MERIDIAN, Miss. (Queen City Newsfeed) – The Jimmie Rodgers Foundation’s new executive director says securing a permanent museum, expanding educational outreach, and strengthening the annual festival are top priorities for the year ahead.
Alana Broughton, who officially assumed the role earlier this summer, told Queen City Newsfeed that finding a dedicated home for the Jimmie Rodgers Museum is critical to the foundation’s mission.
“The foundation needs to do outreach and education. The foundation needs a museum, a permanent home,” Broughton said. “We’re in a borrowed home, and we’re very thankful for that, but we’re working to find a permanent home for the museum because if we don’t have a museum, we don’t have a foundation. If we don’t have a foundation, we don’t have a festival.”
Broughton said the foundation would prefer to locate the museum in downtown Meridian, but funding remains a challenge. The nonprofit is applying for grants and has received support from organizations such as the Phil Hardin Foundation and the Paul and Sherry Broadhead Foundation to fund recent education initiatives. Those programs have included outreach to at-risk youth, school visits, and work with colleges to highlight the cultural and musical legacy of Jimmie Rodgers.
“Mississippi grows musicians, and it started with Jimmie Rodgers,” Broughton said. “We want children in this community to understand they’re from the home of America’s first superstar.”
The Jimmie Rodgers Festival — the foundation’s largest annual fundraiser — will see some changes this year, Broughton said, including a slightly shorter schedule and an emphasis on booking major musical acts.
“It’s a huge part of our culture and people want it, but we do need people to know this is our biggest fundraiser,” Broughton said. “Anytime you’re able to just buy that concert ticket and come on, you know, that makes a huge difference.”
Broughton also emphasized the foundation’s role in supporting arts and music education at a time when public school budgets face cuts.
“It’s not just about music,” she said. “It’s about having something to look forward to every day. We know we can make a difference, and we have started working on that, and we’re excited about it.”
