A COFFEE WITH ... THERESA JENKINS

Inviting Texas music, Grammy to the same party

By Joe Gross
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, November 13, 2008

Theresa Jenkins is the executive director of the Texas Chapter of the Recording Academy, which most people know as the folks who hand out the Grammys. She's made it her mandate to emphasize the diversity of Texas music, from Latin to indie rock to hip-hop.

Before that, she ran the marketing company DiverseCity International, a communications firm with a multicultural emphasis that managed events for large clients — the Army, IBM Corp., that sort of thing.

She's also a veteran of the governor's Texas film and music office and founded the Austin salsa and merengue festival. As we sit at Ruta Maya, one of Austin's most Latin-flavored coffeehouses, we're talking about the Latin Grammys, which take place tonight in Houston.

Nevertheless, the dramatic truth emerges:

Theresa Jenkins is not actually Latina.

"Nope, I don't even understand Spanish," Jenkins laughs. Born to a Thai mother and Anglo father, she says she's mistaken for Latina all the time. "But I have such an appreciation for Latin music that it almost doesn't matter."

This has been a pretty good year for Latin music and Texas. Jenkins is almost bursting with pride about having Houston as host. El Paso-born singer Vikki Carr will receive a lifetime achievement award at the ceremony. Tuesday, the Texas Chapter hosted a reception at the House of Blues in Houston, a Texas-centric kick-off to the big show. This was a chance for Texas' Latin artists to shine, with performances from Chente Barrera, Obie Bermudez, Little Joe Hernandez, Ruben Ramos and more. Most importantly, Jenkins emphasizes, the suggested $50 donation for nonmembers went to replacing music equipment and instruments lost during Hurricane Ike at Galveston's Central Middle School. Jenkins calls it one of the Texas Chapter's "cooler" projects for '09.

"We're having an instrument drive in four cities called Grammy Giving to the Gulf," Jenkins said of the project. "Well be asking for donations in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston."

Jenkins was born in Thailand and spent her early life as an Army brat. "We came here when I was about 5," she says. "I still speak Thai with my mother, but it's the Thai of a 5-year-old." She ended up in Fort Hood, came to Austin for college, and like so many Austinites, she stayed (except for a brief stint in California).

Her first job was with the Austin Chamber of Commerce. "I was always kind of driven," she says. "I knew I always wanted to be connected with someone who had something big and high-profile going on." After some time in the real estate game, she ended up in the governor's Texas film and music office.

"Music is the bookmark of my life," Jenkins says. "I hear a song, I know exactly what I was doing and how I was feeling then."

She started the Austin salsa festival after living in San Jose, Calif., in 1998.

"It's a real diverse place and they had this huge four-day festival, all sorts of genres of music," Jenkins said. "I immediately knew I wanted to do something like it." The festival ran from 1998 to 2002, ending when she moved to the Texas Chapter, working in marketing.

"Diversity" comes up a lot with Jenkins. "I think the Texas Chapter has had a long relationship with Austin," she says. "For a long time before I got here, I think there was a large emphasis on Austin and the other parts of Texas felt left out. Now we're starting to do more in Houston and Dallas. If I'm doing my job right, I have to be all over the state." It looks like it's working.

"When I first started, we reached out to the urban market," Jenkins says. "We wanted to get the involvement of Houston hip-hop." Now Paul Wall is on the Texas Chapter board. Next on her target list: the gospel market and indie market.

She's savvy enough to save the best Austin project for last. "We want to do something a little different for South by Southwest next year," she says. "I think we're going to call it Grammy Gibson Garage. Instead of focusing on the parties, we're going to set aside a number of parking spaces so out-of-town bands can park for free with 24-hour security."

That sound you just heard was about a few thousand out-of-town band managers calling Theresa Jenkins at once.

jgross@statesman.com; 912-5926