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Honoring those who have made significant contributions to the arts in Fort Worth.

The Heart of Gold Awards is special event to focus on community leaders who have made a difference in the arts community. Each honoree shares our values of integrity and inclusivity, and their impact through the arts helps make Fort Worth a vibrant and welcoming community. 

The Heart of Gold Awards Luncheon raises funds to meet the needs of our community by granting dollars and creating programming, employing artists and designers through public art projects, and bringing the community together to experience emerging and established visual artists and theater and dance performances. 

Wednesday, September 20, 2023
12 p.m.

Doors open at 11:30 a.m.

Fort Worth Community Arts Center
1300 Gendy St, Fort Worth, TX 76107
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Support the arts

When you sponsor a table, you help ensure the success of the arts in Fort Worth! Your support of this event positively impact the arts across all levels. 

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Recognizing leaders

Do you know someone who is an Emerging Leader in the Arts? 

Complete the form and nominate someone who should be recognized at the luncheon for their efforts.

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Mix & mingle over lunch

You're not going to want to miss this year's Heart of Gold luncheon! Arts Fort Worth continues to grow and evolve this exciting event to bring together those who appreciate the arts from across Fort Worth!

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GINGER HEAD-GEARHEART

Heart of Gold Award

Ginger Head-Gearheart has devoted much of her life to teaching and promoting the arts and developing arts education programs for schools and communities. She has worked at local, state and national levels on innovative arts programs for international arts and cultural institutions. She created a special program for deaf and hearing-impaired students that is considered part of the curriculum for middle and high school deaf students in Texas. Among her many successes is the nationally recognized nonprofit organization Imagination Celebration Fort Worth, a program she developed in collaboration with community arts and cultural leaders and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. This program has reached over 4,000,000 students with experiences that connect to learning in the arts, sciences, humanities, literacy and technology. It has become a model for other Kennedy Center programs and is hailed by numerous state national organizations, as well as by the Department of Education.

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ESTRUS TUCKER

Advocate for the Arts Award

Estrus Tucker is President & CEO, and co-founder of DEI Consultants LLC, a national consulting firm serving corporations, nonprofits, and local governments in designing and implementing strategies that advance diversity, equity and inclusion. Estrus is also a thought leader, writer and keynote speaker on embracing dignity, empathy and integrity as core values and invaluable human centric practices, whose mission is to inspire courage and facilitate practices that promote human dignity, community belonging, nonviolent engagement and justice, in service of a world that works for all.  

With more than 35 years’ experience in executive leadership in local, state, and national nonprofit operations and governance, Estrus is recipient of multiple awards recognizing his work and leadership in support of transformational leadership in Mississippi; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Cape Town, South Africa and Texas.

EMERGING LEADERS IN THE ARTS

The Emerging Leaders in the Arts Award is part of a continuing initiative by Arts Fort Worth to shine a spotlight and support those who are ensuring the arts are part of a vibrant Fort Worth. Those efforts include the Emerging Artist Residency, aims to help practicing artists offset the cost of living by providing free studio space at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center; and the Original Works Series supports playwrights, local cast and crew, and establishes important connections with local theater production companies. 

 

Do you know someone who should be honored as part of the inaugural class of Emerging Leaders in the Arts? For more than ten years, the Heart of Gold awards have recognized individuals who have made life-long contributions to the arts. At this year’s Heart of Gold luncheon, we’ll recognize Emerging Leaders in the Arts. Nominate the next generation of leaders today!

Previous Heart of Gold Recipients

2022 | Louise Appleman & Ginny Tigue

2021 | Bill and Pam Campbell 

2020 | The Fort Worth Arts Community

2019 | Rosalyn G. Rosenthal

2018 | Deborah Jung

2017 | Larry And Karen Anfin

2016 | Frost Bank

2015 | Willa Dunleavy

2014 | Mac Churchill | Juana Rosa Daniell

2013 | Louise Britt Carvey | Val Wilkie Jr.

Previous Lifetime Achievement

in the Arts Recipients

2019 | Margo Dean

2018 | Paul Paine

2017 | John Giordano

2016 | Ben Stevenson, O.b.e.

2015 | Miguel Harth-Bedoya

2014 | Sharon Benge

2013 | Darren Woods (Innovator In The Arts)

 

2022 HONOREES LOUISE APPLEMAN AND GINNY TIGUE

The Heart of Gold Awards Luncheon wouldn't exist if not for the vision and passion of 2022's honorees, Louise Appleman and Ginny Tigue. Ten years ago, these two incredible women saw an opportunity to bring together others who are passionate about the arts for an event which would support the arts at a greater level in Fort Worth- and the Heart of Gold Luncheon was born! Louise and Ginny are leaders  whose impact continues to benefit Fort Worth in far-reaching ways. 

Arts Fort Worth is celebrating the tenth anniversary of this exciting event which continues the original mission of bringing together those who appreciate the arts from across Fort Worth. Your support of this event will positively impact the arts across all levels.

2021 HONOREES BILL AND PAM CAMPBELL 

 

As founders of the William Campbell Contemporary Art Gallery, the Campbells made an indelible mark on the arts in Fort Worth and through the years nurtured the careers of dozens of talented young artists, many of whom have been with the gallery for decades. Attendees of the Arts Council’s 2021 Heart of Gold Luncheon celebrated the extraordinary impact of Bill and Pam Campbell on the arts of Fort Worth on Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center. The Campbells are part of a Heart of Gold legacy honoring those who make the performing and visual arts in Fort Worth a quintessential part of this city's identity. 

Honoring Rosalyn G. Rosenthal as the

2019 Heart of Gold Recipient

Honoring Margo Dean with the

2019 Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award

A special thank you to Heart of Gold sponsors!
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Patron Sponsor

Media Sponsor

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In-Kind Sponsor

SiNaCa Studios

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