The Fortunate 500: Art stars

People who decorate the arts social scene

By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin
May 12, 2005

Photo by Sung Park/AA-S TANA AND JOE CHRISTIE arts/education/politics
THE FORTUNATE 500
All stars	Art stars
Music stars	Education/Charity stars
Food stars	Literary/Media stars
Heritage stars	Film stars
Business/High Tech stars	Politics/Law stars
Sports stars	Fashion stars
Part-time Austinites

Ask Tana Christie how she would prefer to spend her time when she and her husband are out on the town, and she'll tell you she'd rather be talking to someone. "I prefer the more casual events than the ones where you end up sitting around a table for 10," says Tana. "I like intimate gatherings where you can actually visit with people."

Informal gatherings such as those presented by two Austin Lyric Opera groups — Triangle on Stage and La Noche de Opera. As an opera trustee, Tana Christie was instrumental in launching both groups, which reach out to the gay and lesbian community and Latino opera fans, respectively.

Of course, her penchant for casual partying didn't stop her from co-chairing this year's Opera Ball, by all accounts a swanky success. "Ask me to do something over lunch, and I can't say no," she says with a laugh. But the one-time drama major and costume designer informalized the usual plaque-giving routine: Donors receive their tokens of thanks discretely via an actor dressed as a bellhop. "If I support an organization, I don't want anything big and fussy back in return," she says.

The third-generation El Pasoan and former University of Arizona rodeo queen moved with her family to Austin in the early 1970s when her husband, Joe — a Texas state senator from 1967-73 — became chairman of the State Board of Insurance.

Parents of two adult children, Joe Christie is a self-proclaimed "recovering attorney" and public-school advocate, while Tana Christie divvies up her considerable energy among organizations such as the Junior League, the Senate Ladies Club, the University of Texas Nursing School Advisory Council, El Buen Samaritano and the Texas chapter of the Human Rights Campaign. Owners of the last house that famed architect Charles Moore designed before his death in 1994, the Christies were also founding board members of the Charles Moore Center and have opened their home numerous times for special events and architecture tours.

Exemplary of the couple's hands-on, down-to-earth approach is how, in 1993, Tana Christie helped host a workshop conducted by noted choreographer Bill T. Jones. Christie, a breast cancer survivor, was one of dozens of people nationally who faced or had faced a life-threatening illness whose story Jones used to develop his dance documentary "Still/Here." But Christie did more than just host Jones' work in Austin: A video segment of her talking and dancing about her experience was included in "Still/Here."

Being in the documentary "was my greatest achievement," she says.

More arts stars

Camille Abbott arts/business
Alex Alford arts/business
Ray Anderson arts/charity
Linda Ball and Forrest Preece arts/law/food/charity
Helen and Ed Baxter arts/food/charity
Peter Bay arts/education/charity
Wayne Bell arts/education/politics/charity
Sarah and Ernest Butler arts/charity/education
Lisa Byrd and Ana Ixchel Rosal arts/education/charity
Joanne Christian law/arts/education/heritage
Ann Ciccolella and Tara Smith arts/education
Rebecca Cohen arts/media
Deborah Edward arts/politics
Barbara and Robert Faires arts/media/food
Barbara and Brian Frisbee arts/business
Dana Friis-Hansen and Mark Holzbach arts/business
Sue Graze arts/politics
Rudy Green law/arts/charity
Tamara Hale arts/business/charity
Joan Plaster Haas and Stan Haas arts/business
Brent Hasty and Stephen Mills arts/education/charity
Mary Ann and Andrew Heller arts/charity/education/heritage
David Heymann arts/education/politics
Jessie Hite arts/education
Joan and Wayne Holtzman arts/charity/education
Lina Husodo and James Linville arts/business
Kevin Keim arts/education
Jeanne and Michael Klein arts/heritage
Rachel Koper arts/media
Karen Kuykendall arts/business/heritage
Mari and Greg Marchbanks arts/business
Laurence Miller arts/heritage
Susan Morehead and Sinclair Black arts/business/politics
Anton Nel arts/education
Jason Neulander arts/politics
Bettye and Bill Nowlin arts/education/high-tech
Sylvia Orozco arts/education/politics
Damian Priour arts/charity
Cliff Redd arts/charity/politics
Judith Rhedin arts/education
Miguel Rivera arts/business/politics
Rosa Rivera and Juan Miró arts/business/politics
Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza arts/politics
Cookie Ruiz arts/business
Nancy Scanlan arts/education/charity
Shannon Sedwick and Michael Shelton arts/politics/charity
Joe Sears arts/charity
Jane Sibley arts/education/charity
Jare and Jim Smith arts/business
Larry Speck arts/education/business/politics
Sylvia and Philip Spertus arts/business
Dave Steakley arts/charity
Lisa and Bob 'Daddy-O' Wade arts/media
Kathy Womack arts/business
Pebbles Wadsworth arts/education/law
Melba and Ted Whatley arts/heritage/education
Jaston Williams arts/charity
Hilary and Stan Young arts/law
Armando Zambrano arts/education