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Arts Alive - December 2020
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- story by Steve Barney
- photos by Ellis Anderson
The Arts, Hancock County has a new brick and mortar home, thanks to a generous donation from a local benefactor, Mamie Hillery. The charitable donation was given to purchase 405 Blaize Avenue in the historic Depot District of Bay St. Louis.
The building is the former studio of famed Mardi Gras fashion designer Carter Church and his lifelong husband Yancy Pogue. With six decades of operation in the fashion industry, the studio is best known for elaborate designs for the royal courts of Mardi Gras from Mobile to New Orleans. |
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The building will also provide meeting space and house the business office for The Arts, Hancock County. Plans are also underway to develop an outdoor art park on the site which adjoins a creek and is covered in a canopy of two registered live oak trees.
According to Steve Barney, executive director of The Arts, “This acquisition is a game-changer for our organization, providing a brick-and-mortar facility to expand our capacity to deliver a wide range of programs and services.
“The transformation of this facility is part of a multi-pronged initiative to revitalize the historic Depot District and provide creative placemaking for the Amtrak Rail visitors anticipated in 2022,” Barney added.
"I believe in the vision of the Arts Board to develop this facility into an amazing resource for area artists and the local community.”
For more information about The Arts, Hancock County, to donate and/or to join, see their website.