Richard B. Phillips Jr. (pictured), partner in Thompson & Knight in Dallas, has been named to the board of trustees for the Dallas Wind Symphony. Phillips practices with his firm’s appellate and Supreme Court practice group.
Phillips says Thompson & Knight has a long tradition of being involved in arts groups in the cities where the firm’s offices are located, which is one of the reasons he started getting involved through the Business Council for the Arts.
“The business council is an association in Dallas whose job it is to connect businesses with arts groups to help them in various ways,” Phillips says. One of the things the business council does, Phillips says, is Leadership Arts, a course he took that covers what being a member of a nonprofit board of directors involves.
“Leadership Arts will serve me well as I start working on the board,” Phillips says. “When I was thinking of what I would like to be involved in, I wanted it to do with music.”
Phillips has always been interested in music, he says. He played the bassoon in middle school and high school and then switched to percussion in high school and college so he could join the marching band. Phillips says he even had the opportunity to play in the Cotton Bowl while in college.
“Band always made a big difference in my life,” Phillips says. “Playing in a band helped me learn the benefits of working together in a group and what it means to try to be as perfect as you can be — lessons I carried with me and use every day as a lawyer.”
Another reason Phillips was drawn to the Dallas Wind Symphony, he says, is the symphony’s emphasis on music education for kids.
“The symphony is made up of great instrumentalists, and they spend a lot of effort on music education,” Phillips says.
“They really are one of the premier wind symphonies in the United States, and people just don’t know about them,” he says. “Our job is to help guide that thinking and get the word out about the group, to get fundraising going.”
— Christine Lesicko
great blog, so informative and interesting. thank you and keep it up!
Posted by: James Cupero | August 16, 2012 at 12:27 PM