Jerry Ford receives 2017 Missouri Arts Award

Submitted photo Local musician Jerry Ford received the 2017 Missouri Arts Award Thursday as an individual artist in the Capitol rotunda. Here he accepts a proclamation from state Sen. Wayne Wallingford. Among his many accomplishments, Ford began the Jerry Ford Orchestra in 1960, which has performed for two governors’ inaugural balls and several fundraisers throughout the region. He is a board member at the Cape River Heritage Museum, where he’s volunteered for the past 25 years, as well as the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri and the Music Academy at Southeast Missouri State University. He’s served on the board of managers for Southeast’s River Campus for 16 years.