ExecutiveDirector :

 Bill Murphy

bill@faimiss.com

601-291-7647

Bill Murphy’s musical career started at Disney World in Florida in 1977 and has progressed into an eclectic career in music, entertainment, education, and business.  He spent 20 years in the United States Air Force program where he played saxophone, composed and arranged, conducted, and led various musical groups.  He was stationed with bands in Warner Robins, Georgia, Anchorage, Alaska, Biloxi, Mississippi, and Fairfield, California.  He has played with such notable musicians and entertainers as Doc Severensen, Natalie Cole, Frank Sinatra Jr., Wayne Newton, The United States Air Force Band Airmen of Note, Jack Jones, Willie Thomas, The Temptations, Dr. Jay Dean, Dr. Maryann Kyle, The Four Tops, Larry Panella, Bob Hope, Paul Stephens, Jeff Holmes, Randy Drake, Albert Lamar, Rick Lillard, Vaughn Nark, Stephen Hoy, Ron Wilkins, Charlie Wicker, Jerry Puckett. and Arnie Lawrence.  Bill lives in Madison, Mississippi and is the Founder and Executive Director of the Fine Arts Institute of Mississippi, Inc.  Mr. Murphy has a Grammy nomination with the renowned Gospel group, 'The Canton Spirituals' from Canton, Mississippi.  Bill wrote all of the original horn and string arrangements for there CD entitled "Walking by Faith."

Bill has written music for all of the Air Force bands he was stationed in and has written music for Bob Hope, Miss America, 1978, the University of Southern Mississippi Orchestra and Jazz Band, the Mississippi Mass Choir, St. Timothy Methodist Church, Mandeville, LA,  and Galloway Methodist church, Jackson, MS, to name a few.

Bill received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Southern Mississippi, with Highest Honors.   He is also a member of the music honor society Pi Kappa Lamda.   He holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix.

Jack Kyle, Commander of the Order of Isabel the Catholic and Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters, has been internationally recognized for his leadership in organizing four world-class art exhibitions in Jackson, Mississippi, as executive director of the Mississippi Commission for International Cultural Exchange (MCICE).  From 1996 through 2004, Kyle organized the 1996 Palaces of St. Petersburg:  Russian Imperial Style Exhibition, the 1998 Splendors of Versailles Exhibition, the 2001 exhibition The Majesty of Spain:  Royal Collections from the Museo del Prado & Patrimonio Nacional, and in 2004 The Glory of Baroque Dresden Exhibition.

The exhibitions attracted over 1.3 million visitors including approximately 425,000 students.  Spain’s King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia paid a special visit to The Majesty of Spain Exhibition and Germany’s then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder inaugurated The Glory of Baroque Dresden Exhibition.  The exhibitions drew visitors from throughout the United States and gained the attention of regional, national, and international media from sources ranging from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal to appearances on “Good Morning America” and National Public Radio.

Drawn from some of the world’s greatest art museums, the exhibitions included masterpieces by such artists as Vermeer, Rembrandt, Titian, Rubens, Goya, Veronese, Michaelangelo, Durer, Bernini, Canalletto, and Rigaud.  Some of the major artworks included a ten-ton “Equestrian Statue of Louis XIV” by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Jan Vermeer’s “The Procuress,” Francisco de Goya’s “El Quitasol,” Faberge imperial eggs, and the 41-carat “Dresden Green Diamond.”  Spain’s Patrimonio Nacional granted special permission to allow copies to be executed of the famed Porcelain Room from the Royal Palace of Aranjuez and the Hall of Stuccoes from the Casita of the Prince from the Royal Palace of El Pardo for The Majesty of Spain Exhibition.

Among the museums lending to the exhibitions were the National Museum of the Chateau of Versailles, the Prado Museum, Patrimonio Nacional of Spain, the Dresden State Art Collections including the Old Masters Picture Gallery, the Green Vault, the Porcelain Collection of the Zwinger, and the Armory, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Walters Art Gallery, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., the State Museum Reserve of Pavlovsk, the State Museum Reserve of Tzarskoye Selo, the State Museum Reserve of Gatchina, and the State Museum Reserve of Peterhof, and the Getty Center in Los Angeles.

Budgets for these major exhibition projects ranged from $9.8 million to $11.1 million.  Funding support was generated almost exclusively from Mississippi sources including major appropriations from the State of Mississippi, grants from the City of Jackson, and sponsorship contributions from corporations, foundations, businesses, and individual supporters.

Educational programs designed to accompany each exhibition were developed for teachers and students in public, private, and parochial schools throughout the state of Mississippi.  International orchestras, chamber ensembles, soloists, lecture programs by art scholars and prominent authors, and televised educational documentaries and musical performances were also organized in association with the exhibitions.

Prior to serving as executive director of the Mississippi Commission for International Cultural Exchange, Kyle played a key role in the development of a series of highly successful international art exhibitions in Memphis, Tennessee, including Ramesses the Great from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Catherine the Great from the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, Splendors of the Ottoman Sultans from the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, The Etruscans:  Legacy of a Lost Civilization from the Vatican Museums, and Napoleon, one of the largest exhibitions ever organized on this subject.

While in Memphis, Kyle served as chairman of the Institute of Egyptian Art & Archaeology at the University of Memphis and as director of communications/marketing for Memphis in May International Festival.

Kyle lived in Washington, D.C. from 1972 through 1978 serving in the United States Navy Chorus, “The Sea Chanters,” and worked on the staffs of Congressman Gillespie V. “Sonny” Montgomery of Mississippi and Congressman John H. Rousselot of California.

In addition to being decorated by Spain’s King Juan Carlos as an Encomienda de la Orden de Isabel la Catolica (Commander of the Order of Isabel the Catholic) and France’s Minister of Culture as a Chevalier De L’Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres (Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters), Kyle was decorated by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany with Das Verdienstkreuz (Cross of the Order of Merit).  House Beautiful Magazine selected Kyle to receive its’  “Giants of Design Award” as an Arts Ambassador, and the Daughters of the American Revolution awarded Kyle the Medal of Honor.

Kyle holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Delta State University where he has received the Distinguished Alumni Award, the 2000 Alumnus of the Year Award, and was also elected to the  Alumni Hall of Fame.  He has been selected as a member of the Greenwood/Leflore County Hall of Fame.  Kyle currently serves as director of cultural development for the Fine Arts Institute of Mississippi.

Assistant to the Executive Director: 

Teresa Wilson

teresa@faimiss.com

Executive Assistant:  Krista Cartmill

krista@faimiss.com