A creative economy, a cultural district, and a workforce built from within.
Anna is one of the fastest-growing cities in America — on its way from 27,000 to 100,000 people. The Anna Arts Council exists so the identity Anna grows into is one it chose: rooted in the artists already living here, already making things, already dreaming of a city worthy of their work.
“I am not asking for a handout. I am proposing a partnership — one with documented precedent, clear funding mechanisms, measurable return, and a workforce of trained, business-ready artists ready to fill every corridor, classroom, park, plaza, and public wall that Anna is building right now. Every arts district you have admired in North Texas started with exactly this kind of conversation. We are the missing piece.”
— Aubrey Murphy, Founder, Anna Arts Council
What Anna has right now: the gap
Anna is the only major-growth city in Collin County without arts infrastructure. That gap is both the problem and the opening — and the window is open right now, while the plans are still being written.
What we’re asking the City
Four things — and none of them ask the city to spend from its general fund. They simply switch on tools that already exist in Texas law and have worked in every North Texas arts district before us.
A resolution of support
One council vote naming the Anna Arts Council as the group that manages a future Cultural District. It costs the city nothing and unlocks everything.
Turn on the hotel-tax arts share
Texas already lets a portion of the city's hotel-occupancy tax fund the arts. Anna collects that tax today. Directing a share of it to arts programming needs no new tax — the money already exists.
Adopt 1% for art
Cities like McKinney and Plano put 1% of each construction project toward permanent public art. On projects already budgeted, it adds nothing — it just leaves art behind.
Name the arts in the city plan
Add arts and culture to Anna's 2050 and downtown plans — before the concrete is poured, when it's cheapest to build in.
While the city decides, we didn’t wait.
The Artist Business Academy is the most comprehensive artist professional-development curriculum built for a local community anywhere in North Texas — 30 courses, 6 tracks, and a certificate. It teaches artists how to price, sell, apply for grants, and run a real business. It’s free to Anna Arts Council members, and it lives right here.
“No amount of money creates talent. No amount of talent creates business skills. But when talent, skills, and permission arrive together — a city finds out what it is made of.”
— Aubrey Murphy, Anna Arts Council