(Richardson, TX) – The City of Richardson and the Charles W. Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts and Corporate Presentations are teaming up with The School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication (ATEC) at the University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) to create a first-of-a-kind, innovative program called the Eisemann Edge Endowment Fund, which will give Richardson residents, local students and the North Texas community an opportunity to explore the intersection of technology with the visual and performing arts.
“We believe this program uniquely embodies Richardson’s pioneering embrace of technology, and how it can be used not only in the business world and everyday life, but also to enrich our arts and cultural experiences,” said Richardson Mayor Paul Voelker. “What we also love about this program is that it will showcase the creative talents of UT Dallas’ Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication students, while also providing educational outreach opportunities for Richardson students and inspiring generations of artists to come.”
The Eisemann Edge Endowment Fund was started by a generous $250,000 donation from longtime community benefactors and civic leaders Ann and Charles Eisemann, whose efforts have already had far-reaching impacts in Richardson and across the North Texas region. They hope the opening of the Fund will promote future giving to stimulate further growth of tech-based arts in the region.
“We very much like the goal of continuing to progress and lead the arts toward new and innovative discoveries as technology reshapes our senses, perceptions and reality,” said Ann and Charles Eisemann. “We think this will help grow new artistic leadership and create something new that will last into the future and help the arts innovate over time.”
Eisemann Edge Endowment Fund will be a multi-year, interactive arts experience that will be profoundly shaped by UT Dallas students. This initiative builds on a strong partnership between the Eisemann Center and UT Dallas to provide opportunities for students to learn about different artistic offerings. The program will incorporate several artistic genres in different venues of the Eisemann Center. Ultimately, it will leverage a wide array of creative abilities and technological platforms that will engage new audiences, enabling them to explore the arts and build on the Richardson community’s distinctive high-tech heritage.
“The School of ATEC is delighted to participate in this innovative arts program,” said Anne Balsamo, Dean for the School of ATEC. “This program strongly aligns with ATEC’s emphasis on Emerging Media Arts and provides a unique showcase for faculty and student work. Our hope is to inspire community interest in the artistic possibilities of emerging technologies.”
The first Eisemann Edge Endowment Fund installation, expected to open to the public in March 2020, will blend visual art with technology by utilizing cutting-edge projection equipment and the combined powers of digital art, light and 3D mapping. UT Dallas’ ATEC students will be challenged to develop and conceptualize art for the exhibition, which will be accompanied by live music making use of the unique acoustic properties of the Eisemann Center’s lobby on March 6, 2020. Not only will development of the Eisemann Edge Endowment Fund projects be thoroughly documented in 2019-20, providing educational outreach opportunities for Richardson students, but also arts organizations and artists from across North Texas will be challenged to explore the resulting exhibition and create their own art in new media, inspiring other artists in the future.
UT Dallas’ School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication (ATEC) engages artists, designers, scientists, researchers and reflective practitioners across multiple disciplines in collaborative activities to create new knowledge, explore the expressive possibilities and assess the cultural impact of emerging technologies. ATEC students, faculty and researchers collaborate on “intentional future-making” through the creation of new cultural forms, the design of new technological experiences, the production of new knowledge and the transformation of the culture industries. Founded in 2015, ATEC currently enrolls more than 1,800 students in bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs.
The Charles W. Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts and Corporate Presentations opened in September 2002 and has been recognized as one of the leading performing arts facilities serving the Dallas/Fort Worth area. It is also named for Charles Eisemann, in recognition of a $2 million gift received from the Eisemann Foundation Fund of the Communities Foundation of Texas.
Richardson has long been known worldwide as the home of the Telecom Corridor® area and is widely regarded as a leader in technology-related business innovation in the areas of communications, semiconductors, software, cloud computing, financial services, health care and other key sectors. Richardson also boasts the highest concentration of technology workers in the North Texas region. Richardson is also a culturally rich city, with a vibrant arts community offering countless arts exhibitions and performances throughout the year.
