FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TEXAS COMMISSION ON THE ARTS APPROVES 2020-2022 TEXAS TOURING ROSTER Austin, TX – June 11, 2020 – The Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA) is pleased to announce that 143 Texas artists and arts companies have been approved to the Texas Touring Roster for 2020- 2022. The Texas Touring Roster features some of the state’s best artistic talent and is designed to ensure that all Texans may enjoy events and performances by these artists in their local communities.
“Artists on the Texas Touring Roster travel to communities across the state and perform in a variety of venues,” said TCA executive director Gary Gibbs. “In addition to performances, they may also conduct workshops, master classes, residencies, lecture-demonstrations or arts education components as a way to engage community residents. We are proud to offer the citizens of Texas access to such high-quality artistic talent.” During pandemic-related social distancing, TCA is allowing presenters to hire artists for live-streamed performances, workshops, and other services they offer through the roster.
Artists on the roster must have a history of touring and maintain a reasonable fee range. The Texas Commission on the Arts does not provide direct funds to the artists on the Texas Touring Roster. Instead, TCA provides grants to arts presenters, schools, libraries, theaters, and other nonprofits and government units throughout Texas to help with the cost of bringing in companies and artists from the roster. Presenters may apply through TCA’s Arts Respond Performance Support grant category for a portion of the artistic fees for artists from the Texas Touring Roster.
Acceptance onto the Texas Touring Roster is for two years, and benefits groups and artists by giving them a powerful marketing tool. Access to grant funds, combined with the fact that Texas Touring Roster artists have been deemed the best in their field by a panel of statewide experts, makes these artists attractive to a variety of presenters, including schools, festivals, theaters and other venues. Artists on the Texas Touring Roster range from individual performing and visual artists to large performing arts companies. They represent artistic disciplines including music, visual art, dance, theater, storytelling, literary art and folk art. Options are diverse and range from ballet to African dance, western swing to conjunto, muralism to poetry, jazz to children’s theater, piano to puppetry, and everything in between. The complete Texas Touring Roster, as well as information on the Arts Respond Performance Support grant category, is available online at www.arts.texas.gov.
About the Texas Commission on the Arts The mission of the Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA) is to advance our state economically and culturally by investing in a creative Texas. TCA supports a diverse and innovative arts community in Texas, throughout the nation, and internationally, by providing resources to enhance economic development, arts education, cultural tourism and artist sustainability initiatives. For more information on TCA and its programs, please visit www.arts.texas.gov.