From the Westin Jackson, the Mississippi Arts Commission presents the 2026 Governor's Arts Awards.

With Governor Tate Reeves, host Daniella Oropeza, Mississippi Arts Commission Director David Lewis, and the reason we're here tonight, the 2026 Governor's Arts Awards recipients: Greg Harkins, Dottie Armstrong, the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Heather Christian, and Lifetime Achievement Honoree Jesse Robinson.

Hear me, save me.

Help me be my helper, have mercy.

Save me, hear me, help.

Hear me, deliver me, show me.

Be my helper, hear me.

Save me, deliver me, show me.

Hear me, deliver me, help.

Deliver me, hear my prayer.

This morning, hear me, hear my prayer.

Mm.

La-di-da-di-da.

Mm.

When I'm scared of my shadow, shine on me.

When I can't hear the words, come bring word to me.

When I can't do the work, teach me light.

When I can't carry on, teach me should.

When I run out of songs, teach me dance.

When I fall out of step, teach me flight.

Oh, remember, remind me, inspire me.

When I want to choose easy instead of right.

When I say I'm too tired to choose life.

Oh, hear me, hear my prayer.

This morning, hear me, hear my prayer.

Welcome to the 2026 Governor's Arts Awards.

I'm Daniella Oropeza, your host for this evening's celebration.

Thank you.

You just heard the original song, Petition, composed and performed by one of tonight's honorees, Heather Christian.

She was joined by Alvin Shelby, an influential music teacher from her time growing up in Natchez, and later this evening, we will learn more about his vital role in Heather's story.

For 38 years, the Mississippi Arts Commission has partnered with the governor's office to honor Mississippians who have made extraordinary contributions to the world through artistic excellence.

Tonight, through music and storytelling, two things we excel at in our great state of Mississippi, we will learn about this year's five recipients.

Now, please join me in welcoming the executive director of the Mississippi Arts Commission, David Lewis.

Welcome again to the 38th Annual Governor's Arts Awards.

We are truly thrilled to have you here.

This is an opportunity for us to celebrate our living and greatest artists.

We have five wonderful recipients for us tonight to celebrate and to honor and to hear from.

And so we're very proud to be able to present them to you tonight.

I'd also like to take a moment to thank all of our donors who made this possible.

Your support for the Governor's Awards helps us to put on a great show and invite the public to come and join us, and a very special partner, MPB, who allows us to be able to present this and broadcast it.

They filmed this for us, and then we broadcast it in late April on television.

So thank you to MPB and to our and to our donors.

And with that, it is my honor to present the Governor of Mississippi, the Honorable Tate Reeves.

Well, thank you, David, and good evening.

It is great to be here in downtown Jackson for tonight's 38th Annual Governor's Arts Awards.

Elee and I are so excited to be here as we celebrate one of Mississippi's greatest treasures, the arts, and a tremendous group of honorees.

As we all know, Mississippi is blessed with incredible artists who call our state home, and it is an indisputable fact that Mississippi has helped define American culture.

Tonight's honorees join a long list of extraordinary Mississippians who have received this award, Mississippians and artists like B.B.

King, William Dunlap, Morgan Frean- Freeman, Thalia Mara, Willie Morris, just to name a few.

Tonight, we celebrate a chair maker whose chairs are heirloom pieces that many pride themselves to have in their homes, an arts educator who created community through her art, a composer, lyricist, playwright, and performer whose works dazzle us on stage, a symphony whose legacy spans 70 plus years and performs and serves Mississippians through music, and a blues musician who is admired by legends.

These awards being given tonight are a recognition of the indelible impact that these honorees have had on the great state of Mississippi.

It is our honor to recognize our award recipients at the 38th Annual Governor's Arts Awards.

And to all of our honorees tonight, thank you for the gift of your time and the gift of your creativity.

Congratulations on this incredible accomplishment, and thank you to everyone for supporting the arts and the artists of Mississippi.

God bless.

He's crafted chairs for presidents and even a pope.

Master chair maker Greg Harkins is best known for his impeccable rocking chairs.

Now entering his sixth decade of chair making, he creates functional art to be passed down for generations, and holds building chairs for his fellow Mississippians as his highest honor.

Let's take a moment to visit his workshop and see his process in action.

When somebody tells you that the chair is 145 years old, and they can tell you a lineage, you take the chair and you look at it, and every part in this chair is turned exactly the, the direction it need to be turned.

The rounds are absolutely pristine perfect.

They were everything that they needed to be, and that's how you make 100, 125-year-old chair.

That's, that's how you make them.

My name is Greg Harkins.

I am a 53-year veteran of making handmade rockers.

The reason that he does such a good job today is because he, he was taught by some of the old masters from Thomastown, and carries that tradition forward.

And I think he does what he does today in honor of them.

There were seven different shops in Thomastown at the time.

Everybody had their own slant, but everywhere I went, you know, I, I, I learned something a little different.

There's things that, that you can learn, with an apprenticeship that you can't even begin to learn, like o- on YouTube or something.

You got to smell it, and you got to feel it, you know, and you gotta, you know, be able to taste it and just sense it.

I think part of his reputation is that they are the quality that a handmade chair is supposed to be.

When I hear about the people he apprenticed under, you know, if you were gonna be a successful chair maker, you had to make a chair that was going to last and people were gonna give to their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren.

I've been apprenticing under Greg Harkins for about four years now.

I'm sure there are other people I could have learned from somewhere, but I'm not aware of any that would have taught me as well as, as Greg has.

Greg has made chairs for six presidents, a pope, more senators and famous people than anyone really cares to count.

The pope was coming with to New Orleans.

I was asked to, to build a chair for him.

They, asked me if I would like to present the chair, but I said, "I've already come so close to the pope, you know, that he'll sit in my chair.

If I can, if I can offer him a few moments of relief or relaxation, I've done my part."

He has a big heart.

He cares for people.

He has a passion for what he does.

He's very concerned about passing on this art, so after he's finished with it, that it continues to live.

I think that's probably his greatest accomplishment.

You can find his chairs everywhere, all the, chairs at Penn's, chairs at Table 100, Ag Museum, Walton Centers.

And they're all over the state, they're all over the country, and in a number of other countries.

People who bought his chairs when he first started 50 years ago still have the same chair and sit in it every day.

Greg's been doing this for a long, long time now, and he's managed to reinvent himself enough to where that he is just as current today and just as needed today and just as vibrant in the marketplace today as he was when he first started.

Mississippi is absolutely the blood in my body.

It's not what, what a lot of people think.

It's just me.

This is the life that I chose and, it's, it's been a great life.

The people that buy my chairs, they're my heroes because they give me the opportunity to do it again.

Ladies and gentlemen, the honoree for excellence in traditional craft, Greg Harkins.

First of all, Greg, you don't need to be over here.

Y'all, you gave me the opportunity to redo this over and over and over again.

God bless you.

Thank you.

We started the evening with a performance that shows the enduring impact of an arts educator.

Dottie Armstrong carries that torch with endless passion and dedication.

From the ground up, Dottie built the arts program in Newton, Mississippi, that spans all the way from elementary to high school.

For decades, she has inspired students of all ages with the power of creativity, but Dottie did not stop there.

Taking the phrase, "Paint the town," as a personal challenge, she spearheaded mural projects to breathe life back to neglected spaces in Newton and beyond.

Now, Dottie welcomes us into her home and her secret garden art studio where she continues to teach children and adults.

I can remember when we moved here in 1974, I said, "I wanna be sitting on the front porch rocking in my 80s."

And I didn't think I'd ever get to 80, but 80 years old, can you believe it?

I find that the things that appeal to me most that I enjoy painting are things of nature, like the flowers, the s- landscapes, and then the old buildings.

If I lived in another place, another state, another town, I don't know whether I would've ever been connected to art in any way.

When you come to the Armstrongs, you need to be ready to look because there's much to, much to look at.

There's a mosaic building out back.

There are hubcaps that have been painted, birdhouses, frogs.

She gives a new, new coat of paint to all of her yard furniture every year.

There's a painted bicycle hanging on the side of the house that Andy rode across country.

Everything is just so calm and gentle when, as soon as you, enter the building, there's this soft music playing and, you know, you just feel at ease and comfortable.

When I first started teaching, I was teaching English, and I got just really carried away with making things to put on the walls that would illustrate my lessons.

And when I realized that I could actually draw some things, paint some things that looked good and I was proud to put on the wall, and so that was like a key that was turned.

The superintendent knew that I liked, doing things like that, and he said, "You would really enjoy being an art teacher, and we need one."

So I started going to Mississippi College, and that's where I got my master's in art education.

Dottie founded the art program in Newton, and she built it from the ground up.

Everybody that went to that school more than likely passed through Dottie Armstrong's classroom for 40 years, and so they got that vibrant, excited, that breath of life in the art classroom.

When I teach art and get to share with adults and children, it gives people the chance to think and to make decisions on their own.

I literally learned how to paint landscapes, which is what I do for a living.

Dottie Armstrong taught me how to paint landscapes.

Dottie took it on herself to paint murals all over town, literally all over town and they were the backdrop to my childhood and to many others in Newton.

If those murals weren't there, the town would have been much less vibrant.

She taught me and many others that art wasn't just something that took place in a studio by yourself, that it was something to be shared with your community.

When we were ready to retire, we had to make a decision about where I was gonna get to teach art classes.

We used that long, hot summer after we retired in '99 and w- we built that studio and started teaching.

I believe her legacy is that she's a living legend.

You know, she, she is a living legend, a true legend of Mississippi.

That's how wonderful that Dottie is.

Well, I would hope that people would think that I had done my part in making Newton a better place, and a happier place, more wonderful place just by, making it more colorful and adding things to the town that might not have been added if, if I hadn't stepped up to do it.

I think that it is a testament to the strength of the teacher in the classroom and that the right teacher, no matter the situation, can change lives.

She changed my life.

She changed other kids' lives, too.

Join me in welcoming this year's recipient for Excellence in Arts Education, Dottie Armstrong.

Thank you so much, first of all, for this incredible honor.

To be recognized by the governor and the Mississippi Arts Commission for doing what I love is truly humbling.

I have always believed that while art is a God-given gift, the ability to draw and paint is a skill that can be nurtured in anyone.

I have been a lucky woman because I spent my life turning on that creative spark in others.

I am indeed a lucky woman.

Thank you.

Very special messages right there.

Music can liven up a room just like the one we are in tonight.

Join me in acknowledging the musicians who have been the constant soundtrack to our evening.

The Arts Award Combo.

The fearless band leader and 2021 Governor's Art recipient, Raphael Sims on bass.

Bill Perry on keyboard.

Barry Leach on guitar.

And Maya Kyles on drums.

Let's give our band a big round of applause.

How many of us remember hearing the swell of symphonic music for the very first time?

Over the past 82 years, the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra has dazzled us with electric Pepsi Pops performances, mesmerized us from the largest of stages, and invited us to lean closer with intimate chamber concerts.

Their ever-expanding community reaches throughout the entire state, so let's take a closer look at the remarkable impact of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra.

When we get to a rest and it's so silent in a room of 1,200 people and you could hear a pin drop, you know that people are literally breathless waiting for that next thing to happen, then you know that we're all one.

The great power of art and live performance is what happens between performers and the audience.

Time and time again, when we begin to play, what happens in a room is absolutely extraordinary, just the sheer emotion of it.

Human beings creating emotion and putting it out there and expressing it through sound for other human beings, and it's deeply human.

I mean, it's, it's just visceral.

The Mississippi Symphony Orchestra is the oldest and largest performing arts organization in the state.

The history of the symphony is fascinating to me.

It was started in 1944, and it basically was supported by a group of volunteers who worked alongside Belhaven University and really created this support system for the music arts in Mississippi.

People tend to look at Mississippi differently, and they know about the blues, they know about jazz, and then we have this classical music that covers all genres, and I think that that just rounds it out for Mississippi and its culture and the things that can really come out of Mississippi that can have an impact not only at the local communities, but our state and nation.

Mississippi Symphony works hard at, at being in the community.

We're part of the community.

We reflect the community.

And we begin to find this out by going to Poplarville, by going to, to Tunica, by going to Hernando, Columbus, Cleveland.

Their musical traditions are slightly different, and their responses to us are very different, and the kind of music that we need to perform in those places is slightly different.

When the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra goes to these communities, they're taking this kind of classical music into that community where some of those people may have never heard it, but have an opportunity to go.

And I think that it expresses, the vibrancy of a community, the health and wellbeing.

And when we have a strong symphony orchestra in our community, it says something about our character and our belief and our values.

One of the most extraordinary things about the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra is that all of us are teachers.

Art has always been passed down from one generation to another.

All of our musicians are either teaching privately or they are the teachers in our public schools, in our private schools, in our universities.

We do have education programs in our local public schools.

We also provide experiences in, the symphony performances.

So we've got big performances like Bravo.

We've got small performances in chapels like Tougaloo.

We have performances in our local schools throughout the state.

And we also have the Youth Symphony, and we have programs for enrichment in music and education.

And to see the vast footprint that the symphony has throughout the state is one that I'm so proud of, but it is one that's constantly evolving and shaping based on what the state actually needs from the symphony.

It creates a container in the community for people to re-envision how they're gonna relate with other people, which is the thing that arts can do.

And I think that it's, it's critical to have those spaces in our community as often as possible because there's so many things that would naturally divide us that we need something that's going to be a meeting place where we can get together.

Ladies and gentlemen, the recipient of Excellence in Performing Arts, the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra.

Accepting the award on their behalf is Janet Reel, executive director of the Miss- Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, and Crafton Beck, music director and conductor of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra.

This orchestra is r- is over 1,000 musicians now over the past 80 years.

Hundreds now of board members.

These are the folks, dozens of staff members.

That's who this award is going to.

People just like all of us who have, who have embraced the idea of performance in the schools, in the community through music.

Thank you.

Thank you.

But this award belongs to an orchestra that does not perform for applause, but for perfection, and we are so glad that we always play for the enduring musical legacy of Mississippi.

Thank you.

Now, please prepare to listen to Voodoo Violin Concerto, Movement One, played by an ensemble of symphony members.

Their performances are always so captivating.

Heather Christian has been lauded for redefining the musical and reinventing form as both composer and performer.

Her work captures the beauty, the pain, the contradictions, the sacred, the glorious mystery and mess of being human.

She is a Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, and two-time Obie Award winner.

Most recently, she was named a MacArthur Fellow, an honor commonly known as a MacArthur Genius Grant.

We experienced her gift firsthand earlier this evening.

Now, let's peek behind the curtain for a look into Heather's process of creating music-centered shows and rituals.

Say the secret password.

Recycle.

Here are the girls of the STW club.

Let's see who we have.

Heather Christian, the presidente.

I knew from a very early age what I wanted to do, where I wanted to go, and that's kind of... I don't know how to explain that.

It's just sort of something that I've known.

I also had this truly earnest desire from, as a young person, to save the world.

And what's it called?

The STW.

And what does it stand for?

Save the world.

I'm Heather Christian.

I'm a composer, librettist, playwright, and performer, and I, grew up in Mississippi.

There's rigor in everything Heather does.

She has incredibly high standards for herself in terms of what she's trying to make and, and what she sees in her head, and sometimes the vessel for that is her own body and her own voice and what she wants to convey in a performance, and sometimes the vessel for that is a community choir or 12 virtuosic singers.

What she is doing, often chorally, surpasses almost anything that you hear in the contemporary musical theater.

It's like an artist with a palette.

She knows the color she's trying to make.

She knows the, the picture she's trying to paint, and she has to decide which tools to use on each project to get there.

Growing up, Heather always loved to perform.

On the playground, she would come up with these wonderful plays and would give us each a part, and we'd practice for days.

And one day she said, "I will be on Broadway," and we never doubted it.

I'm the big bad wolf.

Alvin Shelby is the music director and choral director of the Holy Family Gospel Choir.

Mr.

Shelby pulled me outside of class one day, sat me down, and he was like, "Baby, I heard you want to sing."

And I was like, "Yeah, I do."

And he was like, "Why don't you come sing with me?"

I started cantering at the Catholic church when I was 11.

They put a step stool on the podium so that I could see over it And I just became the little girl that sang at church.

Uh and that was my identity for a real long time.

You can feel the synergy of the different kinds of music that are embedded in her upbringing.

She talks so much about the earth there, about the environment there, about the, the plants and the animals, and the kudzu and the catfish and the- The soil in which she was raised.

Heather as a daughter of Mississippi and an emissary of Mississippi, I think like brings forward the idea of a place that is haunted, a place of delicacy.

I think she brings a deep love of mythology and also a sobriety and bravery in facing the disjoint, potentially, between a past and a present lived experience.

There's like an unassailable curiosity that's embodied in her work.

The older that I get, the more I understand how fundamentally Southern I am.

So there's like things emotionally in me in how I was raised and how I felt inside those different Southern American canon genres that certainly show up in the work.

And ultimately, it's that complexity and it's that nuance, and that, it's that like acceptance of like the human condition being one full of contradictions that makes good art.

Ladies and gentlemen, the recipient for excellence in music composition, Heather Christian.

What I do isn't so much new as very, very, very, very old.

It just hasn't been in vogue for the last 500 years.

And to do something in a public forum that is so relentlessly not of the moment takes courage.

But luckily, courage necessitates fear.

What is required is tenacity.

And because I was forged in the high -spirited, complex, and unsinkable h**l or high waters of the Mississippi Delta, I learned this tenacity by osmosis and directly from my teachers, who I am accepting this award tonight in the name of.

For Alvin Shelby, who has also just made my life by being here tonight and letting me sing with him after 30 years.

I'm accepting this also for Gene Biglane, for Cheryl Rinehart, Ruth Powers, Mike Graboski, Cheryl Person, Karen Foley, and all the teachers that took an extra minute after class to sort of push me down a road I wasn't thinking of.

For my female caregivers, Mary Bradford, Margaret Burns, Kathy Tilley, and of course, for my family, Dennis and Darlene Christian, for my brother Colin, my husband Tater, for supporting me with love and enthusiasm, but for making sure that now I don't get too big for my britches.

And recognition for my home state is a very personal and very precious thing, and I accept this with my whole and very full heart.

Thank you.

He is known as Mayor of the Jackson Blues scene.

His unmatched skill led him to play on stages with countless legends, Buddy Guy, Little Milton, Bobby Rush, and his friend B.B.

King, just to name a few.

He is the legend that we celebrate tonight.

Jesse, we thank you for your lifetime commitment to keeping the Mississippi Blues torch burning brightly, not only as a musician, but also a passionate educator.

In his own words, "All my guitars have something to say.

They speak to me."

Mayor Robinson, we are here to listen.

Now, let's take a closer look at Jesse Robinson's blues legacy.

My brother was teaching me guitar when I was a kid, and my dad, was sanctified preaching, "You do not play blues in this house."

So my brother would be teaching me, you know, like, "Oh baby, baby, don't you wanna go?"

And I, I, we, know one of us would see Daddy, and w- only thing we would do is this.

"Oh Lord, I want you to help me.

Oh Lord" So that's how close it is, how close the blues and the gospel is.

Jesse Robinson is a blues child.

He's a charismatic performer, a virtuoso guitar player, an expressive blues singer, and a committed, educator.

Jesse Robinson, to me, is one of the greatest guitar players that ever lived in Mississippi.

He's an original blues man, the second generation to the B.B.

Kings and the Albert Kings and all those guys here in the, in the, Mississippi Delta.

So when you start thinking about the blues men who migrated from the Delta or from Mississippi to Chicago, everything that they took with them was them, and that's what Jesse Robinson was able to do, along with a lot of the other blues men.

And that, that always has been a part of the, the blues story.

When I got Chicago, I ran up on Buddy Guy and them, Junior Wells and them, and all those cats, and, Howlin' Wolf, and Muddy Water, I mean, yeah, cats.

But all those artists was totally different.

They had a different recipe of music.

I mean, it, it just flooded me with different, drones of music.

Within the blues, there, there's a, there's a so many worlds.

And in Chicago, they had a Blue Monday, where all the musicians would meet up at.

So when I came back, I brought that concept back with me.

So I think Jesse Robinson's legacy is that he, he'll go down as one of the greatest musicians that ever came out of the State of Mississippi.

He is a very passionate person on education.

Blues in the Schools is a, partnership between Mississippi State Music Department and teachers and students throughout the state.

One of our primary offerings was Jesse Robinson.

Every place we went, we put on a show for the students, just like we were playing a major blues festival or something.

And, Jesse brings it, you know?

He, he goes full on.

One student said, "I thought blues was depressing, old people music.

I didn't know it could be that fun."

Sitting here at the Iron House Grill.

I used to play here years and years with my band, and, participated in a lot of blues markers across the State of Mississippi.

This is the latest one.

I am on seven blues markers.

I worked so hard, so I can't forget, and, it's just a pleasure.

When BB passed away, the first person that the estate thought about is they called me right away and said, "Hey, where's, where's the guy that BB always talked about?

The guy with the mustache?"

I said, "Oh, you talking about Jesse Robinson?"

"Yes, we want him to lead the band.

BB always looked up to him and talked about him all the time.

It's like the guitar is made for him."

Music is one of the most powerful universal language that we have.

It travels before you, and after you, and through you.

It gives you a spirit to move, sad, happy, put you to sleep, wake you up.

Everybody needs that song to pull them through the day, tomorrow, yesterday.

Respect the music, and it will humble you down.

Help me welcome this year's honoree for Lifetime Achievement, Jesse Robinson.

One of the best days of my life.

I was born by the river a little kid, been playing the blues and living it ever since.

And I'd like to thank the governor for this, and I'd like to thank the, Arts Commission for letting me be a part of this.

And I think it's great.

It's so great for Mississippi because, you know, I, I am a product of Mississippi.

Let's give Robert Dern from the, Mississippi State round of appla- applause.

He called me about eight months ago, said, "Would you accept if we c- try and do something for you?"

I said, "Yes."

Uh, and he said, "We gonna write a letter to you."

It's just great.

It's just great.

And I'd like to see Mississippi keep doing, embracing the blues.

Thank you, all.

Thank God.

Yes.

We'd also like to take a moment to commemorate the legacies of those Governor's Arts Award recipients that we have lost in the past year.

In 1994, Nellie Deloach Elam.

1994 recipient, Robert Parker Adams.

And 2010 recipient, Lena Jean Waldrup.

They forged the path for generations of artists to come.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, playing Stray Star, Jesse Robinson.

One, two, three.

three.

three.

Stray star.

I still can't guide myself by you.

When I gaze into the sky, I see you in many, many, many places.

Stray star.

where are you Stray star Where, where, where, where are you?

Which one of these lights are for you?

Help me!

I can't live without you, baby.

If you won't show me the direction, Oh Lord, I, I will be lost.

Stray star.

Praying you is so, so easy.

You have enlightened, guided you.

Stray star.

I still can't guide myself without you.

When I gaze into the sky, I see you in many, many places.

When I attempt to define who, who you are.

Stray star.

Where, where are you?

Which one of these lights are for you?

Help me!

I can't live without you.

If you won't show me the direction, I will be lost.

Stray star.

Which one of these lights are for you?

Help me!

I can't go without you.

If you won't show me the direction, I will be lost.

That was amazing.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Robinson, and all of tonight's performers.

And a very special thanks to the selection jury for the Governor's Arts Awards and to our sponsors.

To our presenting sponsor, Mississippi Public Broadcasting, we thank you for helping make this evening possible.

We truly could not do it without you.

Please join me in thanking Governor Reeves and First Lady Ely Reeves.

And let's give another round of celebratory applause for tonight's recipients, Greg Harkins, Dottie Armstrong, the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Heather Christian, and Jesse Robinson.

Nominations for next year's awards will open on April 15th, 2026, on the MAC website, arts.ms.gov.

What a beautiful night it has been.

To create a piece of magic like only Mississippi can do, we have invited our performers back to the stage to play us home with the blues classic, "Everyday I Have the Blues."

For the Mississippi Arts Commission's Governor's Arts Awards, I'm Daniella Oropeza.

Take it away.

One, two.

One, two, three, four.

Everyday I have the blues.

Everyday, baby, I have the blues.

When you see me crying, woman, you I hate to lose.

Nobody loves you, nobody seems to.