MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) – The Meridian Little Theatre was awarded a BFA grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission.
The MAC awarded 5.2 Million dollars in the “Building Fund for the Arts” grants throughout 23 counties in Mississippi. According to the MAC website, the BFA grants quote “supports the much-needed repair, renovation, expansion, or construction of Mississippi facilities that serve as sites for year-round arts programming in their communities.”
The Meridian Little Theatre, a community staple for over 90 years, was awarded $102,600 to help repair the theatre’s roof and lighting system.
Tiffany McGehee, Artistic Director for MLT, said this generous grant helps cover the cost of the essential repairs the theatre needs to keep moving forward. “To renovate our roof over our audience. The facility we’re in now, which is about 50 years old, is fun because at 50 years old, the building starts to go, “Oh, I’m tired, and I’m gonna start leaking here, or I’m gonna need some maintenance here.” And then our lighting system needs to be replaced ideally with some LED lights cause that would save a lot in our utilities, but also because of the roof leaking, it interfered with some of our lighting up in the catwalk.”
While the grant will go a long way towards covering the cost of the much-needed repairs, it will not cover the cost entirely. So, MLT will offer many fundraising opportunities for the community to help raise the total amount needed to complete the repairs. They include selling t-shirts, selling smoked boston butts for the last big NFL game of the season, and various other events.
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