A special gift was made to the Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Center Friday to rename the art education program the Tony Scott ArtBridges Education Program in Scott’s memory.

When there’s a story behind a gift, that makes it even more special.

There was a story behind the $10,000 gift from the Tony Scott family and friends and the telling of it gave the gift greater significance.

Tony Scott was head of the Sikorsky Troy Operations and a dedicated community servant. He loved Troy and his family wanted to give something back to the community that had meant so much to him.

Eric Scott said that he and his brothers approached their mom, Nancy Scott, on December 20 with the idea of making a donation to the Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Center in memory of their dad.

“On Christmas Day, we decided to make it happen,” Eric Scott said. “And, now, for us to be able to make this presentation on Father’s Day weekend makes it very special to us. It is very meaningful for us to be able to do something wonderful for Dad for the many wonderful things that he did for Troy.”

Morgan Drinkard, interim director of the Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Center, expressed appreciation to the Scott family for the generous gift.

“This gift allows us to ensure the quality of our program and that it can continue to improve while increasing the number of people enriched by art education in our community,” Drinkard said. “ArtBridges offers an annual summer teacher workshop where teachers learn to integrate art concepts into their classroom studies. Their students then visit the Johnson Center for the Arts where those concepts have been put into practice by professional artists. In the past year, the ArtBridges program reached more than 3,000 participants including teachers, students, docents, parents and community leaders.”

Tony Scott was a strong supporter of education and of the arts. Brent Scott said that he is sure that his father would be honored and pleased to have his name associated with such an innovative program that has long and lasting benefits.

Brent Scott said that, when faced with important life decisions, he and his family always ask themselves, “What would Tony Scott do?” and the answer comes easily.

So, lending support to the Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Center’s ArtBridges program was an easy decision for the Scott family.

“We are delighted to be able to provide this gift to the ArtBridges Education Program in honor of our father,” Eric Scott said. This is a program that we believe our dad would have supported wholeheartedly.”