Joining the AT&T Performing Arts Center Auxiliary Board
We are delighted to share that Mike Yates, Managing Director and co-founder of Yates Desygn, has been selected to join the AT&T Performing Arts Center Auxiliary Board.
The appointment gives Mike an opportunity to contribute to an organization that plays an important role in the cultural life of Dallas, supporting the performing arts and helping connect audiences across the city with extraordinary creative experiences. For Mike, it also brings together two worlds that have shaped much of his personal and professional life: the arts and the city he calls home.
His selection is particularly meaningful because the performing arts have been a defining thread throughout his life. Long before his work as a business owner and Managing Director of Yates Desygn, Mike pursued his passion for performance through formal education, earning degrees in dance and performance design.
His professional background includes work in performance and production, including lighting design for dance. Those experiences gave Mike an appreciation not only for what audiences see onstage, but for everything required behind the scenes to bring a creative vision to life. Performance is inherently collaborative, bringing together people with different disciplines and areas of expertise around a shared idea.
That belief in the value of collaboration has stayed with him throughout his career, whether the goal is creating a performance or bringing a dream home to life.
A Lifelong Connection to the Arts
That foundation continues to influence Mike’s work today. Dance, theater, lighting, interiors, and architecture may be different disciplines, but each relies on many of the same principles: composition, movement, proportion, storytelling, collaboration, and an understanding of how people experience space.
At Yates Desygn, Mike brings that creative foundation to his role overseeing the firm’s strategic growth and operations. Since the firm’s founding in 2016, Mike and Bryan Yates have built Yates Desygn around a shared passion for style, design, creativity, and meaningful relationships. Today, the Dallas-based studio is recognized for creating interiors that balance timeless elegance with modern, livable luxury.
Giving Back to the Creative Community
Joining the Auxiliary Board also provides Mike with an opportunity to support the artistic community that has influenced so much of his own life.Arts do more than entertain. They introduce new ideas, create shared experiences, encourage curiosity, and help cities develop identities that are distinctly their own. In Dallas, the AT&T Performing Arts Center has become an essential part of that cultural ecosystem, providing spaces where established organizations can thrive, emerging artists can find audiences, and young people can discover their own connection to creativity.
Photography by Jay Simon | Ten Ten Creative
Photography by Jay Simon | Ten Ten Creative
For Mike, supporting that work is a natural extension of both his personal history and the values that guide Yates Desygn. As Dallas continues to grow, so does the importance of cultivating a vibrant cultural community alongside its economic and physical development. Through his service on the Auxiliary Board, Mike looks forward to advocating for the arts, supporting the Center’s mission, and helping ensure that future generations have opportunities to experience the transformative power of live performance.
Congratulations, Mike, on this exciting and well-deserved appointment. We are so proud of you!