Tom Harmon, Executive Director of Art for All- Mississippi spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the Club’s July 30, 2019, meeting. Mr. Harmon, who is retired from the U.S. Army, discussed the history, mission, and activities of Art for All-Mississippi. The Mission of Art for All - Mississippi is to provide art opportunities for persons with disabilities. The organization was founded by Jean Kennedy Smith as a program of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC in Starkville, MS as Very Special Arts. Over time the name evolved to VSA Arts and ultimately to its current name Art for All - Mississippi. The mission remains unchanged. The organization has an art studio in the Mississippi Arts Center at the corner of Lamar and Pascagoula in downtown Jackson. This studio provides opportunities for persons with disabilities to develop their art skills. He introduced some of their clients on a first name basis and showed and distributed some of their work. Mr. Harmon also discussed that Art for All is developing a new program with the Flowood YMCA to expand their activities to Rankin County and a Community Art Group in Vicksburg to support persons with disabilities and the elderly. Each of these new programs will provide a studio and a gallery for the clients’ work He emphasized that Art for All fits the mission of the YMCA and that the new Vicksburg center will provide marketing opportunities with river cruise tourists.
We thank Mr. Harmon for his work on behalf of the elderly and the disabled in the art field. He (right) is shown in the following photo 