Contact: Kenneth Billings
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State is receiving a $4,000 grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission.
The university's T.K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability is applying the grant to its EXPRESS Yourself program for persons with severe physical disabilities. Modeled after New Jersey artist Tim Lefens' A.R.T. program, it is designed for Mississippians with the most severe physical disabilities.
The MSU program's title is the acronym for EXperiencing Painting as Recreation and Express the Spirit within YourSelf. Works of EXPRESS artists are featured at the center's new Martha Lipsey Art Gallery.
Named for the former longtime MSU vice president who led in making the campus more accessible to persons with disabilities, the Martin Center is unique in the field of assistive technology for providing direct clinical services on the campus of a major research university.
Among other duties, Martin's professional staff provides comprehensive, multi-disciplinary evaluations to remove limitations through the application of assistive technologies that allow individuals to participate in educational, vocational and leisure activities to the fullest degree they choose.
"Communities across this state are learning the effect the arts have on the education of their children," said Malcolm White, the arts commission's executive director. He cited arts-based activities "that have a proven positive impact on at-risk youth and children enrolled in after-school programs."
Commission grants are made possible by continued support of the Mississippi Legislature and National Endowment for the Arts, he added.
For more Martin Center information and to view current work in the Lipsey Gallery, visit http://www.tkmartin.msstate.edu/.