For Immediate Release
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The Arts Center Campaign Receives Donation from Graciela Gutierrez
BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS – August 27, 2009 – Graciela Gutierrez of Brownsville has given a significant gift for The Arts Center under construction at The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College. 
The gift was presented and approved at the Texas Southmost College Board of Trustees meeting in the Gorgas Board Room on Thursday, August 27.
The Texas Southmost College Board of Trustees accepted Gutierrez’s gift and will name Box D on the first floor of The Arts Center “The Graciela Gutierrez Box.”
“I have always believed in helping my community, whether it was in Matamoros, where I was born and raised, or in Brownsville, my home now,” Gutierrez said. “I am very honored to be a part of UTB and Texas Southmost College.”
“Ms. Gutierrez has been a friend and supporter of UTB/TSC in education and the arts for many years, and she is well-known throughout the Rio Grande Valley and northern Mexico in the banking and business communities,” said Vice President for Institutional Advancement Dr. Ruth Ann Ragland.
Gutierrez recalled an experience she had in the early 1970s when she was visiting Morocco. When seeing children playing in the streets during the day, she asked the tour guide why they weren’t in school. The guide responded that the monarchy didn’t want the people to be educated because that is the best way to control them. She said that was painful to witness.
“Many also know Graciela as an active participant in community projects related to care for the elderly and for her expertise in finance that she provides voluntarily to boards of local organizations,” Ragland said.
“She saw a need to help bankers in Mexico learn to do business in the United States, and she began teaching classes in banking for international students at TSC before the partnership,” she said. “Her interests in education extend to both sides of the border. She also has helped high schools in Matamoros through teaching as a volunteer.”
The 74square-foot box Box D is located on the first floor of the Performance Hall to the immediate right of the center and nearest to the stage, and has four moveable seats.
Board Chair David Oliveira presented Gutierrez with a framed print of a watercolor rendering of The Arts Center.
Gutierrez serves on the TSC Foundation Endowment Financial Advisory Committee, and she is a long-time member of our Development Board.
Construction of the $25 million Arts Center is funded largely as part of a $68 million bond package approved by voters in 2004. The bond provides for $18 million while $6.7 million must be raised by the university to complete the building.
“To date, we have received about $1.7 million in gifts from private individuals, foundations and corporations to assist with the additional funding needed for construction,” said Ragland.
Sections of the The Arts Center already named in honor of donors include: the Gloria and James D. Zellerbach Green Room, the Dr. Roberto and Perla Robles Teaching Studio, the IBC Orchestra Pit, the Tipton Family Teaching Studio, the Mary Elizabeth Holdsworth Butt Lobby Gallery, and the Neal and Lourdes Simmons Teaching Studio, the Sergio and Magda Arguelles Box, the Habet Family Concessions, the Keppel AmFELS Box, the Bernice and Ruben Edelstein Grand Piano Room and the Charles and Elizabeth Stillman Box.
The 49,887square-foot structure, designed by Studio Red, will feature an 808seat performance hall with a fully equipped stage designed to accommodate orchestras, operas, and dance and theater productions accommodating 150 people on stage simultaneously. The building is expected to be completed in winter 2009.
Additionally, the nautilus-shape structure includes a total of five teaching studios, three rehearsal halls, a green room, a patrons’ terrace, and a 5,298-square-foot lobby designed to accommodate receptions and art exhibits.
To learn more about giving opportunities please contact the UTB/TSC Division of Institutional Advancement at (956) 882-4332.