Georgetown Arts & Culture

The City of Georgetown Arts and Culture Board has awarded John Mark Luke the First Prize award in this year’s 202-2021 Annual Georgetown Sculpture Tour, a juried year-long outdoor exhibition in the historic Downtown Georgetown Cultural District. Luke won for his piece “Interaction of Thought V”, a piece created using Laminated Wood, Clear Fiberglass/Resin, Steel Rebar, and a Semi-Truck Brake Drum.  The sculpture is located on Main Street near the corner of 8^th Street

Second Prize went to Marla Ripperda for her “Uncommon Egret” crafted from MagicSculpt (2 part epoxy clay) over expanded metal lath. This piece is located on 8^th Street near the corner of Main Street.

Sculpture Tour artists and their awards are:

First Prize: “Interaction of Thought V” by John Mark Luke

Second Prize: “Uncommon Egret” by Marla Ripperda

Honorable Mention:

“Butterfly” by Mary Angers

“Golden Hugs” by Marianne Caroselli

“Zenith” by Scy Caroselli

“And He Was Sad” (Eeyore) by Bob Coffee

“Ventura” by Humberto DeGarrio

“Paths We Choose” by Anthony St. James

“Great Bird” by Peter Mangan

“Letting Go” by Peter Mangan

“Twist” by Peter Mangan

“Moment of Reflection” by Dan Pogue

“Luminous Beings Are We” by Kirk Seese

“Pluma Sculptura”, aka The Feather by Kirk Seese

“Tree Branches” by Kirk Seese

“Nine” by Scott Shubin

“Sunburst” by Scott Shubin

“The Optimist” by Linda Wilde

The City of Georgetown Arts & Culture Board selected 18 of these 2020-2021 Sculpture Tour pieces from a total of 33 pieces submitted for consideration by 22 artists. All Sculptures in the current tour will remain on exhibit through October 2021.

An interactive online map of the Sculpture Tour can be viewed at https://arts.georgetown.org/art/sculpture-tour/. A map of the Sculpture Tour will also be available after the 1^st of the year at the Visitor Center, the Georgetown Art Center, the Georgetown Public Library, and local arts businesses.

An open Call for Entries for the annual City Sculpture Tour is posted from June 1st to August 1st every year.

K9 Heroes Mural, “Best Friends”, by Jay Rivera and J Muzacz, 2020

Photography by David Valdez

Muralists J. Muzacz and Jay Rivera teamed up to create the public art mural  located at Wag Heaven, 206 West 6th Street #115, that is part of the Healing Arts for Veterans Program.

The Arts and Culture Program collaborated with the local pet supply business, Wag Heaven, to create a service-dog themed public art mural to honor our K-9 service heroes while commemorating the Rotary Club of Georgetown’s Field of Honor®, as well as War Dog Hero, Nemo A534 whose memorial is located at Lackland Airforce Base. The mural was installed during the week of Veterans Day and included a community painting event on Veterans Day, November 11th.

Funding for the K9 Heroes Mural at Wag Heaven is provided by Wag Heaven, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the City of Georgetown Arts and Culture Program.

Jay “Areo” Rivera is a Puerto Rican graffiti writer and artist. Born in 1978, he grew up in the Bronx, New York. During the 90’s in the Bronx, graffiti was in heavy rotation and an essential part of hip-hop culture in New York City. Along with tagging, Areo worked on his skills and began painting murals by the age of 16. At 19 he entered the military as an Infantryman and served three tours in Iraq throughout his 18-year career before medically retiring in 2015. Upon his retirement Areo quickly got back into art and began painting canvases. In 2018 he launched Laced and Found, which provides murals, custom artwork, clothing and has future plans of opening an art collective gallery. Since its launch in February of 2018 Laced and Found has painted over 230 projects including murals and custom work. All of the work done by Jay “Areo” Rivera is done with spray paint; no brushes, markers or any other tools are used for his murals, keeping true to the style and culture of a graffiti artist. Please click here to visit Jay Rivera’s website.

J Muzacz is no stranger to Georgetown’s public art scene!  His most recent work includes the mosaic tile mural in the Georgetown Municipal Court Lobby entitled “El Arbol” (The Tree). Houston-born J Muzacz was recently honored by the Texas Commission on the Arts by inclusion in the 2020-2022 Texas Touring Roster. Muzacz has 15 years of experience painting large-scale murals for both public and private clients. He is also an educator and author/illustrator with two books to his credit, both bilingual in English and Japanese, from his time teaching overseas in Japan. He has lived and worked in Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand, having painted numerous notable murals abroad, one of which found its way into a Samsung commercial, as well as the cover of Hong Kong Airlines magazine. Connecting his passions for art and travel, J is eager to tour and engage with schools and communities all over the state of Texas, making and facilitating mural and mosaic art that uplifts, educates, and inspires people of all ages for years to come. Recently J has been commissioned across the country for commercial murals in Florida, California, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. He has also been invited to festivals as a featured artist in Austin, Houston, and Flint, Michigan, just to name a few. Please click here.

The Georgetown Arts and Culture Board is now inviting grant proposals for art, music, theatre, dance, and cultural heritage events and programs – as well as organizational development – taking place in Georgetown between April 2021 and September 2021.

Due to the continued obstacles to holding events as a result of the pandemic, the Georgetown Arts and Culture grants for 2021 Round I will also include funding options for organizational development such as strategic planning, board training, and professional development that will help fulfill the mission of the organization.

Nonprofit organizations, schools, and informal arts and culture organizations creating arts and culture programming, organizational development, or an event open to the public are eligible to apply. The City of Georgetown Arts and Culture Board considers all applicants without attention to the following – which includes but is not limited to – race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status. Organizations that received funding in the 2020 Round II cycle are not eligible to apply for 2021 Round I.

The Georgetown Arts and Culture Grants help the Arts and Culture Board fulfill bylaw requirements which include recognizing and encouraging groups and organizations that enrich Georgetown life by bringing cultural and artistic values and artifacts to the City.  Members of the Arts and Culture Board believe a vibrant arts community and cultural offerings are good for the quality of life for residents, will attract visitors, and will assist Georgetown in becoming a nationally recognized arts destination by 2030.  The grant program helps develop and strengthen our local arts community by contributing funding to arts and culture programming that enhances our local community.

Click here to go to the application form:

Grant Proposal Form

For more detailed information, please visit the grant page.

Georgetown Title – in collaboration with the Georgetown Arts and Culture Board – would like to commission an artist to design and install a mural on an exterior wall of their building. Call opens November 1, 2020

Application Deadline: December 31, 2020

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Beginning November 1st, 2020, The City of Georgetown’s Arts and Culture Board will invite artist entries for the Commercial Mural Project at Georgetown Title. The mural design should be an interpretation of the history of the site using abstract representation with an emphasis on color and shape instead of realistic representation. For more details, see the full submission guidelines here: Call for Artist Entries_Georgetown Title Mural; Area maps can be found here: Supplemental Area Maps_Georgetown Title Mural

ABOUT GEORGETOWN TITLE AND THE HISTORY OF THE SITE: The area just to the west of Georgetown’s historic Courthouse Square was once the city’s center of industry and transportation. When the railroad arrived in 1876, it had a huge impact on the transportation of goods and agricultural products, and lumber yards were quickly built around the rail spurs to take advantage of the incoming building supplies. The railroad brought more refined building products in, as well as connected local agricultural products like cotton to larger markets. The railroad also brought in everything from produce to rubber, and the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Georgetown are an early picture of the affluence the rail connection brought to the community. The rail spurs remained downtown for nearly a century until they were removed in the mid 1960’s.

The location of the Georgetown Title Company was previously the site of the Belford Lumber Yard. Owned by Charles Sanford (C. S.) Belford, who was one of the most notable builders in Georgetown’s history, this was his center of operations for his substantial building business. Belford has a National Register Historic District named after him and is known for building remarkable houses in the city’s Old Town Historic District as well as commercial structures in the Downtown. Belford’s toolbox, ledgers and some of his construction plans are housed in Special Collections at Southwestern University.

A group of buildings known as Belford Square where built in the early 1970’s and became home to Georgetown Title.  Georgetown Title employees are experts in closing and insuring all types of land transactions, from farm and ranch to commercial, residential and new construction.

 ELIGIBILITY: This opportunity is open to all professional artists over the age of 18.

BUDGET: This project is part of the Percent for Public Art in Municipal Capital Improvement Projects and provides matching City funds to the Commercial Mural at Georgetown Title. An artist stipend of $4,000 will be paid to the artist selected to install the mural. The cost of materials and equipment necessary to install the mural will be covered up to $2,000. Any material and equipment costs exceeding this amount will require prior approval. The selected artist will be responsible for their own travel costs, housing, and personal liability insurance.

INSTALLATION DATE: Mural will be completed by April 30, 2021.

APPLY: Applications will be submitted through Submittable.com between November 1 and December 31, 2020: https://artsgeorgetown.submittable.com/Submit

SELECTION: From the entries submitted by the deadline, the Arts and Culture Board in collaboration with Georgetown Title will award an artist commission for the mural design and installation.  Artists will be notified of the final selection by the late January, 2021.

APPLICATION FEE: None

Questions: Contact Amanda Still at 512-930-8471 or Amanda.still@georgetown.org

Please click here to view the full submission guidelines, project schedule, and other info: Call for Artist Entries_Georgetown Title Mural