Music Heritage Conference Features Shelby Foote

Noted author and historian Shelby Foote will be a speaker at the second Memphis/Delta Music Heritage Conference on September 13-15 in Greenville, Mississippi. Foote, a Greenville native, will be the luncheon speaker on Thursday, September 14. He joins a lengthy list of speakers, including leaders from the Smithsonian Institution, tourism offices, humanities councils, arts commissions, regional businesses, and cultural attractions.

The emphasis of the conference is on learning to develop the music heritage of Memphis and the Delta. The conference is a four-state effort of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Organizers of the event expect the conference to attract tourism and travel executives, festival officials, government and economic development workers, musicians, and others.

"The 1994 conference was a success because it began a dialog between states and people involved in promoting the Delta's heritage," said Bill Ferris, director of the Center, one of the sponsors of this year's event. "With the advent of nonstop flight from Amsterdam to Memphis, now is the perfect time to continue to seek new ways to advance tourism and the study of the music and heritage of our region."

Panel discussions include "A View of the Blues from the Humanities Perspective," "Doing Right by the Local Folks," "Marketing the South," "The Politics of Heritage Tourism," and "Interpreting Heritage for the People."

A registration fee of $60 per person includes materials and refreshments for the two-and-a-half day conference. There is a $10 admission for lunch and a separate ticket charge of $20 for a Thursday evening jazz concert by Ellis Marsalis and his trio at the E. E. Bass Auditorium in Greenville. For more information about the conference or to register, call Marcie Ferris at 601-232-7282.

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