Cross Timbers Fine Arts
Council, Inc. History

Cross Timbers Fine Arts Council (CTFAC) was chartered by the State of Texas as a non-profit corporation under IRS Code 501(c) 3 on July 15, 1980, as an outgrowth of the Stephenville Chamber of Commerce Cultural Affairs Committee.

The Tarleton State University Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center, dedicated to serving all area citizens was completed in 1980. To assist the university in utilizing the fine arts facility as intended, Don Coan, local attorney and rancher and Chamber of Commerce Director, appointed local business woman, Connie Birdsong, to organize and lead a new arts organization. The CTFAC would serve Erath and the seven surrounding counties, known as the Cross Timbers Basin Region. Ms. Birdsong organized a group of seventy charter members to underwrite the costs of the first CTFAC event presented in TSU’s new fine arts center and she continued to lead the organization for the next fourteen years. Today many of CTFAC’s events are still presented in the Clyde H. Wells Center and the seventy charter members are the core of the council’s membership. Mr. Coan and Ms. Birdsong are both still avid supporters.

CTFAC’s mission, accomplished through creative partnerships with art and non-art constituent groups, is to “make the arts accessible, support, promote, increase awareness and present fine art events that inspire, educate and entertain the citizens of the Cross Timbers Basin.” A viable and dedicated volunteer organization of over 300 individual members, the CTFAC is governed by a volunteer board of 15 directors that are elected to three year terms and meet monthly. The council employs a full-time executive director, who works with the board to manage CTFAC’s growing business and financial affairs and a full-time office assistant. CTFAC annually sponsors or co-sponsors 15-20 events.

CTFAC is funded through memberships, corporate sponsors, individual donations, ticket proceeds, fundraising, hotel/motel tax income from the city, grants and foundation gifts. In 2001 Corporate Memberships were created to develop a solid corporate giving base. Today there are 43 corporate members paying annual membership dues ranging from $250 to $5000.

In September 2001 the generosity of several individuals made it possible for CTFAC to purchase a building. The new facility has provided much more than office space. The facility also provides studio space for art lessons; space for the children’s art camp and the River North Gallery has been created and presents numerous exhibits. The new facility has opened new doors and provided new opportunities for art-related activities and programs. The facility is within a sixty-mile radius of the seven other counties we serve: Bosque, Comanche, Eastland, Hamilton, Hood, Palo Pinto, and Somervell.

CTFC is dedicated to providing arts opportunities and experiences to children in the Cross Timbers Basin. Since 1987, CTFAC has annually provided visual arts programs in the Stephenville Independent School District schools, which have been made possible through partial funding by Texas Commission on the Arts. Annual children’s theater performances and youth concerts are also presented for students in the eight county area. In the summer of 2001 an annual children’s art camp was added.

In 1999 CTFAC received a Chamber Music America residency grant for promoting chamber music in rural areas. Stephenville was one of three cities in the United Sates to participate in the residency program as a host city that year. The CHAMPS (Chamber Performers of Stephenville) program was a two-year program and benefited all eight counties. CTFAC has used experiences gained through the CMA residency to provide music programming to enhance existing school music programs and provide music education and entertainment to schools that do not have music programs. The music education and visual arts programs are a unique way of creating ongoing artistic presence in and enhancing the cultural life of rural communities and school systems whose budget resources may not allow for such programs.

The CTFAC board of directors and membership continue to work with the same vision and commitment to quality and accessibility in arts education and entertainment, as did the seventy charter members over twenty years ago. CTFAC is dedicated to providing and promoting cultural opportunities to the citizens of the Cross Timbers Basin that inspire, enhance the quality of life and encourage creativity through the arts.