During a news conference on Wednesday, ETSU announced that a $1 million gift is being made to the Mary B. Martin School of the Arts by Martin’s husband, James C. “Jim” Martin. The school was established in January 2009 with a naming endowment created by Jim Martin. Including the latest gift, he has contributed $3 million to the endowment.

Martin, a Johnson City resident, donated funds to the ETSU Foundation to endow the school in memory of his wife, who earned her B.A. degree in chemistry from ETSU while working at Eastman Chemical Company. The Martins were awarded the Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor’s Award of Excellence in Philanthropy in February 2010.

Anita DeAngelis, director of the Mary B. Martin School of the Arts and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said, “It’s remarkable to have a donor like Jim Martin supporting the arts at ETSU and in our surrounding community. Jim understands the contributions artists and creative thinkers make to society. He wants to support high levels of creativity, invention and discovery, and the school of the arts and ETSU are part of an effort to influence the presence of the arts in the community.”

According to DeAngelis, the primary use of the funding provided by the endowment is to support performing arts series, visiting artists and lectures, exhibitions and other opportunities in the arts.

The school is in the second season of activities, and 23 separate events are part of the schedule. This spring, the school will host screenings of three independent films and discussions with the filmmakers, performances of Aquila Theatre’s “Six Characters in Search of an Author,” Ensemble Galilei’s “A Universe of Dreams” with narration by NPR’s Neal Conan, and the “Hills of Home” concert featuring Doc Watson, Richard Watson and David Holt. Several lectures in the visual arts are also included, and the school is sponsoring “Mountain Visions 2011,” a regional juried art competition.

With the increased number of arts activities on campus, the school has worked with several ETSU offices to acquire an online ticketing system.

“The Vendini ticketing system will allow us to have professional box office capabilities,” DeAngelis said. “The Vendini system will allow us to sell tickets in person and through telephone orders, and we’ll also have the ability to sell tickets online 24/7. Eventually, more of the arts areas offering activities will also use the same system for ticket sales.”

For more information, call (423) 439-5673 or 439-8587, or visit www.etsu.edu/cas/arts.

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