Page 54 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2017

in the museum, joyfully said, “I’ll be back!” Interactive
experiences include “Become a Blues Legend,” which
allows visitors to make a blues song, mix it up and email
it home, as well as an opportunity to join a jug band and
see yourself performing in the band.
The museum also believes in educational opportunities
and has been host to engaging programs with several
community partners, such as the ‘Take Me to the River’
Education Initiative and most recently, “History in the First
Person: Music Moved the Movement: Civil Rights and the
Blues.” This program, in partnership with HEC-TV, featured
a panel discussion titled “A Conversation with Reena Evers-
Everette and David (Dave) Dennis, Sr.: Inside the Civil Rights
Movement,” thanks to a grant from the Missouri Humanities
Council. The museum has officially kicked off its own Blues
in the Schools program, which has already been presented
to 6,000 school students in the area.
In the museum’s first year, the Scott and Diane
McCuaig and Family Gallery has been home to several
world-class traveling exhibits, including H.C. Porter’s
“Blues @ Home: Mississippi’s Living Blues Legends,”
Sharon McConnell-Dickerson’s “Cast of Blues,” and
“Women of the Blues – A Coast to Coast Collection”
curated by Lynn Orman Weiss. Starting April 2017, the
“Sepia Magazine Photo Archive: Blues in Review” will
be in residence, and November will feature the work of
photographer Kirk West and his extensive collection of
blues icons.
Using artifact-driven exhibits, live performances and
interactive galleries to perpetuate blues culture for future
generations of artists, fans and historians, there’s always
something fun and exciting to experience at the National
Blues Museum. For more information, visit
www.nationalbluesmuseum.org. To stay connected, follow
@NatBluesMuseum on Twitter, @NationalBluesMuseum
on Instagram and like “National Blues Museum” on
Facebook.

Blues fan of the next generation checks out an interactive exhibit
Photo courtesy National Blues Museum

52 Blues Festival Guide 2017