Please Note: MSU MEMO is archived as a part of Mississippi State University's history. Articles may refer to situations which have changed or people who are no longer affiliated with the university.
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January 14, 2002 Volume 26, Issue 21 |
The largest grant in the Phil Hardin Foundation's history will help assure support for operation of the Riley Education and Performing Arts Center planned for downtown Meridian.
The Meridian foundation is committing $2.5 million to an endowment whose earnings will help maintain and enhance the center being developed under the leadership of Mississippi State. The Riley Center will occupy the historic Grand Opera House and adjacent Marks-Rothenberg Building when the two structures are renovated in the coming months.
The gift announced at a December news conference at MSU's Meridian Campus brings to $4.2 million the total private contributions committed so far to the Riley Center's operating endowment. The endowment was established last year with a goal of $5 million.
The $2.5 million gift establishes three separate funds whose earnings will support major components of Riley Center programming, said Hardin Foundation President Robert Ward.
The Phil Hardin Community Issues Endowment is funded at $750,000 and will support a regional forum to explore historic trends in East Mississippi communities and their implications for the future.
The Phil Hardin Arts and Education Performance Endowment, also funded at $750,000, will help sponsor a series of performances, lectures, artists-in-residence, and other experiences.
The Riley Center Technology Enhancement Endowment, funded at $1 million, will be used to help purchase equipment, materials and software for the center's academic programming and community outreach programming.
The Phil Hardin Foundation, established in 1964 by the founder and owner of Hardin's Bakeries, supports educational improvements in Mississippi. The foundation has distributed almost $16 million for that purpose since 1990 and had almost $50 million in assets at the end of last year.