OUR COMMITMENT TO EDUCATION
The Mississippi State University Riley Center for Education and Performing Arts is committed to deliver high quality performing arts programming while facilitating teacher training and workshops to help area schools incorporate the arts into the classroom. This commitment is only strengthened by our affiliation with Mississippi State University, which educates and trains teachers across the state and region.

WHY DO THE ARTS MATTER?
A growing body of empirical evidence supports the multidimensional benefit of instruction in, through, and about the arts. The arts can improve student learning across the curriculum, provide an expanded framework for critical thinking, accommodate a wide variety of learning styles, promote diverse multicultural perspectives, foster extended ways of developing self-esteem, and it teaches and celebrates self-expression through unique artistic forms.

Research also proves that schools with strong arts programs report better student attendance, increased graduation rates, improved multi-cultural understanding, greater community support, an an invigorated faculty.

PARTNERSHIPS
Our affiliation with The Kennedy Center, the nation’s premiere arts education leader, supports our commitment to promote the arts as a tool for learning. Together with Lauderdale County and Meridian Public Schools, the MSU Riley Center is a member of The Kennedy Center’s Partnership in Arts Education Program. Through this partnership, the MSU Riley Center staff along with local public school teachers and administrators are participating in a multi-year initiative designed to strategically incorporate the arts in elementary and secondary schools.

As NEA recipient, partial funding was provided to support some programming.