The fine arts have played a constant part in Carolyn Holloway’s life. As a teenager, she helped with costume design at a children’s theater in Raleigh, North Carolina. After graduating from high school, she worked for an outdoor theater in Cherokee, North Carolina, where she met and later married Graham Holloway. When the couple moved to Dallas, she got involved with Junior Players and the Dallas Children’s Theater; after arriving in Georgetown, she helped bring a children’s program to the Palace Theatre.

Today, as co-founder of the Holloway Family Foundation, she supports the fine arts through philanthropic gifts. She also established the Graham and Carolyn Holloway Family Endowment for the Fine Arts at Southwestern, which supports high-impact experiences for students majoring in the fine arts.

“I’ve always felt that the arts give young people, especially children, an outlet,” Holloway says. “I want the young people at Southwestern to have every opportunity for the arts to be part of their wonderful education.”

In 2024, the endowment supported Audrey Thimesch ’27 as she completed a summer internship at the Pocket Sandwich Theatre in Carrollton, Texas. Thimesch learned the ins and outs of running a theater, from working the box office to managing employees, and helped with the theater’s summer camp.

“This opportunity was such a blessing,” Thimesch says. “All work experience is good, but I was looking for something that would give me a competitive edge in the theater world. I was able to continue learning about theater without having to worry about finding a job to support myself.”