31st Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival

Tickets Now On Sale

Tickets are now on sale for the 31st Annual Mississippi Delta Blues & Heritage Festival. To purchase tickets click >>> here

2008 Poster Contest Has Ended

The 2008 Mississippi Delta Blues & Heritage Festival Poster contest has ended. Thanks to all those who entered. We will let you know when the judging will take place and the winner will be posted soon.

Artist Sam Gilliam Donates Commemorative Poster for 30th Annual Blues Festival

Purchase the Commemorative Poster

Mississippi native and Washington D.C. resident, Sam Gilliam designed the Commemorative poster for the the 30th Annual Mississippi Delta Blues & Heritage Festival. Gilliam was born in Tupelo, Mississippi and attended the University of Louisville in Kentucky where he received his B.A. in fine art and his M.A. in painting. He has taught in Washington D.C. public schools and in many prominent art schools and Universities in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Since his first grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1967, Gilliam has been acknowledged by a long list of public and private commissions, grants, awards, exhibitions and honorary doctorates. Gilliam lives in Washington D.C. and operates a large studio in the beautiful historic district known as Shaw. Gilliam is internationally known, exhibited, and enormously respected; he is Washington's preeminent artist.

Blues Poster Unveiling & Poster Contest Winner

Purchase the 2007 Blues Festival Poster

The official poster for the 30th Annual Mississippi Delta Blues & Heritage Festival was unveiled on July 9, 2007 along with the announcement of the poster contest winner. Jason Carter of Birmingham, Michigan was selected as the winner of the 2007 Poster Contest. Jason's art work was chosen out of the 23 submissions received. To read Jason's biography please click on Jason Carter's Biography.

Jason Carter, Poster Contest Winner, pays a visit to MACE During Blues Week

Jason Carter made a special visit to MACE during Blues Week. During his visit, Jason toured MACE's exhibt hall and signed a few posters for MACE as well as a few customers who purchased thier posters on sight. Click thumbnails to see larger picture.

Governor Haley Barbour Signs Proclamation Declaring Blues Week

Mississippi's Governor, The Honorable Haley Barbour signed a proclamation decaring September 9-15, 2007 as Blues Week. A copy of the proclamation is available >>> here

3rd Annual Delta Dialogue

MACE is preparing to host the 3rd Annual Delta Dialogue. Additional information on the Delta Dialogue is available >>> here

Delta Blues Festival Updates

For daily festival updates, please click on the "Latest News" link on the left menu bar.

September 15, 2007 is the big day of the Festival

The purpose of the Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival is to reach a worldwide audience with a celebration of the contributions the Mississippi Delta Blues culture has made to the American story - and to help preserve that culture.

Mississippi Delta Blues is globally recognized as one of the most America's important musical forms. A major catalyst for American popular culture, it exists in both a folk context and as a product of the commercial music industry. In the face of a historically brutal social experience, black folk in America affirmed their humanity by remembering and creating a rich expressive culture of poetry, tales, crafts, ritual, dance and music. This system embodied techniques of cultural transmission, transformation, adaptation and survival. Early Blues developed out of this rich fabric and cross-fertilized the work-songs, love-songs, slow drags, rags and spirituals. Delta Blues soon became the emotional and literary voice of black singers across the south.

Ironically, black and poor people from the Mississippi Delta, who gave the world the Blues, had limited access to traditional or contemporary institutional arts and cultural programming. The products of most rural peoples' art are inaccessible to them. They are housed in urban academic institutions and archives. They need to be preserved and showcased to larger general audiences as the legacy of a living culture.

While this art form was being celebrated internationally, the Delta region was still one of the poorest regions in the country. In 1976, Mississippi Action for Community Education, Inc. (MACE) saw the need to help create financing for educational programs and gave birth to the Delta Blues & Heritage Festival.

The success of the Delta Blues & Heritage Festival spurred the creation of festivals all over the Delta.

Thanks to our sponsors. Click on any sponsor to visit sponsor's page.