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Welcome and Introduction
by Jack S. Blanton, President
Our country has seen a debate in
recent years over the propriety of whether the arts could and
should prosper in a modern and open Democratic society, and just
what role, if any, the public sector should play.
Those who will articulate this subject
are Mr. Robert Hughes, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, Dr. Peter
Marzio and Dr. Neil Harris.
Robert Hughes-Born in Australia in 1938, resident in the United
States since 1970. Robert Hughes reaches a readership of 20 million
people a week through his reviews in Time Magazine. He is the
most widely-read art critic writing in the English language, a
best-selling historian and one of the most popular art lecturers
in America.
Congresswoman Louise Slaughter-serves
in the United States House of Representatives in the 28th Congressional
District of New York State. She has been described in the Washington
Post as "one of the most powerful women in Congress".
She has been a strong defender of federal initiatives and supporting
the arts.
Dr. Peter Marzio-President and Director
of Houston's Museum of Fine Arts, and is one of our country's
most respected, knowledgeable and capable spokesman involving
the arts. He is former Director of Corcoran Gallery of Art in
Washington, D.C. and will be our moderator as well as the final
speaker.
Dr. Neil Harris-Born in 1938 and
received undergraduate degrees from Columbia College and Cambridge
and gained his Ph.D. from Harvard. His interests center on the
evolution of American culture, both high and popular, and has
written on the history of American art and its various facets.
He has lectured widely and has held lectureships at a series of
universities and museums in this country and Europe. He currently
serves on the Architecture and Education Committees at the Art
Institute of Chicago.
Houston is most especially blessed
to have dynamic and outstanding art institutions and ongoing programs.
Our first evening at dinner will beat the recently opened Moore
School of Music at the University of Houston with its magnificent
Frank Stella murals. On Saturday evening we will be at the Museum
of Fine Arts in Houston and you will be hearing more about the
building now underway designed by Rafael Maneo but which will
open in 2000.
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