Recipient Information
Location
Marks, Mississippi
Year of Award
2022
Grant or Fellowship
Leaders of Color Fellowship
Grant Amount
$0
Bernice Sykes
President, Quitman County Arts Council
Bernice Sykes has actively engaged in the performing arts for over 25 years as a concert singer, opera singer, and show choir performer. She leads with the intention of repositioning and creating a venue, removing roadblocks, and designing roadmaps to make arts and culture accessible to the BIPOC residents in her community.
Trained as a first and mezzo soprano singer, she has served as president of the Quitman County Arts Council for three years. It is here she realized that the BIPOC residents were being left out of the conversation. This became a game changer for her, and the Quitman County Arts & Cultural Center was born.
Ms. Sykes earned her Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration from the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee, and is a Master of Arts Degree candidate in Higher Education at the University of Mississippi.