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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > November > 17 > Entry
East Austin gets TCA designation
Cultural and community leaders today celebrated the official designation of a portion of East Austin as a State of Texas Cultural District Designation
Austin’s African American district was selected by the Texas Commission on the Arts as one of seven designated communities with the first official State of Texas Cultural District Designation on Sept. 3.
The boundaries of the African American Cultural Heritage District (AACHD) are Interstate-35 to the west, Airport Boulevard on the east, Manor Road on the north, and all of the Huston Tillotson University campus to the south.
Austin joins Denison, Hunstville, Lubbock, McAllen, San Angelo and Winnsboro in receiving the TCA designation.
ProArts Collective, along with its community partners, spearheaded the Austin initiative and submitted an application in June to the TCA that contained more than 1,000 pages showcasing the cultural significance of central east Austin.
There’s no funding to accompany the TCA honor, but ProArts Collective executive director Lisa Byrd said she hopes the new designation offers leverage for increased funding opportunities from more sources.
“The inventory of cultural assets found in the district represents a diverse mix of historic and heritage sites and institutions, contemporary arts and cultural organizations, and workspaces and commercial outlets of individual creative and small businesses,” said Byrd. “(The designation effort) has embraced the goals of many community stakeholders with the ultimate objective to respect the historic, ethnic and cultural character of the neighborhoods within the cultural district.”
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