Published: April 11, 2008 07:34 am      

The Wright man for the job

He looks the part.

If one didn’t know Woodward native T.Z. Wright, but were asked to pick out the new Woodward Arts Council Director in a crowd at a barbecue, they’d point to the bespectacled musician and businessman and they’d say, “That’s gotta be him.”

They’d be right.

But not only does Wright look the part, most importantly, he embodies the kind of commitment and vision that the Woodward Arts Council Board of Directors has been searching for, said Krista Yadon, president of the board.

The Woodward Arts Council Board announced Monday the appointment of Wright as its new executive director. The board has been looking for the right candidate since late January.

But this is not a story of a moment in time, rather a story that weaves together the choices of Wright, his mother and a host of other people who made their own choices that ultimately culminated in Woodward Arts Council being gifted by one with such a passion for the arts and his community.

Write was born in Woodward at the end of the 1950s to Woodward attorney Tom Z. Wright and his wife Grace, a home maker.

Wright’s interest in the arts, mostly music, began early in his home as his mother, who had a masters degree in music from the Texas Christian University, arranged to have young T.Z. learn to play the piano.

“She didn’t do the teaching but she set me up with a lady and made sure I didn’t get to slide out of too many practice sessions,” Wright said. “Consequently, I had the foundation to learn to use other instruments as well.”

Wright’s increasing passion for music was further formed by a band instructor at Mooreland High School, he said.

Indeed, Mooreland band instructor Ralph Pantalone was a bit if a renaissance man in his own way, coming from the Boston Music Conservancy to teach band at the small Northwest Oklahoma high school.

But it must have been fate, because Pantalone’s choice to come teach in the region seemed to transfer t0 young Wright’s fledgling passion for music. So the deed was done, music now owned a permanent spot in Wright’s life.

“He was a great one,” Wright said when asked about his musical inspirations of the past.

As Wright completed high school and set off to University of Oklahoma’s School of Business, he also took the time to play keyboard for a band while in college.

“And then, since I had a good background in keyboard, I picked up the guitar,” he said.

The 50-something artist can play the mandolin, the guitar and the saxophone as well as the piano.

As life does, the need to support his growing family with wife Vicki and two sons Uly and Yancy motivated Wright to remain full time in the business world. Wright served as a vice president and loan officer of the Stock Exchange Bank of Woodward until his retirement in 2004.

“I was fortunate to be able to retire a little early and devote more time to my music,” Wright said.

Since then, he has been somewhat of a regular at Wagg’s Bar-B-Q on Wednesday nights-sometimes with his keyboard but most times playing acoustical guitar and singing.

He has also been a apart of a prominent Oklahoma event in Okemah called the Woody Guthrie Festival where he and fellow guitarist Terry Ware have played as the “house band” for many performers who entertain there.

While Wright has enjoyed his retirement, he has also yearned, he said, to return to working for the Woodward community.

Of his recent appointment, Wright said it is a little like an awakening.

“I see it as an opportunity to reconnect with Woodward again in that way that you do when you are going to work every day,” he said.

His goals for the theater are vast and well organized in his mind.

They include a more robust youth program to better integrate the arts and the youth communities as well as extending the current visual arts programs.

Promotions to raise awareness and funds that will allow the council to reach out to the community are also on his list of short-term and long-term goals.

“Ultimately, I think this is a chance to seek new opportunities for the arts in a way that will increase local participation,” Wright said.