HISTORY AND MISSIONThe Artist & Elaine Thornton Foundation For The Arts was established in 1986 as a non profit organization designed to uplift, educate, promote and embrace the arts of all disciplines. Those disciplines include drama, dance, visual, music, etc. This institution will also promote occupational awareness by providing several vocational training projects within the Arts discipline. Its mission is to bring about positive social awareness to the inner city community. Art is its vehicle for positive change. Programs sponsored by the Thornton Foundation include the Young Photographers’ Workshop. This photography class teaches *
It also teaches students how to devolop their own film into negatives and from there to process those into pictures. The Summer program takes place each summer. The Young Photographers’ Workshop is in its fifteenth year. The Gordon Parks Young Photographers Competition, a Summer program is in its eightth year . Named in honor of the Renaissance Man, film maker, author, photographer, painter, musician and respected photojournalist Gordon Parks, the competition provides the opportunity for youngsters between the ages of 10 through 18 years old to win prizes for their very own amateur photos. It encourages the students and aspirants of photography to continue with this art form and to consider it as a profession in their adult years. Each year for the last ten years the Thornton Foundation For The Arts and the U.S. Postal Service present the annual Black Heritage Stamp honoree, i.e., Allison Davis, W.E.B. DuBois, Bessie Coleman, Sr. Percy Julian, Dr. Ernest Just, General Benjamin O. Davis Sr, Madam CJ Walker and others whose likenesses are placed on the stamp.
The Thornton Foundation For The Arts also presented "Celebrate The Arts", a gala reception attended by such notable artists as Larry Hagman, Roger E. Mosley, Warren Lanier, and Irma P. Hall. The wonderful gala, celebrated at Dallas City Hall, was an effort by the foundation and Artist & Elaine's friends, Irma P. Hall, Larry Hagman, Roger E. Mosley, Warren Lanier and others to garner funding for the arts programs presented by the Foundation For The Arts. In the winter of 1997 the Thornton Foundation For The Arts acquired a generous lease of a 40,000 square foot, three story building in the South Dallas area. the building is in dire need of refurbishing . This fifty plus year old building will be the future home of our foundation, located at 4408-10 Second Avenue. Our mission is to reach out to youth and elderly alike, to inspire the creative potential in each person through entertaining and serious art. We are enthusiastically committed to exist as a community outlet for those aspiring to be an artist. |
In 1990 and 1991, the Thornton Foundation presented the moving, "Zooman and The Sign", a play by Charles Fuller to the Dallas/Fort Worth area as part of an effort to head off gang violene. Included in the program was a panel audience discussion concerning tips to avoid life threatening situations. Panel participation included a cross section of concerned community citizens, police spokespersons, gang unit representation, clergy, and organizers. local popular DJ Cousin Lennie moderated the program . In 1996 we presented "Livin’ Phat", an adaptation of Judi Ann Mason’s "Living Fat" at Cedar Valley College A sensitive audience, some of whom were newly impressed by a live theatre presentation warmly received the production. "East Texas Hot Links", by Texas native Eugene Lee was opened in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1995, meeting a standing ovation during each performance. It was toured by the Foundation in Midland/Odessa and Denton, Texas respectively. The Spring of 1998 was the opening of "Two Trains Running", the Pulitzer Prize winning play by August Wilson. The production was seen at the South Dallas Cultural Center in Dallas, Texas and at Tulsa, Oklahoma. The production is slated to appear at some of Dallas’ area colleges and universities.