

Music, dance, and you get to see from all over the world, little ones, big ones, all ages taking part in that.

It's just art's a really universal type of thing to share for people.

-It is.

It's natural, and it makes everybody happy.

It really does.

It makes everybody happy.

-Well, it's just so much important.

-It is.

-It is so important now.

I think, I worry kids are more introverted because they're looking like this all the time.

Y'all know.

Yes.

Oh, absolutely.

I think how do we interact or how do we express ourselves if we're not ever doing it, if you grow up not doing it?

We were out in the yard- Right.

Exactly.

Exactly.

- playing and building forts ..

Right.

Right.

Right.

You know what?

Covid didn't help at all.

Especially when everybody was wearing the masks, nobody could see emotions or expressions.

Yes, you're right.

-Yes.

The arts community, it builds community.

The arts builds community.

-Absolutely.

That's one of our goals, is to build community through the arts.

That's just something that we love, is that we're helping to build community.

The art boxes is helping to build community.

All of these things that we do are along that line.

What is the difference then in the Arts Council and Arts Coalition?

Okay, so a little bit about the Arts Coalition, the Arts Coalition-- and I've got to cheat for a little bit.

[laughs] Oh, you go right ahead, Delita.

[laughter] The Art Coalition, it advances the arts through cooperation, education, communication, and support.

In other words, we partner with the Jackson-Madison County and other nonprofit art organizations, and anyone who is a local art leader or artist is welcome to become a member of the Arts Coalition to stay connected to the arts in Madison County.

Okay, so it's one of the,- -That's what the Art Coalition is.

-- I guess, what do you call that, an auxiliary group or an extra group outside of the council or the board?

Yes, yes.

Yes.

-A volunteer, kind of volunteering.

-Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Okay.

You have to notice the efforts in theater, music, and all of that to celebrate our diversity, back on that.

I think that's largely due to a commitment on our administration for trying to make more arts programs available to more kids, more people.

That's got to be a positive for you all.

It is.

It is.

There's so much talk about DEI now.

That's actually something that I would like to include with our board members, is just to bring in a specialist that specializes totally.. and just talk to us about it.

I think that we can always do better in that aspect so that we can make sure that we are including everybody into the arts, because art is for everyone.

Erin and I, we have a lot of conversations about diversity and equity and inclusion.

That's something that we want to make sure that we are aware of in our organization so that we can make sure that we are inclusive with everybody.

Yes-- [crosstalk] Again, it gives anyone a chance to express and that [?]

[crosstalk]- -It does.

- healing somewhat mentally, psychologically, emotionally, and check so many boxes.

Exactly.

Exactly.

One thing is I didn't realize how big art contributed to our health issues.

There's so much to learn when it comes to arts.

It's so diverse.

It's a wide array of things with the different disciplines that we have.

There's just so much to learn when it comes to art.

I also want to be more inclusive about including special needs students or people with learning disabilities.

We've got a job to do.

I love the, is it Arts Backstage,- Yes.

- where all of the theater, the Ar.. the symphony just all comes together for one day.

Talk about that a little bit.

Is that in May?

-Typically, yes.

-Yes.

Yes.

Have you all started thinking about that ahead this year, next year, 2025.

You should see our board, Julie.

[laughter] -I can imagine.

I can imagine.

Oh my gosh.

Yes, we start talking about it prett.. We start thinking about, "Okay, what did we like about this year?

What can we do differently?"

I think this past year was a great success.

We had a bunch of different performances on the stage.

We had theater, we had improv, we had dance, we had ballet, we had all these really, really interesting performances.

Then, we also had wonderful artists, wonderful featured artists that were in the gallery s.. Then, we also had our emerging artist gallery, our inaugural emerging artist gallery, which was high school juniors and seniors who were thinking of pursuing a career in the arts.

They were able to showcase their art as well in the upstairs gallery at The Ned.

It gave them the opportunity to see what it was like to exhibit their art.

It really, again, is about building community.

We just want everybody to be involved and we want to involve as many people as possible.

-Do you think people, I don't know, there's a stiff neck maybe stigma that some people have about the arts community?

Is it dressing up in a tux and going to listen to people playing violins?

You all know what our area is like, and not in a derogatory way.

Just my experience over the past few years, and when I see people at the symphony I would not expect to see, people at The Ned going to a musical or a play I would not expect to see.

It's almost like, it's okay to participate.

Right.

Exactly.

You don't have to put on a tux.

You don't ha..

It's for everybody.

-Right.

It is.

Art is for everyone.

It just depends on the taste of the individual.

if you're not into the symphony, that's okay.

We have a play at The Ned.

Again, the taste of every individual is different.

I like to be involved in a little bit of everything.

I love the symphony.

I love the plays at The Ned.

I love the musicals.

It just depends on the individual.

The support is the support, and we appreciate it, but you're right.

I think people don't realize how much.. there is within the arts community.

-Exactly.

Right.

You have to go there, you have to look to see that.

And how much there is to do.

Right.

Exactly.

There is something happening in the arts community almost every single weekend.

Yes.

We have a calendar on our website of arts and culture events.

It gets longer and longer everyday.

-It does.

We want to let everybody know that there are things going on, and if this doesn't suit what you want to do, there's something else.

-Exactly.

-There's something for everybody.

-Exactly.

There are multiple events going on every weekend.

I cringe when I see on social media, "Well, there's nothing to do in Jackson."

There's a lot to do in Jackson.

-Just look a little.

Just look a little, look on our page.

Erin posts- -You all have a wonderful website.

--every day.

Thank you.

Erin is posting every day ab..

There's always something for somebody.

If you don't want to go to this event, go to this event.

It's a myth that there's nothing going on here in Jackson, Tennessee because there is a lot going on.

It's just, like I said, follow us on social media.

You'll find something to do if you really want to do it.

That's true.

Well, and I've been excited too because I know our current city administration has put a priority on the arts community, and that makes me especially happy.

You all too, I know.

Absolutely, because that's how we're able to fund our individual artists.

That's how we're able to fund our arts organization.

Yes, we appreciate that support from administration.

I know you talked about the grant funding, and there's a lot of that.

That is very tedious work.

-It can be.

I've just always heard people say if you've never written a grant, you got no idea, and I'm like, "Probably right."

It can be, yes.

I'm not sure I would ever have the patience or- Sure you would.

You would.

- skill to do that, but it's kind of a daunting task, can be.

-It can be scary in the beginning, but that's what we are here for.

We are here to help you with the process.

When I first started at the Arts Council, I had never applied for a grant, I'd never helped administer a grant, I'd never helped manage a grant, and here to-- [crosstalk] -You learned real quick.

I learned real quick.

I used to think grants are scary, but they're really not.

You just got to read everything, and you just make sure you have all your supporting documents.

If you have questions about our grants that we administer or if you have another grant that you're looking at that we may not do, we are here to help.

We're an information hub, and so we love to help people.

Because you can do grants for individuals who maybe are just trying to start, is just to help with materials or maybe a space.

As we said, a lot of people, very talented people, but that doesn't necessarily give them the resources to market their work.

Right.

Exactly.

Our new creative support grant is an unrestricted grant, which means that artists can apply for whatever they may need, whether that be supplies, studio space, childcare to cover watching their child while they go into their studio and create art.

It's for whatever that artist may need to further their career.

Artists have been asking for this for a long time.

We're really, really excited that now we can serve our individual artists in Jackson this way.

If you wanted to write a book, would that be included?

Yes, if you wanted to-- [crosstalk] Because everybody wants to write a book [?]

or something.

[?]

-That's true.

[laughs] Well, and if that's your desire, I just hope people realize what a great resource that we have- Right.

Absolutely.

- in the Jackson Arts Council.

Is this federal, state grants, just different foundations, different sources.

-All.

Our Jack Grant and our Creative Support Grant are funded by the city of Jackson, which we are so thankful for- -Very much.

- because it allows us to grant out that money.

Then, we're also a designated agency with the Tennessee Arts Commission, so we help administer their Arts Build Communities or ABC grant every year, and then two years ago, we helped administer the NEA ARP grant that was COVID relief funds.

We have had grant funding from all levels, and so you can see the difference in the community and in our arts organizations when they have that grant funding.

Wonderful.

We're just about out of time, but Dr. Delita Johnson, executive director of the Jackson Arts Council, and Erin Eller, office manager, tell folks how to keep in touch with you really quick.

They can visit our website at 731arts.com.

Our office number is 731-422-1385.

We're on X, we're on Instagram, we're on social media.

Any other ways, am I missing anything?

Or stop by the office.

We get a lot of that.

[laughs] -[?]

-You're in the former city hall that's [?]

Yes, we're in the basement of old city hall.

Well, thank you ladies so much.

I'm sorry that our time is up.

-Oh, thank you.

-No.

Thank you.

-Thank you.

Thank you for [?]

with us on this edition of Tennessee is Talking.

Thank you so much again, Dr. Johnson and Erin Eller, for stopping by to t.. about the Jackson Arts Council.

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