NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Oct. 6, 2009
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Ann Dee Lee
Public Information Director
Oklahoma Arts Council
(405) 521-2931
anndee@arts.ok.gov
ROBERT L. ALLEE TO RECEIVE
GOVERNOR’S ARTS AWARD
Sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Council, 16 individuals and five organizations will be honored for their contributions to the arts in their communities or throughout the state. The ceremony is scheduled for 4:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 20th in the 4th Floor Rotunda of the State Capitol and is open to the public. Presiding at the ceremony will be Council Chair Kym Koch Thompson and Oklahoma Arts Council Executive Director Suzanne Tate. A reception on the first floor of the Capitol will follow the 4 p.m. ceremony.
Allee is the owner and president of Southwestern Group of Companies, Inc. as well as the owner and publisher of Southwestern Publishing, Inc. Under his guidance, the company has grown to be one of the largest privately owned printing companies in Oklahoma. His magazines, which are dedicated to various segments of metropolitan Oklahoma City, covers visual and performing arts in the area from the major art agencies to the smaller arts organizations. His staff writers interview artists and report on their creativity. He encourages his employees to volunteer for the arts and other civic organizations.
He not only directs his magazine editor to concentrate on art topics, but he devotes his personal attention to them as well. Active in the Oklahoma City community, Allee is an associate board member of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, serves on the museum’s Leadership Committee, and has been a Prix de West member since its inception. Allee also is a board member and membership chair for the Metropolitan Library System of Oklahoma City’s Library Endowment Trust and played a key role in developing the “Literary Voices” author event, which is the major fundraiser for the library system. In addition, Allee is a board member for the Myriad Gardens Foundation and Artspace at Untitled, chairing its first annual fundraising event. He is also on the Advisory Board of Oklahoma City Beautiful. Allee also was a member of the Oklahoma Centennial Commission and donated the printing to reproduce Mike Larsen’s painting, which the United States Post Office used for a postage stamp honoring Oklahoma’s Centennial. Further supporting Allee’s commitment to the Oklahoma City Metroplex, Allee is a member of the Edmond, Norman, Midwest City, and Greater Oklahoma City Chambers of Commerce.
There are few arts organizations that have not received Allee’s attention and support. He has and continues to give financial and printing support to Big Brothers Big Sisters, Oklahoma State University’s Doel Reed Center, the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, DeadCenter Film Festival, Allied Arts, Lyric Theatre, City Arts Center, Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, United Way, Red Earth, Inc., Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition and the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
Born in Western Oklahoma and raised in Oklahoma City, Allee is a fourth-generation Oklahoman whose great-grandfather participated in the Land Run of 1889, was a prominent rancher, and settled the Elk City community. Allee manages his family farms in Western Oklahoma and commercial real estate in Los Angeles, California. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry with a minor in Physics and English Literature from the University of Central Oklahoma. Allee’s professional memberships include the National Office Products Association, the Printing and Imaging Association of Mid-America, and the Graphic Arts Trade Foundation.
A complete list of Governor’s Arts Awards recipients and their photos are available at www.arts.ok.gov. For more information about the Governor’s Arts Awards, please contact Ann Dee Lee at (405) 521-2931 or at anndee@arts.ok.gov.
ABOUT THE OKLAHOMA ARTS COUNCIL
The Oklahoma Arts Council is a state agency whose mission is to improve lives through the arts by promoting and sustaining the development of a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education and economic vitality for all Oklahomans.
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