Author JULIAN RANKIN Julian is the recipient of the Southern Foodways Alliance’s first annual residency at Rivendell Writers Colony and is the former director of the Center for Art & Public Exchange at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson. He is now the director of the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, MS. Performers ERIN RAE Erin is gifted with a unique ability to fuse musical genres and influences to craft songs that feel fresh and wholly her own, with her new album Putting On Airs, Erin Rae has thrown down a direct challenge to the stereotype of what a Southern singer should be. Both lyrically and sonically, she strikes a fiercely independent chord, proudly releasing a deeply personal record that reflects her own upbringing in Tennessee, including the prejudices and injustices that she witnessed as a child that continue to impact her life to this day. According to Rae, “this album was born out of a need to do some healing work in my personal life, in order to address some fears and patterns of mine to allow my true feelings to come to the surface.” WATER SEED Billboard Top 20 Recording Artist, Water Seed is a progressive innovative band that dares to bring musicianship, dexterity and creativity to Funk, Soul, R&B, Fusion, and Future Funk.