CULTURE & THE ARTS

Articles on ethnic groups in Texas:

Robert Plocheck

The set in Brackettville for John Wayne’s movie The Alamo.

• Texas Makes Movies

Texas has been calling itself the Third Coast of filmmaking – third after the West Coast and the East Coast – since about 1978. That boast, which is challenged by Illinois and Florida, was given credibility at the 1984 Academy Awards ceremony, where films made wholly or partially in Texas captured seven of the top eight Oscars. Movie-making is clearly coming of age as an industry in Texas. . . . (for more, click).

• Texas Music: Its Roots, Its Evolution

Among the glories of Texas is its music, which is as diverse and vital as the state and its people. Woven into the musical fabric are country, blues, jazz, spirituals, gospel, rock ‘n’ roll, Tex-Mex, Cajun and the music of Czechs, Germans and other European immigrants. . . . (for more, click).

(from the Texas Almanac 2008–2009)

Texas Medals of the Arts

The Texas Medals of the Arts were presented to artists and arts patrons with Texas ties in April 2007.

The awards are administered by the Texas Cultural Trust Council. The council was established to raise money and awareness for the Texas Cultural Trust Fund, which was created by the Legislature in 1993 to support cultural arts in Texas (www.txculturaltrust.org).

The medals, awarded every two years, were first presented in 2001. A concurrent proclamation by the state Senate and House of Representatives honors the recipients, and the governor presents the awards in Austin.

The 2007 recipients were:

• A Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to broadcast newsman Walter Cronkite of Houston. He was inducted into the national Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in 1985.

• Music: Ornette Coleman of Fort Worth, jazz saxophonist.

• Dance: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater . The late Alvin Ailey, born in Rogers, was a creator of African American dance works.

• Literary: Sandra Brown of Waco. Ms. Brown, raised in Fort Worth, is the author of more than 50 New York Times best sellers.

• Visual arts: Jesús Moroles of Corpus Christi/Rockport, internationally known sculptor.

• Theater arts: Judith Ivey of El Paso. Tony Award winner, also in TV series Designing Women.

• Multimedia: Bill Wittliff of Taft and Austin, publisher, writer, photographer, director, producer.

• Arts education: Paul Baker of Hereford/Waelder. Headed drama departments at Baylor and Trinity universities.

• Individual arts patron: Diana and Bill Hobby of Houston.

• Corporate arts patron: Neiman Marcus, Dallas.

• Foundation arts patron: Sid W. Richardson Foundation of Fort Worth.

Previous winners of the Texas Medal of the Arts, click here.

In the Texas Almanac 2008-2009

• Activities of the film industry in Texas.

• Web addresses for Texas museums and art groups.

• List of Texas poets laureate, official state artists and state musicians.

• Honorees of the Texas Institute of Letters.

• A history of Cajuns in Texas.