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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
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As a board member of the Greater Jackson Arts Council (formerly the Arts Alliance), I’d like to personally invite each of you to tonight’s Holiday Arts Mixer at the old Capitol Inn from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Come enjoy free wine, beer and creative cheer. You can also see wonderful and artistic gift ideas by local artists and artisans, and meet some of the artists who are making this a wonderful creative class city. Please join us tonight (Monday). 226 N. State St., 601.960.1557.

Cheers, Donna

Founding Editor Donna Ladd is a writer, journalist and editor from Philadelphia, Miss., a graduate of Mississippi State University and later the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she was an alumni award recipient in 2021. She writes about racism/whiteness, poverty, gender, violence, journalism and the criminal justice system. She contributes long-form features and essays to The Guardian when she has time, and was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press. She co-founded the statewide nonprofit Mississippi Free Press with Kimberly Griffin in March 2020, and the Mississippi Business Journal named her one of the state's top CEOs in 2024. Read more at donnaladd.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @donnerkay and email her at donna@mississippifreepress.org.