Carnegie, MAC ‘LinkUP!’

JACKSON — Through Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute (WMI) Communities LinkUP! Program, the Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC) is partnering with Mississippi’s symphony orchestras to bring students an opportunity to study orchestral music and to perform with the orchestra.

The University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, the Meridian Symphony Orchestra and the Mississippi Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra are currently participating in this unique arts education program. Each symphony receives $5,000 from the MAC to support the initiative.

“This unique collaboration began as a pilot program in 2003 with the University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra,” said Malcolm White, executive director of the MAC. “This year, we enlarged the partnership to include the Meridian Symphony Orchestra and next year the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra will be included. It is our goal to expand this innovative educational opportunity to encompass all of the symphony orchestras in Mississippi, thereby reaching more children across the state.”