The Future of Design
June 23, 2023Mississippi Humanities Council Awards Alex Foundation Landmarks A Humanities Grant
Greenville, Mississippi (June 19, 2023) – Alex Foundation is pleased to announce a recent grant award from the Mississippi Humanities Council (MHC). The $5,729.50 grant, Landmarks in Humanities: Teaching Architecture, History and Culture Using Historic Places will occur over three weeks during this summer beginning July 10 and concluding July 25. A financial gift from the Steve Azar St. Cecilia Foundation to Alex Foundation will give rising 7th grade students in the Delta the opportunity to tour The Belmont 1857 (formerly Belmont Plantation).
MHC grant award will allow Alex Foundation to purchase architecture supplies and materials; retain a historian, Catherine Gardner to introduce students to historic Nelson Street in Greenville; and retain an architect, Brandon Bibby to teach architecture and introduce students to The Belmont 1857 in Wayside, and Grammy Museum Mississippi in Cleveland.
In his current role, Bibby is the Senior Preservation Architect for the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. Founded in 2017, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is the largest program in the United States dedicated to preserving Black spaces and the contributions of African American sites of activism, achievement, and resilience in the American landscape.
About Mississippi Humanities Council
Mississippi Humanities Council is a private nonprofit corporation funded by Congress through the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide public programs in traditional liberal arts disciplines to serve nonprofit groups in Mississippi. The humanities are the study of history, literature, religion, languages, philosophy, and culture.
About Alex Foundation
A 501 C 3 tax exempt nonprofit organization registered in the states of Arkansas and Mississippi, Alex Foundation’s mission is to engage students, and specifically limited access and rural students in exploring architecture and design through place-based learning, experiential learning, project-based learning and multi-disciplinary learning. For more information, visit www.alex-foundation.org.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, CONTACT:
Angela Courtney, 662-695-5585
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Brandon Bibby is an artist, activist, and architect raised in the plains of Arkansas, where the Delta meets the Ozarks. He is a multidiscipline researcher and designer invested in questioning narrative, representation, and access in the built environment and its impacts on memory and behavior for marginalized communities. He is a next-generation preservationist motivated by movement, memory, and culture in contemporary Black space.
In his current role at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Bibby is the Senior Preservation Architect for the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. Founded in 2017, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is the largest program in the United States dedicated to preserving Black spaces and the contributions of African American sites of activism, achievement, and resilience in the American landscape. His portfolio of past and ongoing work includes stewarding the preservation, design, and interpretation of sites, including the John and Alice Coltrane Home in Dix Hills, Langston Hughes House in Harlem, Robert’s Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago, and King’s Chapel Memorial to Enslaved Persons in Boston.
Bibby began his journey in architectural and preservation practice with WER Architects and Planners in Little Rock, Arkansas, and before joining the Action Fund in September 2022, was a Space and Society Fellow and Senior Architect in the Public Memory and Memorials Lab at the 2022 AIA Architecture Firm of The Year, MASS Design Group. He is a 2014 Bachelor of Architecture Graduate and Alpha Rho Chi Bronze Medal Recipient of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design.
Celebrated for his design leadership and community activism, Bibby is a 2022 Ones To Watch Awardee and Scholar with the American Society of Interior Design. In 2019, he was named a “New Influential” in Arkansas Business’ list of 20 in their 20s. He has taught with the Boston Architectural College, lectured with the American Institute of Architects, Architecture and Design Network, AARP, and served as a Health Equity Advisor with the International Well Building Institute.