Home

Media Release Archives

Logos

About KLRU-TV

Media Release

October 22, 2009

Moody Foundation Grants $2.5 Million to Support KLRU’s Capital Campaign for the New Home of Austin City Limit

Moody Gift is Largest Single Gift Ever Received by KLRU

AUSTIN, TX — KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, has received a $2.5 million contribution from the Moody Foundation of Galveston, Texas. The gift, which is the largest single gift in the station’s history, requires a one-to-one match and is the lead gift in a $6.5 million capital campaign to equip the new state of the art Austin City Limits venue in Austin’s central business district.  In recognition of the Moody Foundation’s gift, the new venue will be named “Moody Theatre.”
 
“The Moody Foundation is one of America’s finest organizations and the Moody name has great historical and cultural significance across this state,” said Bill Stotesbery, KLRU’s CEO and general manager. “We are very proud to be a beneficiary of the Foundation’s generosity and we are honored that they believe this project is significant enough to the community to warrant an investment of this magnitude.”

Ross Moody, KLRU Board member and trustee of the Moody Foundation, said, “I have attended Austin City Limits tapings for many years and am a huge fan. But more than that, I know what Austin City Limits means to this community and to the creative economy of Austin.  Austin is the city it is today, known internationally as the ‘live music capital of the world’ partly because 35 years ago Austin City Limits recorded a pilot with Willie Nelson in the original studios. The Moody Foundation is proud to lead the effort to take Austin City Limits to the next stage of its future.”

The capital campaign is seeking to raise $6.5 million, the majority of which will be used to purchase and install HD production equipment in the new venue.  The capital campaign will also support continued improvements in the station’s existing facility at Dean Keeton and Guadalupe and provide funds for preserving thousands of hours of Austin City Limits’ tapes by digitizing them.

The Moody Theatre and the ACL Studio are part of a major project in Austin’s central business district under development by Stratus Properties and Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund.  In addition to the Moody Theatre and the ACL Studio, the development includes a W Hotel, condominium residences and retail/restaurant space. The Theatre will be a state-of-the-art performance and production venue, in addition to the new home and next stage for Austin City Limits. The cost of the venue is fully supported by the developer; KLRU’s contributions to the facility are restricted to the production and broadcast equipment necessary to record ACL tapings and other events in the venue.
 
“This is a remarkable opportunity,” said Stotesbery.  “KLRU will be able to take Austin City Limits to a new, $40 million studio that maintains the intimacy of our existing space while vastly increasing the capacity but without having to raise the dollars for bricks and mortar. Instead, we will work with the developer to create a state-of-the-art recording and broadcast facility in the heart of downtown Austin that we believe will be a great economic benefit for the entire community.”
 
Recently, Austin City Limits was designated a Rock and Roll Landmark by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Plans are for Season 36, which begins in 2010, to be recorded in the original studios. Starting in 2011 (Season 37), taping of the legendary series will begin in the Moody Theatre.

About the Moody Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. W.L. Moody, Jr. established the Moody Foundation in 1942 “to benefit in perpetuity present and future generations of Texans.”  This has been and continues to be the mission and clear directive upheld by subsequent generations of the Moody family.  Today, the Foundation is represented by trustees from the third and fourth generation of the founders’ family, who continue the Foundation’s long-standing commitment to Texas organizations, large and small, with a vision for a better and stronger community.
 

About KLRU

KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, reflects, celebrates and inspires Central Texas through creative excellence, community engagement and lifelong learning. In addition to providing locally produced and quality national television programming, KLRU is also a non-profit organization helping to build a stronger community through educational workshops, community engagement projects and public events. Known as the producing station of the longest running live music television show Austin City Limits, KLRU has also worked on several other national productions including the documentaries Last Best Hope and Lady Bird. Get more information about KLRU at klru.org.

###