Pre-existing Cultural Districts to Receive State Designation

The Grace Museum in Abilene, TX

When TCA announced the seven communities selected to receive the state’s official Cultural District Designation, we realized that five well-know cultural districts already existed in Texas. These districts are in Abilene, Fort Worth, Dallas and Houston. There are actually two cultural districts in Houston, the Theater District and the Museum District.

These five cultural districts have been successfully operating in their respective communities for many years and serve as outstanding examples of how the arts contribute to a community’s character and economic success.

Houston Museum District Logo

During its quarterly Commission meeting in Boerne during the first week of December, the TCA board voted to invite these five pre-existing districts to join the TCA Designated Cultural Districts through a special Commission Initiative. It will all become official at TCA’s next quarterly meeting to be held in Austin on March 4, 2010.

That will bring the total number of state designated Cultural Districts in Texas to twelve. However, TCA anticipates receiving numerous Letters of Intent by the January 30, 2010 deadline from both rural and urban communities seeking the official designation.

Meanwhile, kick off events have been held in six of the seven Cultural Districts designated by TCA last September. The seventh event had to be postponed because of inclement weather in McAllen. Believe it or not, it actually snowed there!