Texas Cultural Trust (TCT) announced that honoree nominations for the eleventh biennial Texas Medal of Arts Awards (TMAA) are due by September 30, 2020. The 2021 TMAA will reflect and look ahead to the role the arts play in our lives and our communities, while celebrating the creative excellence, exemplary talents, and outstanding contributions by Texans in selected categories.

The signature event is scheduled for October 18-19, 2021, at various venues across Austin, and will be chaired by Texas Cultural Trust 2019 TMAA Honoree and Texas native Brandon Maxwell, TCT Immediate Past Board of Directors Chair Linda LaMantia, and TCT Board of Directors Executive Committee Member Judy Robison. Maxwell, who is the Awards’ youngest recipient, is the first to be recognized for fashion design. He launched his eponymous ready-to-wear label in 2015 in New York City and has since gone on to create awarded collections and custom creations. Many iconic women have worn his label including Michelle Obama, Meghan Markle, Oprah, Blake Lively, Jane Fonda, Queen Rania of Jordan, Lady Gaga, and Lynn Wyatt. LaMantia, from Laredo, Texas, joined the Texas Cultural Trust board in 2009, and with her family, has supported arts and education for decades. Robison, former chair and board member of the Trust since 2008, from El Paso, has been a lifetime supporter of the arts and culture with extensive experience working in education and arts advocacy.

"I was honored to be a Texas Medal of Arts Award recipient last year and knew I wanted a greater role for the 2021 event,” said Maxwell. “I take pride in helping determine the new class of honorees from our great state who will be joining us in February. These honorees, and the arts as a whole, provide an important role to the healing of our communities, and it is a privilege to be in their company."

Since 2001, TCT has presented 117 medals to Texas leaders and luminaries who have achieved excellence through their creative talents, as well as those whose generosity has opened doors to artistic opportunity for Texans of all ages. Culminating in a star-studded celebration, the TMAA raises substantial financial support, visibility, and awareness about the power of the arts to enrich a child's education and enhance our state's economy and cultural heritage.

“There has never been a more important time to celebrate art and culture, as they have been instrumental in healing hearts, nations, and Texas,” said Texas Cultural Trust Executive Director Heidi Marquez Smith. “The Texas Medal of Arts Awards provides an opportunity to recognize the creativity and generosity of those who have helped to lift our spirits, inspire us, and who will help us move forward.”

Nominees are considered from the following categories: architecture, arts education, arts patron (individual and corporate), dance, design, film, lifetime achievement, fashion design, literary arts, media/multimedia, music (performance and songwriter), television, theatre arts, and visual arts.

The TCT is proud to honor distinguished Texas artists and persons or organizations that have encouraged the advancement of the arts in Texas, whether through personal achievement or unfailing support. The Awards have celebrated various influential and talented honorees, including Matthew McConaughey, Jamie Foxx, Eva Longoria, ZZ Top, Willie Nelson, Boz Scaggs, Dan Rather, Neiman Marcus, H-E-B, Margaret McDermott, Barbara Smith Conrad, Tommy Lee Jones, Bob Schieffer, Debbie Allen, Robert Rodriguez, James Surls, Walter Cronkite, Eloise and John Paul DeJoria, Tommy Tune, Lawrence Wright, Lake Flato Architects, The Nasher Foundation, Sandra Cisneros, Robert Rauschenberg, Clint Black, Anheuser Busch Companies, Lyle Lovett, Texas Monthly, Robert Edsel, AT&T, and Exxon Mobil, among others.

The 2021 Texas Medal of Arts Award Honoree nomination form and guidelines can be found at https://txculturaltrust.org/what-we-do/texas-medal-of-arts-awards/.