Laura Esparza, A3: Art Alliance Austin

Laura Esparza, Executive Director, A3: Art Alliance Austin

About the Program:

A3 sustains Austin’s arts ecosystem. Because we become a better community when we come together through the arts. And, this year, Fiesta is back!

About the Speaker:

Laura Esparza has devoted more than 40 years to the development of diverse communities through the arts with her skills and experience as a professional arts administrator, facility planner and organizational consultant. Her work has taken her throughout the country, having founded programs and facilities in Bellingham, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, San Antonio, Phoenix, Redwood City, San Jose and Austin.

For 17 years, she served as the Division Manager of the City’s 11 Museums and Cultural Centers which she ran for the City of Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department. She successfully completed and opened three new cultural facilities, the Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC), the Asian American Resource Center and Oakwood Cemetery Chapel.

She assisted with the completion of four additional projects including the reconstruction of the People’s Renaissance Market, the renovation of the Susannah Dickinson House, the renovation of the Carver Genealogy Center, and phase one of the restoration of the Ney Museum. In addition, she supervised the operations of the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center, the Dougherty Arts Center, the Old Bakery and Emporium and the O. Henry Museum.

Agenda: