Member Spotlight on Houston Endowment
During the month of October, GIA's photo banner features artists and projects supported by Houston Endowment. Houston Endowment is the Anchor Sponsor for the annual GIA conference happening this month.
Houston Endowment supports nonprofit organizations and educational institutions that produce and maximize enduring benefits for the people of the greater Houston area. Jesse H. Jones and Mary Gibbs Jones established Houston Endowment as a private philanthropic foundation in 1937; since that time, Houston Endowment has donated almost $1.7 billion ($3 billion in constant dollars) to help arts and culture, education, environment, health and human services organizations realize the Joneses’ vision of creating a community where the opportunity to thrive is available to all.
Jesse Jones helped bring the Russian Symphony Orchestra to Houston in 1911 and gave tickets to schoolchildren so many for the first time could experience a live classical music performance. The Orchestra’s presentations inspired local musicians to form the Houston Symphony, which first performed in 1913 in Mr. Jones’s Majestic Theatre. In 1924, the Joneses were among the original donors to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Mrs. Jones was instrumental in bringing New York’s Metropolitan Opera to Houston radio every Saturday afternoon, and at home she would study the music and Italian lyrics before each broadcast. The Joneses knew firsthand that arts and culture enriched their lives and their community.
Fast forward to 2012: Houston Endowment contributed $6 million to the Independent Arts Collaborative for the new Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston (MATCH) to continue building the city’s vitality by bringing arts and culture to more people. MATCH, located near mass transit in the heart of Midtown, is designed to bring Houston’s innovative and alternative performing and visual arts organizations under one roof, serve as a point of entry for community artists, encourage new audiences and exhibit original work that will feed the cultural vigor of the city. The Joneses showed with their earlier donations how the arts can play a pivotal role in a city’s development, and Houston Endowment anticipates that the interplay among diverse artistic, ethnic and socioeconomic groups at MATCH will further define Houston’s progress in the 21st century.