Museums in the Making Panel

North Texas is home to many outstanding museums that enrich the quality of life for its residents. For our thriving and growing metropolitan area, additional “museums in the making” hold great promise to enhance the area’s cultural life even more. This Panel will explore two of those museums – The Athenaeum and The Texas Music Experience. The Panel, moderated by Duncan Fulton, consists of Brice Beaird who will discuss the planned Texas Music Experience (TME), and Hobson Wildenthal, who will overview The Athenaeum.

The Texas Music Experience

In 2016, Brice Beaird began working with a group of Texas music enthusiasts who had the vision to create The Texas Music Experience in Dallas, Texas. “TME” is conceptually designed to be an engaging, interactive, and immersive music experience, honoring Texas music, its writers, performers and producers. A 501(c)(3), TME will offer songwriting, performance and production instruction to aspiring future Texas musicians. Brice combines his marketing and music skills to create awareness of, and build support for, this new cultural asset for the state of Texas.

The Athenaeum

The Barrett Museum of Swiss Art and the Crow Museum of Asian Art are the two founding elements of the Athenaeum, the name given to a projected new plaza for the arts that will be located on campus of The University of Texas at Dallas. The museum complex will include a Performance Hall and a prospective third museum. When completed, the Athenaeum will constitute a new focal point for campus life and for engagements between the university community and the populations of greater North Dallas. The museums are being designed by Morphosis Architects, and construction will be carried out by the Beck Group.

Duncan FULTON, Moderator
Co-Founder and Retired Chairman/CEO, GFF

Duncan Fulton is co-founder, and the recently retired Chairman / CEO of GFF, the 2019 recipient of the TSA’s prestigious Architecture Firm Award. Duncan’s architectural work is diverse, with an emphasis on cultural and corporate projects. He has worked for many of Dallas’ most notable cultural institutions, including the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, the AT&T Performing Arts Center, the Dallas Arboretum, the Dallas Zoo and the Dallas Theater Center. The Dallas Arts District has been a particular area of influence, where he has worked continuously since 2004 on a variety of projects. His corporate work includes Pizza Hut’s World Headquarters, Nokia Americas Headquarters Capital One’s North Texas Campus and regional headquarters for MedAssets and McAfee. Duncan has served his profession and community in many ways. He has served as President of both the Dallas AIA and the Dallas Architectural Foundation and on the boards of the Texas Society of Architects, The Dallas Architecture Forum, and the University of Kansas School of Architecture. Civic leadership includes President of the Dallas Assembly, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Highland Park United Methodist Church, Vice-Chairman of Methodist Health System Board, the Dallas Arboretum Board & Executive Committee, SMU Perkins Schools of Theology Executive Board, the AT&T Performing Arts President’s Advisory Board, the Momentous Institute Board, The Real Estate Council Board, the Salesmanship Club and the City of Dallas Urban Design Advisory Committee. He has written and lectured on a range of subjects including architectural design, planning policy, the Dallas Arts District, training facilities, historic preservation and sustainable design.

Brice BEAIRD – Panelist
President, The Beaird Agency

Brice Beaird is a graduate of Texas Tech with a BBA degree and a minor in Radio, Television and Film, and was honored by the school as a Distinguished Alumnus in 2001. Brice is President and owner of The Beaird Agency, Inc., a marketing services company. The agency has produced advertising and branding programs for noted clients such as Bennigan’s, Chili’s, Brinks Home Security, Southwest Airlines, Perkins School of Theology, W. Rigg Realtors, and Dallas Parks and Recreation. He has served on the Board and Executive Committees of The Dallas Zoo, The Dallas Summer Musicals, and Perkins School of Theology. He also served on the Board and as Chair for Mental Health America. Brice has served as an adjunct professor in the Temerlin Advertising Institute at SMU and has guest lectured at the Texas Tech and SMU’s Cox School of Business.As a singer/songwriter, Brice continues to write and perform, as well as make regular trips to Nashville to record demos and meet with writers and publishing groups. He has recorded two CD’s. and has also written and performed on recent commercial music for Texas Land and Cattle, Lone Star Steakhouse and Herb’s Paint and Body Auto Repair Center.

Hobson WILDENTHAL, Panelist
Professor and Emeritus EVP, UT Dallas

Hobson Wildenthal holds degrees from Sul Ross State College and a PhD Degree in physics from the University of Kansas. He has held appointments at Rice, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Texas A&M, and at Michigan State, and his visiting appointments include Los Alamos National Lab, the University of Munich, the Orsay in Paris, and Oxford, as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship. He devoted most of the twenty years of his pre-administrative academic career to experimental and theoretical studies of the structure of atomic nuclei, work recounted in over 200 research publications in journals and conference proceedings, and to teaching large classes of beginning undergraduate physics students.  Wildenthal moved into administrative roles first as Department Head of Physics at Drexel and then, as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of New Mexico. He came to UT Dallas as chief academic officer with the title Vice President for Academic Affairs at UT Dallas in 1992, and then served as Executive Vice President and Provost until 2018, when he assumed the position of Distinguished Scholar in Residence and Professor of Physics.

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