Swope Art Museum Offers First Look at Terre Haute Convention Center 

Swope Art Museum Offers First Look at Terre Haute Convention Center with annual Pendergast Spring Dinner on May 1

The Swope Art Museum will offer a first look at the new Terre Haute Convention Center when it conducts its Annual Marilyn Wheeler Pendergast Spring Dinner at the new facility on Sunday, May 1

We are so pleased to be one of the very first events at wonderful new venue,said Ashley Summerlot, chair of the dinner. It will be the beginning of a new partnership among our downtown museums, the hotel and tourism community, local business and government in attracting more visitors to our community.” 

The Pendergast Spring Dinner is a major fundraising event of the year for the Swope, but it hasnt been conducted since 2019 because of COVID19 restrictions. A larger audience is expected to attend given the new venue

Three persons will be presented with awards at the dinner. Two awards will be presented in honor of Marilyn Wheeler Pendergast, who served a long tenure on the Swope Board of Managers. This years receipients are

*George Brattain, a local attorney who has been a longtime supporter of the Swope. He is responsible for the Swope obtaining one of the major pieces in the collection: Scales Mound,a painting by John Rogers Cox, the first director of the Swope. Brattain also played a major role in one of the largest trust gifts for the Swope in his role as a personal attorney

*Sherry Dailey, retired educator who served 16 years on the Swopes Board of Advisors, headed the search committee for four executive directors, and chaired the board nominating committee for most of her tenure. In addition, Dailey was a presenter on behalf of the Swope on numerous occasions, and active in many facets of the Swopes activities

A new award this year is the Richard Shagley J. Presidential Service Award, which will be given to Donald E. Richards, retired professor of mechanical engineering at RoseHulman Institute of Technology, and chairman of the Swopes building committee. Under his leadership, the Swope has met accreditation standards for storage and display of works of art. Shagley served on the Board of Managers for 30 years prior to his retirement in 2018

This years dinner is being presented by Garmong Construction Services, which supervised the construction of the new convention center

Our whole community is proud of this wonderful new facility, built under the direction of local contractors and union labor,said Fred J. Nation, executive director of the Swope. As we move forward, the convention center will bring new visitors to downtown Terre Haute which means new audiences for the Swope, other downtown museums, and businesses. This is our opportunity to demonstrate what the convention center brings to our community.” 

The event will begin at 5 pm on Sunday, May 1, with a reception and silent auction, followed by dinner at 6:30 pm. Reservation information is available on the Swope website: www.swope.org, or by calling 8122381676, ext. 137