As part of the Blues Incubator programming, a Panel Discussion with the Mississippi Blues Commission occurred during the International Conference on the Blues. Introductions were made by Dr. Rolando Herts, Director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning and the panel was moderated by Dr. William Ferris, former Director of the National Endowment for the Humanities and current Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History at the University of North Carolina as well as the senior associate director of UNC's Center for the Study of the American South.
Panel members were musicians James "Super Chikan" Johnson and Bobby Rush, as well as Mississippi Blues Commission representatives Bob Arentson, Wanda Clark, Mary Margaret Miller, J. Kempf Poole, and Edgar E. Smith.
