What you need to know about the Long Center, its namesakes and a free day of performances

Humanitarian Teresa Lozano Long, who died two years ago, is far from forgotten, especially regarding her efforts to open up the arts to those who might not have easy access to them.

To recognize that memory, the leaders of the Long Center for the Performing Arts, named after Austin donors Teresa and Joe Long, have organized the first-ever Teresa Lozano Long Community Day.

Scheduled for noon to 5 p.m. Sept. 9, the free event will consist of performances from a multitude of artists. The festival will be an "open house," so visitors can come and go as they please. Other activities, including games for all ages, are planned. More information can be found at thelongcenter.org.

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Expect performances, films and demos from Ballet Folklórico de Austin, Austin Shakespeare, chamber music group Montopolis, Austin Soundwaves, Austin Classical Guitar, Northeast High School Band and select artists from Austin Symphony, Ballet Austin, and Austin Opera. Ballet Austin's "Rhythm on Stage" event sounds particularly fun: The audience will be invited onstage to take part in a large dance class.

"I don't go out much any more, but I will be at the Long Center for that day," Joe Long, 93, says about the event named for his late wife. "I'm wheelchair bound, but I can get in and out of one of those (side) boxes."

Who was Teresa Lozano Long?

When Teresa Lozano Long died on March 21, 2021, Austin mourned the loss of a treasured champion of access to education and the arts.

In Austin, the educator from the small town of Premont, Texas, and her husband, Joe Long, a lawyer who made money in the banking industry, have been most closely associated with the Long Center — they were its largest donor at more than $20 million — and the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas.

In San Antonio, the couple endowed the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine.

In addition, the Longs were staunch backers of the Austin Symphony Orchestra and Austin Soundwaves, a group that makes music education more accessible and equitable. They also endowed numerous scholarships.

Their total gifts to Texas nonprofits and universities have topped $150 million.

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Joe Long thinks that, in all humility, his late wife would have enjoyed the tributes surrounding the new Long Center event because it serves the community directly.

"Terry was better at this than I am," Joe Long says. "She was always gracious and sympathetic."

How the Long Center changed the Austin arts landscape

In the 1990s, the campaign to build a first-class venue for the performing arts was a turning point in Austin history.

Arts lovers had long depended on the University of Texas for performances of the symphony, opera, ballet and large touring shows. On top of that, nobody had ever raised many tens of millions of dollars for a public-private project like the future Long Center. The city owns the land and the building, but donors, led by the Longs, raised all the money to reconstitute the awkward 1950s-era Palmer Auditorium into the audience-and-artist-friendly Long Center.

"There was nothing like it in Austin," Joe Long says. "And from the beginning, it was about welcoming the community and showcasing the arts."

It was a long struggle. The center went through several designs. And at times, fundraising lagged. During the early years, nobody was more skeptical than the powerful coterie who had driven the city's agenda for decades.

Along came a couple who grew up in modest circumstances in very small towns, he a lawyer, she an educator. Together with some charismatic nonprofit leaders and key backers, such as Michael and Susan Dell, the Longs proved the naysayers wrong.

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"When we were building the center, it was a struggle," Joe Long says. "At one point we had to decide whether to go forward or abandon it. We had already put so much effort in it, we had to go forward."

Altogether, the couple's generosity and leadership left a permanent imprint on the city.

"I'm happy the way they all turned out," Joe Long says. "Of all the money we gave away, only one project didn't turn out well — it involved a small-town church — and it was not much money."

Like almost everyone else, Joe Long was surprised by how quickly the ring of structural columns on the H-E-B Terrace turned into an audience favorite and a gathering place at all hours.

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"Early on, I walked out on the terrace and saw the view," Joe Long says. "I knew right away that it would be something all the community would enjoy. The ones who have been there — and those who haven't been there but should go."

Cory Baker, president CEO of the Long Center, said the upcoming event not only honors Teresa Long, it coincides with the complex's 15th anniversary.

“What’s so special about the Teresa Lozano Long Community Day is that it is a day to remember and celebrate the Long Center’s mission from day one," Baker says, "to be a gathering place and an asset for our entire community. It’s a beautiful example of how the arts build community."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: How to attend Teresa Lozano Long Community Day at the Long Center