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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Friday and Saturday, April 13 and April 14, head to the Sixth Annual Creative Arts Festival in the Jackson State University College of Science, Engineering and Technology Auditorium. Friday, the opening panel is at 2 p.m., and a reception is at 6 p.m. in Ayer Hall.

Dr. Tonea Stewart delivers the keynote address Saturday, April 14 at 4:45 p.m. in the JSU Student Center Auditorium.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, including a complete schedule of events, visit http://www.jsums.edu/margaretwalker/artsfestival2012.

Opening Saturday and on display through April 30, visit the Fourth Annual Ask for More Arts Student Exhibit at the Arts Center of Mississippi (201 E. Pascagoula St.).

Over the course of this school year, 16 Jackson public elementary and middle-school students have worked with local teaching artists to incorporate art into their school day. Their artwork is “thoughtful, creative and beautiful,” states a release from Parents for Public Schools Jackson, the organization behind the Ask for More Arts program in the city.

For more information, visit http://www.ppsjackson.org/askformoreart.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.