The nonprofit, formerly known as Art Alliance Austin, will focus on “fundraising to support the arts community” when it relaunches as A3, said new executive director Laura Esparza. (Image via Getty)
After pausing its programming at the start of the pandemic, nonprofit Art Alliance Austin is now preparing to restart under the new name A3. Under the leadership of newly appointed executive director Laura Esparza, the organization has announced plans to scale back event planning and prioritize fundraising.
The organization has gone through many changes since its founding in 1911. Originally known as the Texas Fine Arts Association, it hosted art exhibits and craft fairs in the 1950s and even used Laguna Gloria as its own exhibition space before becoming a private museum.
In conversation with the chronicle On Tuesday, Esparza said the renaming came after an outside analysis suggested the nonprofit should focus on a single mission. “The organization was trying to find itself by doing a lot of different things, but one of the suggestions was to focus on fundraising to support the arts community,” she said.
Esparza recently retired from the City of Austin, where she oversaw 11 museums and cultural centers during her 17 years as division chief of the Austin Parks and Recreation Department’s Division of Museums and Cultural Programs. Before that, she worked for an arts council in Silicon Valley, where she hosted a quarterly roundtable with leaders of nonprofit arts organizations to share stories and structure approaches.
“I’ve long felt that the arts community in Austin deserves more support,” Esparza said. When she left her government job, she saw an opportunity to resume her work at the California-based nonprofit that raises funds and distributes money to various arts groups.
“In many ways, Austin doesn’t have the infrastructure that other cities have to support the arts,” the executive director said. “Government can’t do everything, so it’s time to build some of the societal pillars of a sustainable arts ecosystem.”
A3 plans to raise money through private and public parties, grants and business partnerships, Esparza said. She also pointed to I Live Here I Give Here, the nonprofit community campaign responsible for the 24-hour Amplify Austin Day fundraising program.
The renewed nonprofit will officially debut with an event at Canopy Austin on Sept. 12. Of the public party, which begins at 7 p.m., Esparza said, “We’re going to have a lot of entertainment: jazz and samba dancing and opera and music and drinks and lots of information. Lots of introductions to the projects we’re trying to fund and information about what a local arts agency is and does and what they can expect in the future.”
Looking back on her decades of working in city government, Esparza said, “It’s been a great education to learn what the city can and can’t do. It’s certainly been a great education to learn about the arts community and the many people that surround it. I’m using that information, my familiarity with the city, my familiarity with city leaders in general, to build something that I hope will give some hope to local arts organizations.”
“I want our art, our theater, our public concerts – I want all of that to survive,” she continued. “This is really a love letter to art.”
