Mary C. programs are moving out of the historic building in Ocean Springs to a new home
The Mary C. is moving, providing an answer to at least one of the questions raised when the City of Ocean Springs suddenly ended its contract with the group that had managed the institution for years.
While the historic building on Government Street will remain, the programming organized by the non-profit Friends of the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Center is getting a new home at the Twelve Oaks property in Ocean Springs, the group announced on Monday.
Starting on Sept. 1, all arts programs will take place at 1112 Hanley Road, about two miles northeast of their old building.
It is unclear what will take the place of the Friends’ classes and events at 1600 Government Street. Mayor Shea Dobson has said repeatedly that the city’s move to end the contract would not affect the center’s programming.
But he and the aldermen who voted on July 7 to end the contract have released few details about plans for the building.
After the aldermen’s decision became public, at least one told the Sun Herald that he hoped the Friends would stay in the building. But the notice ending the contract offered no clarity on what a new relationship between the Friends and the city would entail.
The Friends offer arts classes for adults and children, summer camps and cooking classes. Executive Director Sara Guice said all of the previous programming will continue uninterrupted.
“With the new space, we’re definitely making use of it and we’ll have some new programming,” she said, adding that new plans will be announced in the next two weeks.
Twelve Oaks, owned by the Land Trust of the Mississippi Coastal Plain, sits along Old Fort Bayou. Starting in the late 1800s, the land was owned by a Black woman named Johanna Smith-Blount, who had been enslaved. Smith-Blount sold a portion of it to the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and gave other tracts to relatives. The Land Trust eventually bought 30 acres in 2005.
Guice said the property’s history appealed to the Friends.
“This one just seemed like a natural fit, once you go out there and see how peaceful and beautiful it is,” she said.
‘I don’t know what the plan is’
Alderman Rickey Authement, who recused himself from the July 7 vote to end the city’s contract with the Friends because his wife is on the organization’s board, said he is not sure what will come next for 1600 Government Street.
“I don’t know what the plan is, to be honest with you,” he said. “All I know is on the budget, we have a dollar amount budgeted to spend with no budgeted amount of income [from programming at the Mary C.].”
Authement said he expects it will cost the city $200,000 to run the building, including the cost of hiring a new executive director. Dobson has said he wants to hire an official to run arts and culture events and work out of the Mary C.
Authement added that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and restrictions on public gatherings compound the uncertainty around the future of the Mary C.
“When’s COVID gonna be over?” he said. “That’s the thing, this whole deal that the city did was such a bad move because to take on that kind of responsibility and not even be able to do any kind of programming right now, that just doesn’t make any sense.”
Dobson did not respond to a request for comment.
The Friends’ press release announcing the move alluded briefly to the public outcry and quest for answers after the city abruptly severed their contract.
“We understand the public and tax payers have more questions about the fate of the building, and we regret that we can’t answer those questions,” the release said. “We stand ready to help the City of Ocean Springs with any future plans they have in store for the building we have loved so dearly.”
