JACKSON — The Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC) is scheduled to host the 22nd annual Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts on Thursday, Feb. 25. 

    The event spotlights Mississippi’s outstanding cultural resources and honors those who contribute to the state through their vision and creativity. 

    The 2010 recipients will be honored at a public ceremony at 1 p.m. on Thursday, at Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church in downtown Jackson. 

    This year’s five awards and recipients are: Arts in Community, Lenagene Waldrup of Drew; Mississippi Heritage, Bessie Johnson of West Point; Excellence in Broadcasting, Grassroots Radio Show Hosted by Bill Ellison Serving all of Mississippi; Artistic Excellence, Wyatt Waters of Clinton; Lifetime Achievement, David “Honeyboy” Edwards of Shaw, now a resident of Chicago.

    The awards are presented to individuals and organizations for outstanding work in visual, literary, and performing arts, community development through the arts, and arts patronage. (Recipients do not have to currently reside in Mississippi, but they must have significant ties to the state through some years of residency.)

    Designed by acclaimed Mississippi artist William Dunlap, this year’s awards are winged figured sculptures cast in bronze and gold leaf entitled “Fragment.” Dunlap calls his art “aesthetic archaeology,” noting that the winged figure appears in Western European mythology long before the Biblical representation of the angel. According to Dunlap, the image is as fresh as yesterday yet looks as though it could have been made thousands of years ago and excavated from an archaeological site.

    Dunlap, who received a Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1991, will again serve as master of ceremonies, as he has since 1992.