Keeping up With the Joneses
Big-deal Dallas patrons orchestrate Texas-size reveal for 2015 Medal of Arts Awards
- Music: T Bone Burnett (Fort Worth)
- Film: Jamie Foxx (Terrell)
- Dance: Kilgore Rangerettes (Kilgore)
- Visual Arts: Rick Lowe (Houston)
- Literary Arts: Lawrence Wright (Austin)
- Theatre: Robert Schenkkan (Austin)
- Architecture: Charles Renfro (Houston)
- Television: Dan Rather (Wharton)
- Television: Chandra Wilson (Houston)
- Corporate Arts Patron: Dr Pepper Snapple Group (Plano)
- Individual Arts Patron: Margaret McDermott (Dallas)
- Multimedia: Emilio Nicolas (San Antonio)
- Arts Education: Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (Dallas)
- Standing Ovation Award: Ruth Altshuler (Dallas)
- Lifetime Achievement Award: The Gatlin Brothers (Seminole)
Post presser, it was time to celebrate. Attendees indulged in a lavish lunch that concluded with an art-inspired baked Alaska dessert. Throughout the two-hour affair, Anderson and Benson again took the stage and announced the honorees to guests who weren't at the morning conference. Charles Matthews, Texas Cultural Trust board chair, offered his sincere gratitude for everyone's support.
Anderson and Benson also offered a little taste of what's to come at the main event (luncheon, awards and gala dinner) taking place February 24-25 at the Long Center for Performing Arts in Austin: performances by Benson, the Gatlin Brothers and maybe even honoree Jamie Foxx.
Other VIPs expected to attend are emcees Troy Aikman and Joe Buck and former first lady Laura Bush, herself a former Texas Medal of Art winner, who is presenting the Standing Ovation Award to Ruth Altshuler.
Other past honorees include co-chairs Charlotte Jones Anderson and Gene Jones, emcee Ray Benson, Eva Longoria, ZZ Top, Willie Nelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Walter Cronkite, Lyle Lovett, Anheuser Busch Companies, Texas Monthly, Neiman Marcus, and Exxon Mobil.