State Artist Nominations Are OpenBecause you signed up for news specifically about the Texas State Artist process, TCA is sharing this with you first!
On behalf of the Texas State Legislature, the Texas Commission on the Arts is now accepting nominations for the 2023 and 2024 Texas State Artists. Nominations are accepted for Texas State Musician, Texas Poet Laureate, Texas State Two-Dimensional Artist (visual arts), and Texas State Three-Dimensional Artist (visual arts). Any Texas citizen is able to nominate a living artist in any of the four categories and self-nominations are welcome. Nominees must be native Texans or have resided in the state for at least five years. They must have attained the highest levels of excellence and success in their respective disciplines and earned a statewide, regional or national reputation for their high caliber work.
Nominations will be accepted online through October 15, 2022. The Texas Poet Laureate, State Musician and State Artist Committee, composed of members appointed by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, will make the final selections for the Legislature’s consideration and approval in 2023. The positions, created by SB 1043 of the 77th Legislature, are filled for one-year terms. The eight appointees for 2021 and 2022 were selected for the exceptional quality of their work and for their outstanding commitment to the arts in Texas. Each Texas State Artist reflects the state’s diversity and high-quality artistic offerings. The 2021 appointees are Texas Poet Laureate Cyrus Cassells of Austin, Texas State Musician Leon Bridges of Fort Worth, Texas State Two-Dimensional Artist Annette Lawrence of Denton, and Texas State Three-Dimensional Artist Jennifer Ling Datchuk of San Antonio. The 2022 appointees are Texas Poet Laureate Lupe Mendez of Houston, Texas State Musician Eva Ybarra of San Antonio, Texas State Two-Dimensional Artist Celia Álvarez Muñoz of Arlington, and Texas State Three-Dimensional Artist Jesse Lott of Houston. To learn more about the Texas State Artists nomination process, and to submit nominations, visit http://www.arts.texas.gov/initiatives/texas-state-artist/.
Leon Bridges photo courtesy Mick Management; Cyrus Cassells photo: Rachel Eliza Griffiths; Annette Lawrence photo: Christopher Blay; Jennifer Ling Datchuk photo: Clint Datchuk; Eva Ybarra photo courtesy of Eva Ybarra; Lupe Mendez photo courtesy of Lupe Mendez; Celia Álvarez Muñoz photo courtesy of Celia Álvarez Muñoz; Jesse Lott photo courtesy of Deborah Colton Gallery.
