$400,000 Distributed to 45 Arts Organizations in Catalyst Grants Funding June 6, 2023

Media Contact: Brett Gray, Brett@BrettGrayPR.com, 214.557.6233 

Jones Family Foundation Gift Pushes TACA Past $1 Million 

in Grant-making for Fiscal year 2023, Ending the Year with a New Milestone 

DALLAS – TACA – The Arts Community Alliance – announced today that 45 Dallas County grantees will share $400,000 in its fourth round of Catalyst Grants. Catalyst Grants are distributed without restrictions and designed to support high-performing arts organizations that are strengthening Dallas’ vibrant arts identity. 

“The generous contributions from the Gene and Jerry Jones Family Foundation, both in support of TACA and last month’s record-breaking TACA Silver Cup Award Luncheon, helped us cross the million-dollar mark for grant-making this fiscal year,” said Maura Sheffler, Donna Wilhelm Family President & Executive Director. “Their gift allows us to achieve a grantmaking milestone for the first time since 2018, excluding the pandemic.  Further, it allows TACA to make a historic investment in our arts community for this Spring Catalyst grant distribution. We are immensely grateful to the Jones family and our other Catalyst Club donors.”  

 TACA’s Spring 2023 Catalyst grantees include the following, listed in alphabetical order:  

Agora Artists 

American Baroque Opera Company 

Artstillery 

AT&T Performing Arts Center 

Bishop Arts Theatre Center 

Bruce Wood Dance 

Cara Mía Theatre 

Dallas Black Dance Theatre 

Dallas Chamber Symphony

Dallas Children’s Theater

Dallas Contemporary

Dallas Museum of Art

Dallas Opera

Dallas Symphony Orchestra

Dallas Winds 

Deep Vellum Publishing  

Echo Theatre 

Emerge Coalition** 

Fine Arts Chamber Players 

Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra 

Kitchen Dog Theater

Lone Star Wind Orchestra

Lumedia Musicworks

Make Art with Purpose 

Nasher Sculpture Center 

Orchestra of New Spain 

Orpheus Chamber Singers 

Pegasus Contemporary Ballet** 

Pegasus Media Project** 

Plano Symphony Orchestra

Prism Movement Theater

Sammons Center for the Arts

Soul Rep Theatre Company 

Sweet Pass Sculpture Park 

Teatro Dallas

Texas Winds Musical Outreach

The Cedars Union 

The Women’s Chorus of Dallas 

The Writer’s Garret

Theatre Three

TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND

Turtle Creek Chorale

Undermain Theatre

Uptown Players

Verdigris Ensemble 

 ** New Catalyst Grant Recipient 

“Our heartfelt gratitude to The Arts Community Alliance (TACA) for selecting Pegasus Media Project as a Catalyst Grant recipient,” said Niloo Javiland, Executive Director of the Pegasus Media Project, a new Catalyst grantee. “This generous support will greatly enhance our ability to continue providing exceptional public arts programming and education initiatives to the Dallas community. We are deeply appreciative of TACA’s commitment to fostering creativity and supporting organizations like ours in making a positive impact through the arts.” 

TACA Board Member Kathy Nelson added, “Greg and I were thrilled to be the first to make a gift as Catalyst Club donors.  This grants program is important to us because we can make one donation to fund a broad spectrum of organizations from mainstays like the Dallas Museum of Art to startups that show tremendous promise in contributing to the vitality of our arts and cultural scene.”  

The Jones family joins a roster of other significant donors in TACA’s Catalyst Club, a new major donor membership, engagement, and appreciation program.  Built on TACA’s historical origins as a social club for the arts, the Catalyst Club is designed exclusively for TACA donors that give or pledge $25,000 or more in annual support of the organization.  The current 2022-2023 roster of TACA Catalyst Club includes: 

• Communities Foundation of Texas 
• Mary McDermott Cook and Grace Cook (of The Eugene McDermott Foundation) 
• DFW Lexus Dealers Association 
• M.R. & Evelyn Hudson Foundation 
• Jim and Melinda Johnson 
• Jerry and Gene Jones (of the Gene and Jerry Jones Family Foundation) 
• Kevin and Carol March (of The March Family Foundation) 
• Greg and Kathy Nelson 
• Keith and Kate Newman 
• PNC 
• Clayton and Lacy Sands (of The Rosewood Corporation) 
• TI Foundation 
• Donna Wilhelm 

Since the Catalyst Grant inception in 2021, TACA has awarded a total of $1,324,500 in funding as a complement to its ongoing Pop-Up Grant program and the TACA New Works Fund focusing on new artistic works by BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and/or female artists. 

About TACA 

TACA (The Arts Community Alliance) supports excellence and impact in the arts through grant-making, capacity-building, and thought leadership. TACA envisions an innovative, inclusive, sustainable cultural sector recognized for its essential contribution to a vibrant, prosperous community. Since its founding in 1967, TACA has worked to establish North Texas’ cultural community as one of the strongest in the nation. TACA’s growing investment in the arts translates to new premieres and productions, impactful residencies and community initiatives, and more opportunities for artists and audiences to connect – all striving to make Dallas a dynamic city and a great place to live and work.   

For more information about TACA, call 214-520-3930 or visit taca-arts.org. Connect with TACA on Facebook at facebook.com/tacadallas, LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/tacadallas, and Instagram at @TACADallas. 

Header photo: Photo by Amitava Sarkar, courtesy of Dallas Black Dance Theatre, DBDT Encore! Rising Excellence Performance 2023, “Heroes” by Takehiro Ueyama (Choreographer)