Highlights of the Governor's Arts Awards ceremony held on Feburary 16, 2017 at the Old Capitol Museum in downtown Jackson. The 2017 recipients and their awards were: Sammy Britt for Excellence in Visual Arts; William R. Ferris for Lifetime Achievement; Vasti Jackson for Arts Ambassador; Lucy Richardson Janoush for Arts Patron; Jaimoe Johnie Johnson for Excellence in Music and Mississippi Opera for Artistic Excellence.

Turry Flucker talks to Roy Decker. Roy is a principal at Duvall Decker Architects P.A., located in Jackson. Roy, his partner Anne Marie Decker, and their team have created forms and spaces that resonate with our individual and collective hopes and foster cultural growth.

Malcolm White talks with singer and songwriter Charlie Mars, a Laurel native now living in Oxford. They talk about Mars' new album Beach Town. Songs on the new release are about Mars' time living in northeast Florida. Mars also talks about his career and life on the road.

Larry Morrisey talks with Jackson-based keyboard player and songwriter Ed Thomas. Thomas and two of his siblings recorded songs for Sam Phillips at Sun Studios in Memphis in the late 1950s. In the '60s he worked as a songwriter and wrote songs for a number of southern R&B and soul group

Malcolm White talks to culinary entrepreneur Lauren Rhoades about her business called Sweet and Sauer. Rhoades talks about the taste, and health benefits of fermented foods. She also talks about starting and operating her business.

Turry Flucker talks with Wayne Andrews and Betsy Weber of the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council in Oxford. They'll be talking about the Mississippi Presenters Network, as well as YAC's upcoming events.

Malcolm White talks with Mary Margaret Miller from Visit Mississippi about the upcoming celebrations around the state's bicentennial. Included in the festivities are big events in south, central and north Mississippi.

As part of MAC’s current strategic planning research, Malcom White talks to artists and arts organizations from around the state to learn about their challenges and ways that MAC can assist them more in the coming years. Included in the show are visual artist Lauren Stennis, Executive Director of the Hattiesburg Arts Council Rebecca Stark Johnson and from Cleveland, Mississippi, Charlie Abraham of the Delta Arts Alliance.

Melia Dicker talks with Kelsey Kitch of Big House Books and Susan Liles of the Mississippi Library Commission (MLC). The nonprofit organization sends books to Mississippi inmates on request. Susan and MLC Senior Library Consultant Lacy Ellinwood made a short documentary film called "Big House Books - Protecting the Right to Read" that has screened at the Oxford Film Festival and around Jackson

Tippy Garner serves as Executive Director of the Mississippi Opera and is responsible for the overall operations of the opera association including supporting the efforts of the Mississippi Opera Committee on Education and continuing collaborations with the Mississippi Boychoir to bring opera to students around the state. The Mississippi Opera Association was founded in Jackson in 1945 and is the state’s only professional opera company. It is a founding member of Opera America and the ninth oldest continuing opera company in the United States