Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Art Spark Texas!

We want to welcome our newest member of the team, Development Associate Gina Panza Woodruff. Gina comes with 20+ years of technical marketing experience and an interest in corporate social responsibility. As an artist, writer, Creativity Coach, certified ZenTangle teacher, and mother of three, she brings a passion for the arts, education, and entrepreneurship.

It’s been a busy but amazing year at Art Spark Texas! When you support access to the arts for everyone you acknowledge the importance of creativity in achieving dreams.

We want to send a big THANK YOU to all our donors, artists, dancers, speakers, parents, volunteers, and board members for all that you bring to our Art Spark Texas community. Each and every one of you helped us inspire, entertain, and enhance the artistic; and entrepreneurial skills of so many people in Austin and across the state.

From the beginning, our most dependable and consistent funding dollars have been from individuals. Yes–that means your gift of $25, $250, or $2,500 is what has enabled Art Spark Texas to keep making the arts – all the arts–universally accessible and available to everyone! Donate Today.

As the year comes to an end, we wanted to share some of the activities that helped bring inclusive arts to thousands of people with and without disabilities throughout 2018.

Creative Adults Programming

Body Shift performed at the Austin Dance Festival and at the 10th annual Texas Dance Improvisation Festival hosted by Texas Womens University.

Artworks – Our first Haven Allen Artist of the Year Award recipient, Joan Fabian, has been a long time artist with Art Spark Texas. The Haven Allen Awards are named in memory of former Art Spark Texas Board Member Forrest Haven Street-Allen. In generous Art Spark Texas fashion, we couldn’t just give one award! We also gave the Spark Award to fused glass artist Jordana Gerlach and the Director’s Commendation Award to Jackson Sutton.

Veterans – We published our 3rd annual Reintegration Project publication of short stories and poems by Veteran writers, and presented the Distinguished Artist Veterans Exhibit at the Cultural Activity Center in Temple, Texas.

OMOD – Art Spark Texas panel presentation at the Houston Arts Partners Conference, Encouraging Artistic Entrepreneurship: How Artists with Disabilities Navigate Today’s Gig Economy featured artists Wes Holloway, Grant Manier, Alisha Momin (a participant of our OMOD program), and Megan Fry.

Seniors – Two exhibitions by artists over the age of 55 at UT Austin’s Bass Concert Hall and the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport included juried work by Texas seniors, as well as work by older adults participating in the Living Well Connections program at Austin residential communities.

Creative Youth Programming

Side by Side – Giving Voice hosted our 3rd partnership with AIGA Austin matching graphic design mentors for young adults with disabilities to create Social Awareness Posters, which will be on exhibit at Imagine Art from December 5-13, 2018.

New Media Arts helped students in Manor and Austin create digital resumes, exercise team building through drumming, and develop stop motion animation skills and basic filmmaking techniques.

Festivals – Art in the Park celebrated its 26th year, with over 1,000 children and young adults having fun at Fiesta Gardens in Austin. Art in the Gardens, a partnership with Moody Gardens, hosted students from the Galveston area at this annual festival for kids of all ages.

And…

Audio Description – We launched a partnership with CaptionSync and now are providing audio description for online and educational content.

ATXGo is our online resource for accessibility information for the many ATX festivals and other events.

We are closing 2018 by celebrating our 10th Annual Holiday Art Show and Gift Store.

This year we are featuring 40+ unique Texas artists from around the state. Through the Holiday Art Show and other events we provide opportunities for artists to feature their work and enable career success. Follow us on Instagram (@VSATexas) to see our featured Artist of the Day. 

If you supported us in 2018–thank you, thank you! If you have not yet, you still have time! All donations made by December 31 will be tax-deductible. You may fulfill your gift securely online here.

Happy Holidays and wishing you and your loved ones a Happy 2019!

Much love,
Celia, April, Eric, Lynn, and Gina