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NEA Chairman Bill Ivey to speak at IU Auditorium rededication
Jan. 19, 2000
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Bill Ivey, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and an Indiana University alumnus, will be the keynote speaker for the IU Auditorium rededication ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 27, at 11 a.m. During the ceremony, Ivey also will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the university.
The ceremony, signaling the official end to the $12.5 million renovation, also will include IU President Myles Brand and IU Bloomington Chancellor Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis. It will take place at the Auditorium and is open to the public. No tickets are required for the ceremony.
"It's an honor to have Bill Ivey provide the keynote address for this, the formal ceremony marking the rededication of Indiana University Auditorium," said Winston Shindell, executive director of the Auditorium. "Although we have had several programs for the reopening of the Auditorium, this is a very special event that reaffirms our dedication to providing the IU and Bloomington communities with one of the premier performing arts facilities in the Midwestern United States."
Ivey was nominated by President William Clinton to be the seventh chairman of the NEA and was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in May 1998. He received his master's degree in folklore and ethnomusicology from IU in 1970. From 1971 to 1998, he was the director of the Country Music Foundation in Nashville, Tenn.
He is the first NEA chairman who has developed and run a nonprofit cultural organization. Ivey also served two terms as chairman of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.
Four thousand people gathered on March 22, 1941, to celebrate the completion of the IU Auditorium, with then-President Herman B Wells presiding over the dedication ceremony. After 56 years, the auditorium was closed for its first major renovation on Dec. 14, 1997. This renovation allowed for:
While the auditorium was closed, funds were raised for conservation of the Thomas Hart Benton mural cycle, The Social History of Indiana. The conservation took place during the renovation as a separate joint project between the IU Art Museum and the IU Auditorium.
The Auditorium reopened its season on Oct. 29, 1999, with the Tony Award-winning Broadway show, Chicago.
(Dewayne Wright, 812-855-0588, deawrigh@indiana.edu or DeAnna Hines, 812-855-0850, djhines@indiana.edu)