The Mississippi Museum of Art recently announced that it will host the Mississippi Invitational, which features contemporary artwork from around the state, in the fall of 2021. The museum is currently accepting submissions from artists from across Mississippi for the exhibition, which will take place from Aug. 14 to Oct. 10, 2021.

Danielle Burns-Wilson, chief curator at the Houston Public Library and manager of the African American Library at the Gregory School in Houston, Texas, will serve as the guest curator for the event and will select works to display in the exhibition. Only artists who are residents of Mississippi are eligible to apply.

Chosen artists are eligible to apply for The Jane Crater Hiatt Artist Fellowship, a grant of up to $20,000 awarded to one artist to pursue projects which further artistic development. The museum will announce the fellowship recipient at the opening reception for the exhibiting artists.

The deadline for submissions is Oct. 23, 2020. Artists must mail their materials to the Mississippi Museum of art (380 S. Lamar St.) along with a $20 administrative processing fee.

For more information, visit http://www.msmuseumart.org/mississippi-invitational/ or email [email protected].

New Stage Hosting Thursday Nights Virtual Plays, Conversations, and Cocktails

New Stage Theatre is hosting a series called "Thursday Nights Virtual Plays, Conversations, and Cocktails" through Nov. 19. The series is part of the Mississippi New Play Series, which is part of the Eudora Welty New Play Series.

Every Thursday, New Stage will release a virtual play reading or a New Stage dialogue. The plays will be original works from the Eudora Welty New Plays Series or Mississippi-themed plays from the Mississippi Play Series. New Stage dialogues will include conversations with New Stage artists and community partners on topics related to New Stage productions.

All of the events will be online only and will begin at 7 p.m. To register for an event, visit newstagetheatre.com. While the events are free, New Stage is accepting donations of $10. New Stage will email a link to watch online events to each registrant.

New Stage Theatre will present "Thursday Nights Virtual Plays, Conversations, and Cocktails" from Oct. 22 through Nov. 19. For more information, call 601-948-3533 or visit newstagetheatre.com.

Mississippi Library Commission Receiving Fiber Internet Through CSpire

The Mississippi Library Commission recently announced that fiber internet will be available to every library in the state within 18 months thanks to a recently approved contract between CSpire and the Department of Information Technology Services. The arrangement will allow public libraries in the state to have higher internet speeds at lower prices, a release from MLC says.

In preparation for the switch, MLC staff and other state agency representatives will meet each week to prepare libraries' systems for the migration. When the project is complete, public libraries should see an increase in bandwidth speeds to a minimum of 100Mbps, the release says.

For more information, call 601-432-4111 or visit https://mlc.lib.ms.us/.