This January, Americans for the Arts and the United States Conference of Mayors presented The Honorable Annise Parker, Mayor of Houston, TX with the Mayors National Award for Local Arts Leadership for cities with a population of 100,000 or more, during the United States Conference of Mayors Arts Breakfast in Washington, DC.

Last week, Americans for the Arts Board member Leslie Blanton re-presented the award to Mayor Parker in Houston at a reception hosted by the Houston Arts Alliance Board Chair. Americans for the Arts Business Committee for the Arts Executive Board members Albert Chao and Joe Dilg were also there to celebrate the mayor’s well-deserved recognition.

Mayor Annise D. Parker has consistently and fervently supported the arts during her nearly 17 year career as a City Councilmember, Controller, and now Mayor of Houston. Working with her Office of Cultural Affairs, she recently launched a large public engagement and planning process to develop a vision, goals and objectives for the future of Arts & Culture in Houston. A blue ribbon Advisory Committee representative of Houston’s diverse communities and cultural entities is helping to shepherd the process.

She has also initiated six “Cultural Districts” representing Houston’s Museum District, Theater District, Midtown Arts District and others which have successfully been designated by the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Mayor Parker is a poet and writer herself and in 2013, she named Houston’s first poet laureate.

Photo:  L-R. Jonathon Glus, Minnette Boesel, Mayor Annise Parker, Marc Melcher, and Leslie Blanton

Read the CultureMap Houston article here March 6, 2015