Arts Commission Honors Contributors, Advocates

Posted by Staff

@CorridorNews

The San Marcos Arts Commission honored individuals and groups who have contributed to the arts in San Marcos recently at its annual San Marcos Arts Advocacy Reception at Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos.

The Commission honored Deanna Badgett, Billi London-Gray, Dr. Ron and Marie Jager and the Crossroads Committee.

The event was attended by past recipients Ophelia Vasquez-Philo and Linda Kelsey-Jones, as well as representatives from many community organizations, including El Centro, Indigenous Cultures Institute, Art Squared, Friends of the Fine Arts, San Marcos Arts Advocates, LBJ Museum and the LBJ-MLK Crossroads Memorial Committee.

“The arts are important to our community because they provides opportunities for economic development, sharing of cultures, exploring creativity, and opportunities for artists to express themselves – whether it is visual, vocal, dance, film, or writing,” said Lisa Morris, City of San Marcos Recreation Program Manager/Staff Liaison to the Arts Commission. “Art is boundless, and it is the mark of a great community when public art is available and valued.”

Deanna Badgett began her Suzuki Violin studio in 1984 and has taught as many as 40 students a year for the past 30 years. In the early years, Deanna Badgett provided the only violin lessons in a studio for children in San Marcos. Over the past decade, violin lessons have entered the public schools as a direct result of Deanna’s tireless efforts. From her studio have come eight new violin teachers who are carrying on the tradition, demonstrating that young people can learn to play the violin if given the chance. 

Billi London-Gray is Curator at the Honors College at Texas State University.  At the University’s Gallery of the Common Experience, at her own Zosima Gallery and with organized tours of local art studios, she has expanded opportunities for local artists to create and show their works.  In her professional life as an artist and a curator and as an arts community volunteer, she has helped to expand awareness of and participation in the arts in San Marcos.

Dr. Ron and Marie Jager are as much an institution in the history of San Marcos cultural development as the building they have worked to restore, maintain and operate—the Price Seniors Center.  Ron is a retired professor and Marie is a retired high school drama teacher.

The LBJ-MLK Crossroads Memorial Committee, a remarkable group of people led by Chair Diann McCabe, worked with tenacity and vision beginning in 2008 to provide a permanent gift of artistic and historic value to San Marcos:  the LBJ/MLK Memorial Sculpture.  Their persistence and determination, as well as successful development of enthusiastic community participation, provided an art form for public enjoyment and pride and added substantially to the cultural and artistic life of the City.  Members of the committee each received a certificate of recognition at the ceremony.