GULFPORT — GULFPORT — The Greater Picayune Arts Council landed a $50,000 grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and accepted the funds in ceremonies here on Monday at the Knight Nonprofit Center on Seaway Road.

The grant was one of 19 grants totaling $880,992 awarded to coast entities and nonprofit agencies in South Mississippi and along the Coast by GCCF.

In accepting the grant on behalf of the Picayune organization, Joanna Dupont, GPAC secretary, told about 200 participants attending, “Receiving this award from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation allows our dreams for the Picayune area to come closer to reality. We thank you.”

She added, “Our motto is ‘art works’ and despite the loss of our original facility to Katrina and fire, we believe in the future of art in the Picayune area.”

GPAC moved toward leasing the old historic Bertie Rouse school after the organization’s offices and space for arts and cultural projects was destroyed in a disastrous, nine-alarm fire at Mississippi Mall in June.

The organization approached the Picayune school board requesting a lease on the historic Bertie Rouse property at the corner of East Fifth Street and North Haugh Avenue, and the school leased it to GPAC on the basis that the organization come up with additional funds to go with the funds on hand at the school board for maintaining the property.

The old school has been placed on an historic list with the state and cannot be torn down. The school board after Katrina put a new roof on the facility to protect the interior from the weather, but has done little else to the structure, which dates back to Picayune’s founding as a village in 1904.

The school board had no future plans for use of the facility, and officials were afraid that it would slowly deteriorate over time.

Local historians believe the site to be the location where Picayune’s first official school was established.

With the $50,000 grant GPAC received on Monday, the organization has about $100,000 on-hand to begin refurbishing the building, which they plan to make into a Picayune cultural and arts center.

GPAC officials are meeting with an architect in preparation for drawing up plans for a refurbishing project. Joe Navoy, who attended the ceremonies, said after the program that work on refurbishing may underway by March. Navoy is chairman of GPAC’s building committee.

However, GPAC officials were told at the end of December, when the lease was approved by the school board, that refurbishing the entire facility could run over $1 million, and that they should look at the project on a long-term basis.

Said Dupont during her address to the Foundation, “We will be using this Gulf Coast Community Foundation award money towards the renovation of this school building into an arts education and cultural center.”

“Similar to the Mary C O’Keefe facility in Ocean Springs, we will provide opportunity for the public to observe and participate in the arts,” she added. “In the new facility, space is designated for Picayune on Stage, the PRC Arts League, the Historical Society, the Writers’ Group, the Community Band and Chorus and many other arts groups. Art works to educate, inspire and bond people together.”

GPAC was fortunate in landing the funds, and the fact that the organization did, showed that the project is worthwhile, justified and carried its own wait in competition for the funds. GPAC was one of only 19 out of 145 entities vying for the funds that landed the money.

Said Jay Huffstatler, GCCF director of programs: “Gulf Coast Community Foundation received 145 proposals totaling almost $22 million. This shows there is still a large remaining need on the Mississippi Gulf Coast caused by Hurricane Katrina.”

GCCF is a non-profit public charity that has been serving the people of South Mississippi since 1989.

GCCF’s primary mission is to increase philanthropy by making grants to worthy causes, providing donor services and promotion and providing leadership in response to the community’s changing needs.

GCCF oversees and manages a base of funds totaling $32 million.

Some of the smaller grants went to the Boys Clubs of Gulfport and Biloxi, housing projects for the needy and those still suffering from Katrina losses and one of the biggest grants, $222,059 to Pascagoula for adaptively reusing Mississippi cottages to house residents displaced by Katrina.

Pascagoula Mayor Robbie Maxwell attended to accept the grant.