Ronni Lacroute, a member of the Linfield University Board of Trustees as well as a longtime donor to the university, was recently recognized for her commitment to promoting the arts. Lacroute was named “Fundraising Supporter of the Decade” and the “Top Arts Supporting Organization” as part of the 2020 BroadwayWorld Regional Awards.

The awards, voted on by the public, celebrate the best of community, student and college theater in the region over the last decade. Lacroute was recognized for her history of providing financial support for many theater organizations and productions in the Pacific Northwest.

“The entire Linfield community congratulates Ronni on her recognition as a patron of the arts,” Linfield President Miles K. Davis said. “Ronni is a true philanthropist who has generously supported many local organizations, including Linfield.”

Lacroute has been a Linfield donor for more than two decades. In that time, she has created a series of specific funds to support faculty, staff and students, including the Lacroute Arts Fund, Lacroute Composer Readings and Chamber Music Program, Lacroute Initiative for Advancing the Liberal Arts, Ronni Lacroute Endowed Chair in Shakespeare Studies and the Lacroute Endowed Academic Achievement Scholarship.

“All students should have access to the arts,” Lacroute told The Linfield Review student newspaper. “It is an experience that no one should live without.”

The Lacroute Initiative for Advancing the Liberal Arts was crafted to help Linfield more deeply integrate the liberal arts, pre-professional programs and applied learning at the university. The initiative has funded artists-in-residence, as well as four faculty Lacroute Scholars, charged with leading interdisciplinary work on campus.

“I could not feel more honored or fortunate to be serving as a Lacroute scholar, which has breathed life into a number of initiatives that I hope are contributing to the advancement of liberal arts education at Linfield, including the Leadership and Ethics Across Disciplines minor, adapting Pizza and Politics into a Zoom model and a “Politics and the Arts” class,” said Patrick Cottrell, professor of political science and inaugural Lacroute Scholar. “This support has enabled me to form teams of students, faculty and staff to help work on these projects, seek inspiration from disciplines different than my own, and explore the enduring relevance of liberal arts education in a changing higher education landscape.”

Lacroute also supports Gallery Theater, a non-profit community theater venue in downtown McMinnville. Gallery was honored by BroadwayWorld in 2020 as the “Community Theater of the Decade” and “Production of a Musical of the Decade” for its 2019 performance of Beauty and the Beast.

“Ronni’s philanthropy at Linfield has empowered those in the liberal-arts disciplines to take risks and develop meaningful collaborations across the university,” Davis said. “In continuing to fund the Lacroute Arts Series, she has enabled Linfield to amplify the ways the arts can have an impact on positive social change. Additionally, she pushes us to think expansively and create empowering experiences for our students.”