MIDLAND, MI / FEB 11, 2026 – For Anita Louise Horne Jenkins, the arts were essential to both the individual and the community. A way for people to expand their universe and feel connected and a sense of belonging. That belief shaped her philanthropy at Midland Center for the Arts, including the support she and her husband, Jim, provided to bring our region’s premiere of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to Midland Center in 2024. It was a milestone for our region, and a moment Anita cared deeply about: world-class artistry, cultural celebration, and community all in one night.

“Anita was always thinking about who else should be in the room,” said Matt Travis, President & CEO of Midland Center for the Arts. “She challenged us to expand access, bringing students and young people into these experiences she saw as valuable. She believed exposure matters, and that our community is stronger when we share what’s possible.”

Travis recalls one moment that captured Anita’s spirit. At lunch with a group of students she had graciously sponsored to attend Alvin Ailey, the students, no more than 11 or 12 years old, came to her one by one to say thank you. Anita took time with each of them, asked questions, and made sure they felt seen. Before they left, she offered a line Matt says he’ll never forget: “Remember, the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is just a little extra.”

To reflect on Anita’s broader impact, we spoke with Wanda Stringfield and Dr. Nikita Murry, who worked alongside her for years through the Midland Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Both described Anita as a supporter who didn’t just love the Center; she believed in what it could do for people, especially young people who deserved opportunities they might not otherwise have.

“She believed in arts and learning about not only Black culture, but everybody else’s culture,” Stringfield said. “It was important to her that people from all walks of life had access to cultural opportunities.”

The same values guided her life beyond the Center, too. Both Stringfield and Murry described Anita as someone who invested in everyone she encountered with equal parts warmth and high expectations. “She helped to sharpen all of us as critical thinkers,” shared Murry. “She would guide us in thinking about things practically and critically about the impact we wanted to have, both in the immediate and in the long term.”

“To whom much is given, much is expected,” Stringfield recalled from Anita. “If you’re doing well, it’s your responsibility to lift others as you climb.”

And she did that lifting in practical, personal ways: following up with books and articles, asking the questions that sharpened your thinking, and giving generously - sometimes quietly, and sometimes with a nudge to do more.

In the end, Anita’s legacy at Midland Center lives on in the moments she helped make possible: performances that broaden horizons, experiences that reflect more of our community, and opportunities for young people to see themselves in the arts. Her impact wasn’t just a gift to the Center; it was a gift to the region she chose as her home.

After their daughter Andrea passed away in 2017, Anita and Jim established The Dr Andrea Louise Jenkins Endowed Fund for Cultural Enrichment at Midland Center for the Arts, which is one of the contributors to the Windows on Our World series and supports cultural experiences that broaden horizons and bring our community together.