TCA will be officially designating the Govalle Cultural District this month. Read more about this new Austin cultural district below! Photo by Olivia Vale.

TCA is accepting applications for the 2026-2028 Texas Touring Roster. The application deadline is February 2, 2026.

The program is designed to ensure that all Texans have the ability to enjoy work done by outstanding Texas-based companies and artists in their own communities. Artists from throughout the state apply to be included on the Texas Touring Roster. Touring artists offer performances as well as optional services that may include workshops, master classes, lecture-demonstrations, arts education components, residencies, or short performances. These artists must have a history of touring and must be willing to travel outside of their community to do a performance or other work. They are also required to maintain a reasonable fee range. Evaluators with expertise in touring arts evaluate applications to this highly competitive program.

TCA has prepared a wealth of application resources, all linked in the program guidelines. We recommend that potential applicants review all these resources. TCA staff will also be offering live online Q&A sessions. The next session will be held on Thursday, November 20 at 11 AM Central. Registration is required, and can be done here.

On October 15, TCA held Tourism as Economic Development with Travel Texas as part of our Speaker Series. The Speaker Series provides professional development opportunities through presentations and conversations from experienced professionals across the state. We want to thank Spencer Zamora of the Office of the Governor, Economic Development & Tourism/Travel Texas for her discussion on how to integrate tourism into organization and community economic development plans, and better identify, define, and attract new audiences to events. If you weren’t able to join us for the live event, a video is available here.

TCA selected this topic using feedback from constituents, and we expect that future convenings in this series will address other needs expressed by members of the Texas arts field.

On that note, for our last Speaker Series installments of the year, TCA will be holding online listening sessions. The free listening sessions will be conducted virtually and are an opportunity for TCA to learn more about you and your recent successes, challenges, and needs. Through your participation, you can help TCA assess the needs of our field, and guide the next year's slate of TCA Speaker Series events. TCA is holding three sessions.

Each session will follow the same agenda, and will be held on:

Thursday, November 13 at 10 AM – 11:30 AM Central (register here).

Friday, November 14 at 10 AM – 11:30 AM Central (register here).

Monday, November 17 at 2 PM – 3:30 PM Central (register here).

TCA has several upcoming application deadlines. As always, the TCA staff is happy to discuss your goals and eligibility to determine which programs are right for you. You may also request that a TCA staff member review your application and provide feedback. Ideally, these requests would be made at least two weeks before the application deadline.

Grant Program: Arts Respond Performance Support

This program provides professional artist fees to Texas nonprofits, schools, colleges, and units of government for hiring an artist from the Texas Touring Roster to do a performance. These applications are funded based on a percentage of contracted fees. 

Activity dates must start: Between December 15, 2025 and March 14, 2026 

Application deadline: Midnight on November 3, 2025 

Application form: Online

Resources: Grant guidelines, contact TCA staff, FAQ

Grant Program: Arts Respond Project

Arts Respond Project grants provide project assistance grants to nonprofit arts organizations on a short-term basis and may include administrative costs directly related to the project. Projects must address one of the following priority areas: economic development, education, health & human services, public safety & criminal justice, or natural resources & agriculture.

Activity dates must be: Between April 1, 2026 and August 31, 2026

Application deadline: Midnight on January 15, 2026

Application form: Online

Application Limit: Organizations may submit one application for this deadline. Organizations should not submit more than one application addressing the same priority area per fiscal year.

Resources: Grant guidelines, contact TCA staff

Designation Program: Cultural District Designation

This program designates special zones in cities and Texas communities that harness the power of cultural resources to stimulate economic development and community revitalization.

Application deadline: Letter of Intent to apply due February 2, 2026; application due June 15

LOI form: On Cultural Districts Program page

Resources: Program guidelines, contact TCA staff

Designation Program: Touring Roster Inclusion

Texas-based nonprofits, individuals, universities, and unincorporated/for-profit groups providing arts performances apply to be included on the 2026-2028 Texas Touring Roster.

Application deadline: February 2, 2026

Application form: On Submittable

Resources: Program guidelines, FAQ

Time is running out for high schools across the state to participate in the Poetry Out Loud program. Interested educators should sign up here to conduct the program during the fall semester. Full information on the national program is online here.

The Poetry Out Loud recitation contest is a national project of the National Endowment for the Arts. This exciting program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage. High school students memorize poems and perform them in competition. For this year, Poetry Out Loud will focus on America 250 in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, featuring poems celebrating the rich tapestry of American stories. Each participating high school will hold its competition to determine its school winner by December 15, 2025. The school winner will go on to compete at the state competition in February 2026. At the state level, the winner and runner up receive cash awards and their school libraries receive money to help them buy poetry books. The state winner will represent Texas in the national competition, which has a pool of $50,000 in scholarships for students and cash awards for schools. More information on the state competition is here.

Each year, TCA invites roughly 200 Texans to serve as peer reviewers of the grant applications we receive. We are grateful to these members of our arts field who donate their time and knowledge to our panel review process and assess the quality of grant applications. The peer review process is central to the Commission’s efforts to maintain an accountable, accessible awards system for the State of Texas.

If you would like insight into the grant evaluation process, we invite you to nominate yourself to serve on a panel. TCA is not able to pay for this work, but it will allow you to gain experience as a grant evaluator, see how other organizations present their programs and challenges, and ensure that TCA grant decisions can be made—we really can’t do this without you. Nominations are accepted year-round and can be made here.

Panels can be held online or in person in Austin. TCA reimburses for travel and hotel costs for in-person meetings. For online panels, TCA assigns reviewers no more than 25 grant applications to help keep the workload reasonable. Evaluators can also be grant applicants—TCA excludes evaluators from reviewing and scoring an application that they submitted or have any other conflict of interest with.

TCA’s chic black-and-silver State of the Arts minimalist design license plate is available to order at https://www.myplates.com/go/arts. This plate design can go on a passenger car, motorcycle, trailer, or private bus (attention, Texas bands!). TCA will receive a portion of the sales of the plate. Note that this plate is part of MyPlates’ “Lone Star Series,” but only the State of the Arts plate supports TCA. There is a price break for those ordering their plate for multiple years. Make a long-term commitment to the arts!  

At their September meeting TCA Commissioners approved the designation of four new cultural districts. Cultural districts are special zones that harness the power of cultural resources to stimulate economic development and community vitality. These districts can be focal points for generating business, attracting tourists, stimulating cultural development and fostering civic pride.

The Texas Commission on the Arts is the only body able to officially designate cultural districts on behalf of the State. Cultural districts are marketable tourism assets that highlight the distinct identity of a community and encourage in-state, out-of-state, and international visitors. Cultural district development helps a community boost its economy while realizing other cultural and civic benefits. The outcomes of cultural districts extend beyond the arts and benefit all members of a community. Official designation allows cultural districts and qualifying resident arts organizations to be eligible to apply for significant Cultural District Project funding through TCA.

The Govalle Cultural District is a neighborhood-rooted coalition of artists, educators, nonprofits, and creative businesses working collaboratively to advance inclusive cultural development. Anchored by institutions such as the Museum of Human Achievement, the Canopy Austin arts complex, and the 979 Springdale complex, the district includes over 250 artists, over 70 creative businesses, and ten nonprofit cultural organizations. The district’s assets include the arts nonprofits Ground Floor Theatre, Art From the Streets, Sage Studios, Motion Media Arts Center & Austin School of Film, East Side Performing Arts and Dimension Sculpture Park. It includes working artist studios, multiple galleries, creative tech firms, design studios, restaurants, and artist-founded initiatives like Springdale Station and Stargazer, all providing performance, educational, and exhibition opportunities. The district emphasizes affordability, accessibility, and authenticity—ensuring creative growth benefits long-term residents as well as visiting audiences. The cultural district will be officially designated at the East Austin Studio Tour (EAST) on Sunday, November 16. TCA staff will present a proclamation marking the official designation.

Photo: Ismael Quintanilla III

Every fall, TCA staff spend many, many hours reviewing report forms that grantees submit as they close out their grants. These reports share arts organizations’ trials and tribulations, challenges and solutions. Many of these stories will resonate with others across our field, so we're sharing some of them through grantee spotlights.

This month, we’re highlighting the San Angelo Symphony Society, which has served West Texas through performances and educational programs in a wide variety of musical genres since 1949. In 2025, the Symphony received an Arts Respond Project grant in the Health and Human Services priority area to support their Music and Wellness program. The program began in 2014 when the Symphony recognized a gap in arts programming for aging and medically fragile populations, especially in more rural or secluded areas of West Texas. Partnering with care facilities, hospitals, and treatment centers, the Symphony developed a series of live performances and one-on-one interactions to comfort, engage, and uplift residents through familiar music played by skilled local artists. This year, the program reached six counties, providing 30 presentations in 12 venues. Programming was provided in San Angelo, Bronte, Eden, Menard, Robert Lee, and Eldorado. New sites, including San Angelo’s new cancer treatment center, have embraced the program for the serenity and relief it brings to patients and staff alike.

The Symphony’s performers, who bring their expertise as musicians and a sensitivity to the needs of these audiences, are a key element of the program’s success. The musicians often inspire powerful responses from those they serve, encouraging audience members to tap their feet, sing along, or, in some cases, join in on the harmonica or the piano. The program often fosters improvement for those facing challenges with memory loss and isolation, who tend to communicate less. When they are able to make a connection with a performer, the participants often seek further connection and conversation. The Symphony has found that "Any glimpses of an improvement result in a ripple effect that spreads to the staff, family, friends, and sometimes even fellow residents and roommates of these individuals, lifting spirits and giving renewed hope of unlocking memories thought permanently erased.”

TCA is proud to be able to support the San Angelo Symphony Society and so many other wonderful organizations across the state who bring the arts to our fellow Texans.

Photo: Mike Erb

Texas Commission on the Arts

1801 Congress Avenue

Austin, TX 78701

512-463-5535

800-252-9415

arts.texas.gov