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Arts Commission News

Mississippi Arts Commission Welcomes Visionary Leader, Bill Strickland, as Keynote Speaker at Whole Schools Summer Institute

DATE:          July 7, 2009 

CONTACT:    Susan Dobbs, Public Relations Director

601/359-6031, sdobbs@arts.state.ms.us

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

JACKSON – The Mississippi Arts Commission is honored to welcome visionary leader, Bill Strickland, as the keynote speaker at the Whole Schools Summer Institute.  Strickland will speak in Fulton Chapel on the University of Mississippi Campus on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 7:00pm. A reception and book signing will be held immediately following in the ballroom at The Inn at Ole Miss.

For thirty years, Bill Strickland, the President and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, and Bidwell Training Center, has transformed thousands of lives and has helped to restore faith in ethical leadership.  He is a nationally recognized visionary leader who authentically delivers educational and cultural opportunities to students and adults within an organizational culture that fosters innovation, creativity, responsibility and integrity. 

Strickland was born in 1947 and grew up in Manchester, an inner-city neighborhood of Pittsburgh.  Life-changing inspiration came in the form of a high school art teacher, who provided him with a revolving mound of clay that formed his future vision of the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild.  The Guild began as an after-school arts program in a donated rowhouse that was acquired while he was still in college.  Today, this innovative nonprofit agency uses the arts to inspire disadvantaged youth and adults to build a better future. 

In his current book, Make the Impossible Possible, Strickland says a successful life is not something you simply pursue; it is something that you create, moment by moment.  He believes that everyone has the potential for remarkable achievement and can accomplish the impossible if given the right inspiration and motivation.

             

Approximately 400 teachers, artists, and education administrators from across the state are registered to attend the Institute to be held on the campus of the University of Mississippi July 12 – 16, 2009.  For more information visit www.mswholeschools.org.

The Mississippi Arts Commission is a state agency funded by the Mississippi Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Wallace Foundation, The Phil Hardin Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation, the Mississippi Endowment for the Arts at the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson and other private sources. The Whole Schools Summer Institute is funded by a generous contribution from Donna and Jim Barksdale.  MAC is the official grants-making and service agency for the arts in Mississippi.  The agency serves as an active supporter and promoter of arts in community life and in arts education.

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