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You are cordially invited to join us in a unique opportunity. The Friends of the Gordon Parks Celebration has been created to help provide financial support for The Gordon Parks Celebration of Culture and Diversity, a unique cultural event held each October at Fort Scott Community College. The Gordon Parks Celebration presents four days of workshops, exhibitions, seminars, and live performances. It is an event you won’t want to miss!

Fort Scott native Gordon Parks left his hometown in the 1920’s to forge a new path for himself, overcoming adversity and using his creative talents to improve the world around him. He devoted his professional life to showing injustice and revealing beauty and in doing so made multiple substantive accomplishments to world culture and diversity. The first African-American photographer for Life Magazine, Gordon Parks chronicled the Civil Rights movement for Life for two decades. His work for Vogue magazine established him as a master of fashion photography. As a filmmaker, he was the first African-American to write, direct, and produce a major Hollywood production with the poignant memoir of his youth "The Learning Tree," filmed on location in Fort Scott. "The Learning Tree" was among the 25 films placed on the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1989. He has written several books, original musical compositions, film scores, and a ballet. With admiration and appreciation we are creating an event to honor Mr. Parks and his lifelong message of equality, diversity, and creativity.

We are committed to keeping our ticket prices as low as possible, but admissions pay only a small portion of the annual operating costs. We must raise the rest of our budget through gifts from corporations, foundations, grants, and individuals. Your gift is very important to the success of this new event and will help to ensure its financial growth in the future. Remember, no gift is too large or too small.

In order to include you in the annual list of Friends of the Gordon Parks Celebration, we will need to hear from you by the end of September. Your membership will be listed in the annual Celebration Program Book. We have listed the benefits of membership on the next page and have included a reply card and a return envelope for your convenience.

The Fort Scott Community College for Culture and Diversity Foundations's federal tax I.D. # is 20-3040993. Your contribution is tax-deductible under Section 501 (C) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.