Texas Commission on the Arts Awards $11.6 Million in Grants Across Texas

The Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA) has approved over 900 grants totaling $11.6 million in its first funding round for the 2023 fiscal year. The grants will go to nonprofit organizations and government agencies in 120 Texas cities.

These grants are part of the array of annual TCA granting programs, including Arts Create, the Cultural District Project, the first rounds of the Arts Respond Project, the quarterly Arts Respond Performance Support, and the quarterly Commission Initiatives and Designated Funding program. 

Arts Create grants, which provide operational support to Texas arts organizations with budgets over $50,000, make up $3.6 million of the total granting amount and will be allocated to 467 organizations in 84 cities. Arts Create grantees include large museums such as the Dallas Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as well as arts councils, galleries, and performing arts centers. Glasstire is also a recipient of this year’s Arts Create program.

Arts Respond Cultural District Project grants, which provide support to arts-based projects that aim to diversify local economies, generate revenue, and attract visitors, make up $4.9 million of the total grants and will be awarded to 84 applicants from 30 different cultural districts in 22 cities. Cultural District Project grants recipients include arts councils, festival organizations, performing arts organizations, museums, galleries, and more.

Arts Respond Project grants fund projects that address economic development, education, health and human services, natural resources and agriculture, or public safety and criminal justice. The first round of these grants total over $700,000 and will support 273 arts organizations in 59 cities.

Arts Respond Performance Support grants are awarded in connection with the Texas Touring Roster, a list of pre-approved visual, literary, and performing artists that organizations can book for performances and workshops, and provide partial support for applicants to host artists that are on the roster. In the first quarter of 2023, 116 grants totaling over $200,000 will be awarded to 81 organizations in 54 cities. 

Additionally, $2.1 million has been designated for a new performing arts center in Flower Mound, a small town north of Dallas and Fort Worth, and funds received from the National Endowment for the Arts will be distributed to the Poetry Out Loud state-wide high school competition ($20,000) and the Texas Folk Life apprenticeship program ($35,000).

In a press release announcing the grants, Gary Gibbs, executive director of TCA, stated, “We are honored and humbled to provide these grants to help sustain the Texas arts industry, which has been economically devastated by COVID-19…The arts have brought much comfort and means of expression to people across our state. However, it is important to note that most organizations and artists are not making the money they were before the pandemic.”