honoring those who make significant contributions to the arts in Fort Worth.
The Heart of Gold Awards celebrates community leaders who have made a difference in the arts community. Each honoree illustrates Arts Fort Worth’s values of authentic passion and intentional equity. Their impact through the arts makes Fort Worth a vibrant and welcoming community.
The Heart of Gold Awards Celebration also raises funds to support the many ways we connect Fort Worth to and through the arts. Charitable support from events like this help Arts Fort Worth increase the capacity of local art producers, employ artists and designers through commissioned projects, and bring the community together to experience exhibitions by emerging and established local artists as well as live theater, dance, and musical performances.
Nominate a local arts leader, take the lead as a sponsor, and learn more about past honorees below!
2025 Heart of Gold Awards
GRACEY TUNE | Lifetime Achievement in the Arts
Gracey Tune, the founder and Artistic Director of Arts Fifth Avenue, is internationally recognized for her talent, skills and experience in the field of tap dancing. She has emphatically demonstrated her artistic worth in the community through directing, choreography, event planning, production and education. Through the years, Gracey has lent her talent and knowledge to Hip Pocket Theatre, Jubilee Theatre, Imagination Celebration, Red Cross Multiple Sclerosis Society, Main Street Fort Worth, Texas Wesleyan University, University of North Texas, Brown University, and Fort Worth Sister Cities International. As a choreographer, she contributed to the Broadway productions “Steppin’ Out” and “My One and Only.”
Tune is a frequent Guest Artist at major events in the world of tap. She has performed with and produced shows featuring tap luminaries Cholly Atkins, Savior Glover, Susan Petronio, Ron Young, and, of course, her world-famous, multiple Tony-winning brother Tommy Tune.
Gracey ‘s awards and recognitions are numerous. Inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame by Governor Ann Richards, she received the Outstanding Woman in the Arts award from the City of Fort Worth. In 2005, she was received the inaugural Texas Tap Legends named by the Dance Council of North Texas, and received 2015’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the Live Theatre League of Tarrant County.
These days, Gracey is busy teaching, performing, producing great events and nurturing other artists at Arts Fifth Avenue.
KATHLEEN CULEBRO | Trailblazer Award
Born and raised in Mexico City, Kathleen Culebro is a community builder who has leveraged her work in the arts to support education, tourism, neighborhood redevelopment, and emotional wellbeing. Throughout her 25 years as Founding Artistic Director of Amphibian Stage she produced over 100 plays in Fort Worth and New York, many of them world premieres that have gone on to be produced across the country.
Also a playwright, Kathleen is the author of A LEOPARD COMPLAINS OF ITS SPOTS, which premiered at the Pantheon Theatre in New York in 2001 with an extended run. LA LLORONA premiered off-Broadway in a production by Stageplays Theatre Company in 2007 (“clearly a writer of promise” NYTimes) and has received productions around the country at professional companies and university stages. Her play SMART PRETTY FUNNY premiered at Amphibian Stage in 2016 and has since been produced in Australia and at other venues in the US.
Kathleen has taught Screenwriting and Stage Makeup at Texas Christian University and Practical Considerations in Producing Theatre at Western Washington University. She proudly serves on the board of the Tarrant County Tax Increment Finance in District 4. Honors include the 2020 Kline-Watts Award for Cultural Contribution from Near Southside Inc. and a Special Citation for Outstanding Support to the Veteran Community in 2019 from MHMR Military Veteran Peer Network. She shares this Trailblazer Award from Arts Fort Worth with every outstanding collaborator who has passed through Amphibian’s doors and played a role in making it a nurturing, safe, brave space for all.
2023 Heart of Gold Awards
GINGER HEAD-GEARHEART | Heart of Gold Award
Ginger Head-Gearheart devoted her life to teaching and promoting the arts and developing arts education programs for schools and communities. She worked at local, state and national levels on innovative arts programs for international arts and cultural institutions. Among her many successes were 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. and 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.
ESTRUS TUCKER | Advocate for the Arts Award
Estrus Tucker has served two full terms as a City of Fort Worth Public Art Commissioner and the past five years as the Chair. Estrus has tirelessly advocated for Public Art and gave voice to the inspiring work of local artists, art advocates, arts organizations, and Arts Fort Worth. Under his leadership the Art Commission launched a new Community Partnership Projects Initiative, expanded artist listening sessions to hear firsthand issues and ideas, and led Town Halls to engage our robustly diverse public.
As a local and national leader, facilitator, and advocate for civil dialogue, Estrus has championed the the arts invaluable community engagement process, and worked collaboratively to advance Fort Worth Public Art’s efforts of inclusion, cultural equity, and diversity of the pool of emerging and established public artists, and communities. Estrus wholeheartedly believes that Public Art and Public Artists matter because Art is for everyone.
2025 Emerging Leaders
Autobahn Fort Worth
Philanthropy
Ebony Nicole Johnson
Education
Megan Coca
Arts Administrator
Ariel Davis
Working Artist/Performer/Writer
ShaVonne Davis
Community Advocacy
Laura Hunt
Working Artist/Performer/Writer
2023 Emerging Leaders
Jessie Borries
Philanthropy
Dr. Stephanie Love
Education
Ayesha Ganguly
Arts Administrator
Armond Vance
Working Artist/Performer/Writer
Wesley Kirk
Community Advocacy
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)
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.
2019 HONOREE ROZ ROSENTHAL
Rosalyn G. Rosenthal was honored with the Heart of Gold Award at the 2019 Heart of Gold Luncheon, recognizing her decades of extraordinary leadership, philanthropy, and advocacy for the arts in Fort Worth. A champion of cultural access and education, Rosenthal has played a vital role in strengthening the creative landscape of North Texas through her unwavering support of artists, arts organizations, and community initiatives. Her dedication reflects a deep belief in the power of the arts to enrich lives and build stronger, more vibrant communities. The Arts Council of Fort Worth proudly celebrated her enduring impact and generous spirit with this well-deserved recognition.
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