Arts advocates to be honored

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 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.

Meinershagen was nominated by the HALL Group.

Her passion for performing arts began when she was a young child. She plays the piano and the violin and has played the electric violin on stage with the Texas String Quartet. Meinershagen also teaches music lessons to children.

Other area recipients include The Andrea-Mennen Family Foundation, which will be recognized in the Arts Education category. The Collin County-based foundation has raised millions of dollars in support of artistic youth endeavors in the county and has mentored other philanthropists in establishing family foundations, according to a press release.

The Plano Symphony Orchestra and Chamberlain Performing Arts nominated the foundation for the honor.

ArtCentre of Plano will be honored in the Distinguished Cultural Organization category and was nominated by Atmos Energy Corporation.

The two entities worked together to bring more than 5,000 middle school and high school students in Collin County the experience of the Kinsey Collection of African American Art.

They also teamed up to work with Plano ISD’s art department in developing a curriculum that accompanies the exhibition, the release stated.

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, a release stated.