WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) – The Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts and Culture hosted the Arts and Cultural Empowerment awards luncheon earlier today, to celebrate individuals and organizations that make wichita county a more vibrant place.

This event is Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts and Culture’s way of honoring those who inspire and bring creativity to life throughout the community.

This event highlights the ways arts continue to connect like-minded individuals together through the realm of art.

“This is the fundraiser for the Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts and Culture and as a local arts agency for our community and really for the region, we just wanted to make sure that all the hard work that goes into bringing you concerts, performances and different events that are related to arts and culture are recognized, “Executive Director of the Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts and Culture, Ann Arnold-Ogden said.

As artists, art organizations, volunteers, and local businesses mingled over food and drinks as well as being inspired by guest speaker, Gay Gaddis, the arts and cultural empowerment awards aimed to honor those who contributed to the community through the arts.

As for this year’s outstanding arts educator, he reflected on two of his projects with global reach.

“I organized an international exchange show with Japanese artists, about 10 artists from Japan and in 2016 we invited 10 of those artists to Wichita Falls and we had a group show, “2024 outstanding arts educator, Suguru Hiraide said.

While he felt honored to receive accolades, for one first-time attendee, just being present at this event meant much more.

“I think it’s incredible that we are highlighting artists in the community and organizations that do defend and contribute to pushing up the arts in the Wichita Falls community. As an artist myself, I really enjoy seeing my fellow artists and friends be honored. I think it’s beautiful, “Arts Council of Wichita Falls, programming assistant, Brittany Roberts said.

As the turnout of this celebration underscored the importance of investing in the arts.

Ann Arnold-Ogden reminds the public of how people can support the arts.

“Buy a ticket to the theater, stop by a museum, hire an artist as one of your businesses. Art is innovation, art is what connects us as a society, just do what works best for you,” Ann Arnold-Ogden said.

In addition to the outstanding Arts Educator Awards category, six other finalist categories were honored.

Congratulations to all the nominees, for more information on how you can support the arts, click here.

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