Community members and University of Mississippi students congregated at the Gertrude C. Ford Center to attend the annual Medal for the Arts ceremony and concert on April 22. The crowd enjoyed a showcase of UM’s creative talents and honored Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill as the recipient of the 2024 award.
Established in 2022, awarded by the University of Mississippi Institute for the Arts and produced by the university’s Living Music Resource, the Medal for the Arts is the highest honor recognizing art and its advocacy given by UM to figures connected with the university. Tannehill is the third recipient of the award.
The Medal for the Arts ceremony consisted of showcases from the Department of Music, the Department of Theatre and Film and the Department of Art and Art History.
The program highlighted Tannehill’s role in developing Oxford’s arts community and increasing the presence of public art. After graduating from UM with a degree in interior design, Tannehill served as director of the Oxford Tourism Council, where she created the Double Decker Arts Festival in 1996, which now attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year.
In addition to a short documentary showcasing Tannehill’s impact on Oxford’s art scene and her achievements, the ceremony highlighted artistic talent at the university and featured performances from the UM steel orchestra, graduate student and trombonist Fred Hadley, graduate student and poet Noreen Ocampo, musical theater professor John Carden, piano professor Adrienne Park and undergraduate student pianist Benton Donahue. The cast and crew of UM Opera Theatre’s production of “The Turn of the Screw” offered a preview of the show before the ceremony.
Undergraduate English student and singer-songwriter Izzy Arthurs was the ceremony’s headliner, performing a mixture of original songs and covers. Pieces from art professor Brooke P. Alexander, art professor Stacey Rathert and imaging arts professor Brooke White were also showcased.
Prior to the ceremony, student artists Ellis Barber, Victoria Ellis, Peyton Lawler, Jon Tae McCall, Angel Morgan, Denzel Foster, Claire Baskin, Nicolette Boyd and Breanna Bercegeay displayed their work in a gallery at the Ford Center.
Baskin, a senior BFA major with an emphasis in painting, explained how living in Oxford has led to inspiration for her work as well as enabled her to find friends within the town’s artistic community.
“Being from a small town in Mississippi and then coming to Oxford, I feel there’s such a large circle of artists here. There’s so many influential people here,” Baskin said. “I know a lot of people might think being in a small town might not be a great inspiration for artwork, but I think it’s quite the opposite. I’ve been able to get really close with a lot of the people here and make friends, and I think being in that kind of environment has allowed me to really grow.”
Morgan, a fellow featured artist and senior BFA student with an emphasis in photography and printmaking, said she has found particular interest in Oxford and the South.
“I love documenting the South because it’s a very diverse place. Coming from someone who is Filipino American, I see a lot of parallels between the location where my family lives and the area here, whether it be community, food or climate,” Morgan said. “I enjoy being on site and around Oxford.”
As a senior BFA student with an emphasis in ceramics, Ellis agreed that being a student artist in Oxford supported and shaped her work.
“I am definitely influenced by being a student here just because the town of Oxford is really good about helping its community and especially the art world. I feel like being an artist here in Oxford is very encouraging,” Ellis said. “Some towns in the South might not be as open-minded as Oxford, so it’s really nice to be here and have the support of all of the local people.”
