{"id":827,"date":"2014-04-29T15:23:08","date_gmt":"2014-04-29T15:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lamp1.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/?p=827"},"modified":"2019-06-12T10:23:21","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T15:23:21","slug":"arts-advocate-supports-missouri-western","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/2014\/04\/29\/arts-advocate-supports-missouri-western\/","title":{"rendered":"Arts advocate supports Missouri Western"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BillWright\"<\/a>\u00a0 Bill Wright left St. Joseph when he went away to college in 1957 and lost track of what was happening in his hometown. Although he came back for visits over the years, he hadn\u2019t even realized that the St. Joseph Junior College had transformed into Missouri Western State University over the approximately 50 years he was gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had never been on campus,\u201d he says of Missouri Western. \u201cI didn\u2019t even know it was there.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Wright retired and moved back to St. Joseph, he realized that a real community gem existed just east of I-29. One of the first people he met was Dr. Laurel Vartabedian, wife of Missouri Western\u2019s president, Dr. Robert Vartabedian. \u201cThat\u2019s how I found out about the University,\u201d he says. \u201cI was incredibly surprised that it was here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through his friendship with Dr. Laurel Vartabedian, he developed an appreciation for the University\u2019s arts programs. Wright recently gave the Missouri Western State University Foundation $50,000 to establish an endowed scholarship fund to be used for scholarships for Missouri Western students in the arts \u2013 music, art and theatre. He also notified the Foundation that it would be a beneficiary of almost $500,000 for the scholarship fund from his estate when he dies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was impressed by everyone I met in the arts programs. There is incredible potential for the arts at Missouri Western,\u201d Wright said. \u201cFaculty members are excellent and incredibly talented; they are world class people.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Dr. Laurel Vartabedian and Karen Graves, Wright helped found the Missouri Western Arts Society in 2011 to help raise money for the arts programs. He currently heads its council. Additionally, he has helped fund student trips to the Kansas City Lyric Opera and the Kansas City Repertory Theater.<\/p>\n

Wright graduated from the University of Kansas\u2019s architecture program and began his career as an architect for a large firm in Houston, traveling all over the world managing projects. He then worked for University of Houston and later Rutgers University, managing their building projects.<\/p>\n

From there he developed and operated the New Brunswick Cultural Center in New Brunswick, N.J., which included three theaters, dance studios for a resident ballet company and a gallery and offices for New Jersey\u2019s fine crafts organizations by the time he left.<\/p>\n

His final career move was to serve as executive director of the Wharton Center for Performing Arts on the campus of Michigan State University, where he stayed for 12 years.<\/p>\n

Wright also served as a member of the New York League of American Theatres and Producers, and was a Tony Award voter for 12 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a great life. I just segued from one career to the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith his background and experience, Bill brings a wealth of knowledge about fundraising, special events, programming and marketing, which is invaluable,\u201d said Laura Buhman, Missouri Western staff representative for the Arts Society.<\/p>\n

Knowing about his careers and lifelong love of the arts, it should come as no surprise that when you ask Wright why he chose to support the arts programs at Missouri Western, his answer is a quote from the Broadway musical, \u201cHello, Dolly!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the play, Hiram tells Dolly one of my favorite lines ever,\u201d Wright said. \u201c\u2018I think money is like manure. It\u2019s not much good unless you spread it around and make things grow.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had the money, and it was time to start seeding it to make things grow. I hope other people will get the idea, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

-end-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Bill Wright left St. Joseph when he went away to college in 1957 and lost track of what was happening in his hometown. Although he came back for visits over the years, he hadn\u2019t even realized that the St. Joseph Junior College had transformed into Missouri Western State University […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4328,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions\/4328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}