Published: November 04, 2009 09:56 pm      

Reception to honor city’s cultural designation

The City of Huntsville will receive an official Texas Cultural District designation from the Texas Commission on the Arts at a reception at the Katy and E. Don Walker Sr. Education Center on Nov. 12.

The reception will begin at 5:30 p.m. with the designation ceremony to follow at 6 p.m. The event is open to the public.

According to Linda Pease, cultural services coordinator for the City of Huntsville, the executive and deputy directors of the Texas Commission on the Arts will be on hand to officially award the designation, which was initially granted to the city in September after a summer-long application process.

Huntsville is one of only seven cities to receive the designation, which will serve to promote tourism and cultural appreciation.

“The award by the Texas Commission on the Arts of the state-designated cultural district represents the culmination of many years of work by citizens throughout Huntsville,” Pease said. “Now, with the new Huntsville Cultural District, the community will have a thriving downtown center which will attract a greater volume of tourism and contribute to the economic growth of the city.”

The reception will include a slideshow presentation by Sam Houston Memorial Museum curator of collection and Huntsville City Councilmember Mac Woodward, a reading by Texas Poet Laureate Paul Ruffin, a mayoral proclamation and various exhibits from entities within the cultural district.

Huntsville’s cultural district includes the entire downtown square area, and will be bordered by Eastham-Thomason Park and Oakwood Cemetery in the North, the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in the South, the Huntsville Walls Unit in the East and the Samuel Walker Houston Museum and Cultural Center and the Wynne Home Arts Center in the West.