AT&T Sponsors U.S. College Tour by Gee's Bend Quilters

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As part of an ongoing effort to help preserve African-American culture and support the African-American community, AT&T Inc. has announced a sponsorship of a multicity college tour featuring music and folklore presented by the Gee's Bend Quilters Collective. AT&T has pledged to actively assist in increasing public awareness of this unique nonprofit cultural organization.

"The quiltmakers of Gee's Bend have been recognized by such organizations as New York's Whitney Museum and the Houston Museum of Modern Art, and AT&T wants to help deliver the group's inspirational story and ensure its preservation," said Tracy Brown, AT&T associate director for Multicultural Affairs.

Quilts made by the Gee's Bend Quilters Collective are currently featured in AT&T broadband marketing that was introduced earlier this summer -- including television, print, direct mail and Internet ads. The marketing creative not only portrays African-Americans in positive roles but speaks to one of the fastest-growing populations now online. According to the "2007 Profiles of the U.S. Internet User" report by Research and Markets, an independent market research resource group, 80 percent of African-Americans have Internet service, and African-Americans spend 72 percent more time online than the general population. Although the ad campaign runs through the end of this month, the Gee's Bend Quilters Collective will be on tour through this fall and will appear at various universities, including Winston-Salem University in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Prairie View A&M University in Houston.

The free tour stops will be open to the public and will include performances by the Gee's Bend Quilters Collective. At each event, a group will entertain audiences with songs, spoken-word poetry and storytelling. Scheduled performers include Mary Lee Bendolph, Revil Mosely, China Pettway, Mary Ann Pettway and Florine Smith. For a complete list of tour stops, visit http://www.att.com/quilts.

"I always enjoy interacting with the public, but I really like visiting schools," said Gee's Bend quilter Mary Lee Bendolph. "The crowds tend to be all ages, but I especially love spending time with this next generation. They're our future and need our nurturing."

In addition to hosting these school events, AT&T is offering free downloads of exclusive quilt images, for a limited time, at http://www.att.com/quilts. Viewers can use the quilt images as wallpaper screen savers on their computers.

"High speed access has become an essential part of our lives and serves as the vehicle to help consumers "pull their life plan together," as the ads suggest," said Brown. "We wanted to make downloads of these beautiful quilts available to create a deeper and lasting relationship between the Gee's Bend Quilters Collective and the public."

AT&T's long heritage of serving the African-American community stems from the company's commitment to diversity at every level. The relationship with the Gee's Bend Quilters Collective is just the most recent commitment to celebrate and preserve African-American culture. The company also invests in cultural events, such as San Antonio's Beyond the Dream celebration to commemorate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Additionally, AT&T's activity has been recognized, with more than 20 notable diversity awards in 2006 and several distinctions this year, including being named 2007 Corporation of the Year by 100 Black Men magazine and being ranked No. 1 among DiversityInc magazine's Top 10 Companies for African Americans.

The Gee's Bend Quilters Collective is a group of more than 50 women who live near the rural communities of Rehoboth and Boykin, Ala. They developed a distinct, bold, sophisticated quilting style that has been passed down through six generations. The quilts of Gee's Bend are now internationally renowned. The New York Times has pronounced the quilts as "[among] the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced."

To view the AT&T Quilts marketing creative or to learn more information about the AT&T Quilters of Gee's Bend College Tour, visit http://www.att.com/quilts.

Note: This AT&T release and other news announcements are available as part of an RSS feed at http://www.att.com/rss.

About The Quiltmakers of Gee's Bend

Gee's Bend is a small rural community nestled into a curve in the Alabama River southwest of Selma, Alabama. Founded in antebellum times on the site of cotton plantations owned by Joseph Gee, the town's women developed a distinctive, bold, and sophisticated quilting style based on traditional American (and African American) quilts, but with a geometric simplicity reminiscent of Amish quilts and modern art. The women of Gee's Bend passed their skills and aesthetic down through at least six generations to the present and in 2002, an exhibition of seventy quilt masterpieces from the Bend was shown at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. Since then, the "Quilts of Gee's Bend" exhibition has appeared at several venues including the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Newsweek, NPR, CBS News Sunday Morning, House and Garden, and Oprah's O magazine are just a few of the hundreds of print and broadcast media organizations that have celebrated the quilts and history of this unique town. Art critics worldwide have compared the quilts to the works of important artists such as Henri Matisse and The New York Times called the quilts "some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced. For more information, visit http://www.quiltsofgeesbend.com/.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world's most advanced IP-based business communications services and the nation's leading wireless, high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of its three-screen integration strategy, AT&T is expanding its TV entertainment offerings. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com/.

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