Numerous programs across the state receive funding to support arts education for children
AUSTIN, Texas, June 12, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Texas Women for the Arts (TWA), a statewide giving circle and membership program of the Texas Cultural Trust (TXCT), announced the 2023-2024 TWA Grant recipients today. This year, TWA awarded $319,169 in grants to champion arts access and education for children across Texas.
Texas Women for the Arts is composed of over 220 arts philanthropists, leaders, and changemakers who raise funds with the goal of increasing access to the arts and arts education for all Texas children. Each year, TWA members select which arts organizations their private dollars support. Since its inception in 2005, this philanthropic force of influential women has awarded 403 grants to arts initiatives across the state, totaling over $4.3 million and impacting nearly 3.7 million children in Texas.
"These grants provide impactful support for the arts in Texas, ensuring that children have access to the arts and quality arts education regardless of potential barriers," says Heidi Marquez Smith, CEO of the Texas Cultural Trust. "We congratulate this year's grantees and thank our TWA members for their unwavering and invaluable support in nurturing the next generation of Texans."
Linda LaMantia, 2024 Texas Women for the Arts Chair, acknowledges the pivotal role the arts play in children's lives: "Bringing the arts to children across our state is so important; the Trust's research has shown that involvement in the arts increases test scores, school attendance, graduation rates, and improves mental health and healing."
TWA's grant funding supports community organizations, museums, after-school programs, summer camps, and more, providing programming for Texas children involved in music, visual arts, performing arts, dance, creative writing, and other artistic disciplines. Grants are awarded on an annual basis in the spring, and the 2024-2025 application cycle will open on October 1st, 2024.
The 2024 Texas Women for the Arts Grantees:
- ALMAAHH, Advocates of a Latino Museum of Cultural and Visual Arts & Archive Complex, Houston
- Anderson Center for the Arts (formerly known as Harris County Cultural Arts Council), Houston
- Anthropos Arts, Austin
- Austin Opera, Austin
- Austin Theatre Alliance, Austin
- Bexar County Performing Arts Center, DBA Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, San Antonio
- Bishop Arts Theatre Center, Dallas
- Boys & Girls Club of McAllen, Inc, McAllen
- Center for Women & Their Work, Austin
- Corpus Christi Symphony Society, Corpus Christi
- East Lubbock Art House, Lubbock
- East Texas Symphony Orchestra, Tyler
- Ellen Noel Art Museum of the Permian Basin, Odessa
- Harbor Playhouse Company, Corpus Christi
- IEA - Inspire, Encourage, Achieve, Beaumont
- Kaleidoscope Youth Development Services, DBA Rhodes School for the Performing Arts, Houston
- Lubbock Community Theatre, Lubbock
- Swan Strings, Dallas
- Texas Commission on the Arts, Statewide
- Texas Cultural Trust, Statewide
- Thank You Darlin' Foundation, Fort Worth
- The Contemporary Austin, Austin
- Moody Foundation, Austin
- The Opera Co., DBA El Paso Opera, El Paso
- The Periwinkle Foundation, Houston
- Tom Lea Institute, El Paso
- Young Audiences of Northeast Texas, Tyler
- Youth Orchestras of San Antonio, San Antonio
The 2024 Texas Women for the Arts Executive Committee:
- Linda LaMantia, Chair, Laredo
- Isha Rogers Santamaria, Vice-Chair, El Paso
- Leslie Blanton, Immediate Past-Chair, Houston
- Eliza Duncan, Membership Co-Chair, Houston
- Nina Seely, Membership Co-Chair, Austin
- Muffin Lemak, Membership Vice Co-Chair, Dallas
- Ana Montoya, Membership Vice Co-Chair, San Antonio
- Karen Foster, Nominating Chair, El Paso
- Leslie Ward, Nominating Vice-Chair, Austin
- Michelle Bonton, Grants Chair, Houston
- Lisa Ivie Miller, Grants Vice-Chair, Austin
- Lawton Cummings, Governance Chair, Austin
- Nancy Murray, Governance Vice-Chair, Longview
- Elia del Carmen Mares, Legacy Chair, El Paso
- Jan McKee, Legacy Vice-Chair, Fort Worth
- Natasa Valocchi, Travel Chair, New York
- Marielle Lamy Quaid, Travel Vice-Chair, Austin
- Lawton Cummings, Jessica Karlsruher, Laura M. Matz, Janna Paulson, Marielle Lamy Quaid, and Leslie Ward, 2024 Annual Meeting Chairs
To join Texas Women for the Arts, or to learn more about the program and the Texas Cultural Trust, visit txculturaltrust.org.
About Texas Cultural Trust
Texas Cultural Trust is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and increasing access and awareness for the arts across the state. Programs of the Texas Cultural Trust include the Texas Medal of Arts Awards, Art Can, Texas Young Masters, Texas Women for the Arts, Partners in the Arts, and Arts Access. Texas Cultural Trust efforts are amplified by its partners who are instrumental in the success of leading a cohesive voice for the arts in education, advocacy, and economic impact in Texas, spotlighting the artistic excellence of our state. For more information on the Texas Cultural Trust, please visit www.txculturaltrust.org.
About Texas Women for the Arts
Texas Women for the Arts (TWA) is a statewide giving circle and membership program with more than 200 members from across Texas. Since its inception in 2005, this philanthropic force and champion for the arts in education has awarded 403 grants totaling over $4.3 million to arts organizations, impacting the lives of more than 3.7 million Texas children. For more information, or to join, visit https://txculturaltrust.org/twa/.
Media Contact
APC Collective, Texas Cultural Trust, 1 8175211516, [email protected]
SOURCE Texas Cultural Trust
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