Mississippi’s musical heritage has earned the state its own Grammy museum.

“They’re building a Grammy museum in Cleveland, Miss.,” Mississippi Arts Commission Executive Director Tom Pearson told the Vicksburg Kiwanis Club Tuesday.

“It’s the only Grammy museum that is allowed outside Los Angeles,” he said. “The reason is, Mississippi has more Grammy award winners than any other state.”

“Really?” one of the members asked.

“We have so many strong roots in Mississippi, when you look at the musicians who have come from Mississippi,” he added. “We have this rich history and we have something to be proud of, but people don’t realize this. So the Grammy museum, they’ve already broken ground. It’s on its way, so it’s going to open next year sometime.”

The Grammy museum was one of several topics Pearson discussed during his program on the Arts Commission. The program included invitations to the Governor’s Arts Awards

Feb. 19 in Jackson.

“We’re a part of state government, but the nice thing is we’re on the periphery of state government, so we’re not as bureaucratic as a lot of state government can be,” he said. We grant money and we provide service.”

The commission has a $2.8 million annual budget and is governed by 15 commissioners, who hire the executive director and oversee the commission’s operations.

Pearson oversees a staff of 13 people who are responsible for making and monitoring the agency’s grants.

“One of the things we are really strong and working on is economic development in communities,” he said. “People don’t think about the arts being part of economic development, but it’s a strong part of economic development, and if you can imagine a town or community without any kind of art, it’s going to be dead. “

Bringing arts programs into a community, he said, makes things begin to happen. “All of a sudden, you’ve got a coffee shop, you’ve got a restaurant, and things begin to happen and you bring people in.”

Grants, he said, are available for arts programs to enhance a community’s economic development, adding Gov. Phil Bryant had named 2014 “the year of the creative economy.”

When you say creative economy, that’s a big vast area,” he said. “Anything that’s creative. Something that takes creativity to do. We’re working hard to help communities realize that’s an important part of economic development and to revitalize communities.”

The commission also works with local community art agencies and arts groups to help keep local arts councils and programs active, and works with teachers to blend art with education.

“This past year, we’ve trained 31 special education teachers in how to use the arts to reach special education kids,” Pearson said. “We trained 42 pre-K teachers in arts and literacy across the state. We’re just starting with that initiative.”

The Arts Commission, he said, has a whole schools initiative involving 33 schools across the state that shows teachers how to use of the arts to teach other subjects.

“It’s about interdisciplinary learning. What we’ve found is one of the things about keeping kids in school is to have them engaged in something, whether it’s band, chorus, sports, whatever it is. At the elementary level, we work to keep children engaged and learning to read and do math. When you’re learning and having a good time, you don’t realize it. Tupelo has adopted the program and is doing very well.”

Other programs, he said, include:

• Arts industry funds for organizations such as symphonies and art museums with operating grants up to $30,000 a year.

• Programs to continue and grow on folk and traditional art in the state.

• “We gave out 17 fellowship awards in 2014 to writers, artists and musicians in state who apply and get the grant to spend a year developing their talent,” he said.

He said the applicants are selected by an independent panel of people in the arts, and the staff monitors how the fellowships are used.

• A Blues Trail curriculum which is online and used by schools to study the issues in the south.

“This has really caught on,” he said. “Fifty-one schools in Mississippi have requested the curriculum, and 60 school systems nationwide have requested it.”