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Margot and Ross Perot give $1 million to Dallas Center for the Performing Arts The contribution from Mr. and Mrs. Perot brings to 84 the number of Dallas families who have given $1 million or more to the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts campaign. More than $204 million in private funds have already been pledged to the Center project. The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Foundation is committed to raising 93 percent of the $275 million in constructions costs from private donors. Mr. and Mrs. Perot’s generosity already has been felt throughout the Dallas Arts District. They are major supporters of the Dallas Museum of Arts, and Mr. Perot’s financial gift to The Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center was instrumental in the completion of the prominent venue for music performances. “Receiving a $1 million gift from Margot and Ross Perot is especially meaningful for the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts,” said Howard Hallam, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Foundation. “The Perot name is synonymous with quality and distinction. Their gift to help build the Center will bring the prestige that accompanies projects of any kind they choose to support,” Hallam said the timing of the donation also is appropriate with construction well underway on the Center’s parking structure and work scheduled to begin on the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House and Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in early fall. In addition to their support for the arts, the Perots’ record of philanthropy includes healthcare and educational programs and facilities. The children’s and women’s hospital at Presbyterian Hospital in North Dallas is named for Margot Perot. Children’s Medical Center in Dallas has been the beneficiary of their support as has the Southwest Medical Foundation. Mr. and Mrs. Perot also have established a fund to reward nurses at St. Paul Hospital. Mr. Perot is chairman emeritus of Perot Systems, a company he founded that is now ranked in the Fortune 1000. In 1962, he founded Electronic Data Systems with a $1,000 loan from his wife and built it to become one of the world’s largest technology services firm. EDS was sold to General Motors in 1984. Bill Lively, President and CEO of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Foundation said that, with all the construction activity at the Center’s site, the contribution from Mr. and Mrs. Perot comes at a particularly good time. “The $1 million Cornerstone gift from Margot and Ross Perot is both generous and timely and will help keep this important project on schedule,” Lively said. Caren Prothro, Vice Chair of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Foundation Board and Chair of the Foundation’s Development Committee, said Mr. and Mrs. Perot always seem to direct their philanthropy to programs and projects that will bring the most good to the community at large. “Margot and Ross Perot have a history of stepping up at critical times to support projects that will impact society for generations to come,” Ms. Prothro said, “Their $1 million gift to help construct the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts is just such a gift and is instrumental in continuing the momentum of the campaign to build the Center.” About the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts: The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, a new multi-venue Center for music, opera, theater and dance will open in 2009, completing the 25-year dream of the Dallas Arts District. The most significant performing arts complex to be built since Lincoln Center in New York, the Center will provide multi-state-of-the-art facilities woven together by an urban park covering more than ten acres to create a dynamic cultural destination that is unparalleled in the world. The Center will feature the following: |
