Our Latest News & Stories

The Frisco Arts Foundation celebrated its 25th Anniversary and the 20th Anniversary of the Texas Sculpture Garden at the SOLD OUT Frisco Arts Walk and Run on October 1, 2022. 

 

Nearly 600 participants joined in the festivities, with ages ranging from two to 78 and traveling from 6 states: Illinois, Georgia, Minnesota, Florida, Washington, and New York, and over 30 Texas cities. Over 50 local performers were featured along the run route. 

Through its Spirit of Giving philosophy, H-E-B is passionately dedicated to its customers beyond its stores. In Frisco, H-E-B gifted $10,000 each to Frisco Arts Foundation, VFW Post 8273, Frisco FastPacs, Frisco Family Services, and Boys & Girls Club Frisco. These donations build on H-E-B’s support of more than 100 non-profit organizations and public schools in the DFW Metroplex.

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“At H-E-B, it is our mission to give back to the communities we serve, and we partner with organizations to help expand our reach and impact on families and communities across Texas,” said Mabrie Jackson, H-E-B Director of Public Affairs. 

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The largest privately held employer in Texas, H-E-B has more than 420 stores and 137,000 Partners in Texas and Mexico, and the retailer continues to be an economic driver as it expands in North Texas and other areas of the state.

Frisco Arts celebrated Veterans Day by sharing art at an Arts & Veterans panel discussion with local U.S. Army veterans and arts advocates.

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Recorded on Friday November 5th, 2020, the guests for this conversation were Peter Burns from the Frisco Public Art Board, Rob Altman from Frisco mayor’s veterans committee, Shenna Lawless, the Frisco VFW commander, and military artist Bryce Hansen, moderated by Board Chair Tammy Meinershagen.

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“Storytelling is really at the heart of all art forms,” Tammy Meinershagen shared during the panel. “It is about human connection, human expression, and the way that we relate to each other.” Storytelling was the heart of the art panel. The veterans wove stories about their backgrounds, why they joined the military, and what brought them to Frisco. 

"In the summer work session, we [will] have an opportunity to share how our arts groups are going to adjust their programming for the post COVID-19 era,” Meinershagen said. “The whole arts industry and sector has to innovate right now. It’s a very difficult time for all artists.”

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Meinershagen said there were several local arts organizations in attendance at the meeting, and they were excited about the idea of using city venues since a lot of the money that the groups spend goes toward venue rentals.

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“If that goes away and the city can provide the space, well, we've got the talent,” Meinershagen said. “Then it's just a matter of how do you engage the public in a safe way with the arts community again.”

"For five years, Kelly DeLay’s head was in the clouds, but not in the distracted way one might assume. In fact, the longtime Frisco resident and multimedia artist was extremely focused when he set out each day, beginning in 2009 through 2014, to photograph billowing cumulonimbus and other cloud formations, as well as spectacular lightning strikes and terrifying tornadoes. These shots, which he painstakingly edited and posted on his blog (clouds365.com) and social media, were the basis of the Clouds 365 Project, which Mr. DeLay says he began as “an excuse to do something creative every day.” 

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Kelly Delay will be the featured artist at Arts Impact 2019, Frisco Arts' annual membership celebration on December 5th, 2019 at Frisco Hall.

"A prominent figure in the Frisco arts community is among those to be honored by the Business Council for the Arts on Nov. 15 with a 2019 Obelisk Award. Tammy Meinershagen, the executive director of the Frisco Association for the Arts, will be honored with the Visionary Nonprofit Arts Leader Award. Meinershagen was nominated by HALL Group.

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Meinershagen also began the Frisco Arts Walk at HALL Park and has been key in a collaboration to bring a performing arts center to the city. 

 

The Obelisk Awards began in 1988 by the late international arts patron, philanthropist and Nasher Sculpture Center namesake Raymond Nasher. It was created to recognize leaders of the nation’s fifth largest arts economy, which contributes more than $1.5 billion a year to North Texas."

At the fourth annual Frisco Arts Walk & Run, the arts are keeping pace with athletics. Local music, visual arts and performing arts are teaming up with a 5K race to combine creativity with health in a celebration of what Frisco has to offer.

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"It's a great representation of what we're trying to focus on as a city," says Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney, who will be one of the runners at the Oct. 5 race. "We're known as Sports City USA — but we're making a push to be known as [both] a sports and arts city."

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The event has something for everyone in the Frisco community to enjoy. "We're a young and healthy community," event coordinator Tammy Meinershagen says of the city's love for these types of runs. "This is the only one we've found in Texas actually that is an immersive arts 5K."

Downtown Frisco is going through a constant period of change and innovation, and there is something new and impressive happening every day. 

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At the corner of 4th and Main Streets, you cannot miss the newest mural completed by one of Frisco’s very own artists. Reflecting the city’s influence, cultures, history, entertainment offerings and more, the mural, appropriately titled “Frisco: Past and Present,” colorfully catches the eye of anyone strolling Main Street on a shopping excursion or simply driving by on the way to work.

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Any artist’s work requires vulnerability, talent and passion in order to be appealing. Joshua Boulet, the man behind this new art display in Frisco, is a freelance artist who considers himself self-taught and privileged to share his talent.

"Athletes rule in Frisco, which markets itself as Sports City USA -- home to three major league franchises, including the Dallas Cowboys, plus two minor league organizations.

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But amid sports enthusiasm that’s as supersized as The Star, a dedicated and growing number of residents are clamoring for a city defined by arts as well as athletics. The savvy group Frisco Arts not only has embraced its underdog role but is finding ways to partner, rather than compete, with the playing field.

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Last year, Frisco Arts welcomed about 4,000 people at The Star's outdoor pavilion to watch a live Winspear simulcast of Madame Butterfly by the Dallas Opera. Tammy Meinershagen, the arts group's executive director, still lights up when she recalls that the crowd stayed for the full three hours of musical storytelling."

"In 2009, when Cooper Damm was in third grade, he lost his dad to brain cancer. This sparked a passion in his now-single mom, Tyra Damm, to honor her late husband, Steve, by starting a pay-it-forward kindness campaign on his birthday every year. Her community bolstered her through the heart-breaking journey and, in turn, grew stronger and more compassionate through her passion.

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Around the same time, a pianist and violin teacher, Tammy Meinershagen, was asking her realtor, Jeff Cheney, about fine arts in Frisco. She had moved from the Chicago area in 2004 and saw little emphasis on the arts in Frisco. He encouraged her to join the Citizen Bond Committee and use her passion to help shape the remaining 40 percent of undeveloped land in Frisco."