When the Austin Creative Alliance isn’t busy connecting members of our arts, film, music, and other creative communities; providing them with services; and promoting them to the rest of the city, it takes time to recognize others who do that good work, too. Thus, the ACA Honors, the third round of which will be handed out Tuesday at the North Door.
The ceremony is a chance to show a little love for some of the artists, activists, and organizations whose contributions to and support of Austin’s cultural scene may go unseen or be underappreciated. To give you an idea, in the first two years of the program, ACA honored Liz Lambert, Blair Dancy of Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts, DiverseArts Culture Works founder Harold McMillan, the Austin Film Society, Laura Morrison, Austin Arts Minute host Carla McDonald, and the Applied Materials Foundation.
This year’s class of honorees are no less active or accomplished. They are: Laura Esparza, Cultural Affairs Division Manager for the City of Austin; Dr. Billy F. Harden, educator, longtime actor, and founding member of the Spectrum Theatre Company; Austin Chronicle writer, former Music Commission member, and advocate for the music scene Margaret Moser; and Mexic-Arte Museum.
The focus of the evening is on the honorees, of course, but the ACA has ensured that there’s a lot more to the festivities, including free food and drinks, as well as a host of impressive performances. Contributing their talents to the event will be:
• John Pointer of Live Music Capital Foundation
• Minor Mishap Marching Band
• Amphion Youth Choir
• Dance Waterloo
• Austin Dance India
• Puppet Improv Project and
• Aytahn Benavi of Young Performing Artists
The Third Annual ACA Honors will take place Tues., Nov. 10, 6-9pm, at the North Door, 502 Brushy.
ACA members may attend for free. For anyone who isn’t a member, the cost is $40 – which actually goes toward a one-year ACA membership.
For more information, visit www.austincreativealliance.org.
This article appears in November 6 • 2015.