Taylor Jackson always wanted a career in the arts. Raised by her mother, who was an educator, Taylor saw firsthand how transformative it was to integrate the arts into her teaching and credits her mother for the access and exposure to the field.
Graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Rhodes College and then shortly after pursuing a Master of Arts in Public Humanities at Brown University, Taylor believes that whether or not you’re an artist yourself, the arts “[are] the fire underneath that brings up everyone’s passions and care and love for each other.”
Taylor’s lifelong beliefs have led her to become the youngest CEO in the history of the Houston Arts Alliance. The nonprofit partners with the city of Houston, Texas, to distribute public and private funds to the area. Taylor speaks to Her Agenda about the importance of art funding and her journey to success at the age of 31.
Her Agenda: How did you get started in your career?
Taylor Jackson: I stayed in Providence after I graduated and started running an after-school art studio for middle school students. That was really empowering, not just for the students, but for me because I was back in a seat where I really got to see the transformative power of the arts, specifically in youth communities.
I was an executive director, mostly writing grants at that time and helping to fundraise for my organization. So when I got tapped to apply for the director of grants role at Houston Arts Alliance, I was a little taken aback at first because I was like, ‘okay, I’ve been on the side of having to write the grants and do the fundraising, but I’ve never been on the side of the house where I actually have to facilitate and distribute these grants on the city of Houston’s behalf.’ And my predecessor at the time said, ‘I think that’s why you are the perfect person for this job, because you understand probably our largest community stakeholder, which is the grant-seeking community.’
So that’s how I ended up in Houston from Providence, Rhode Island, running the grants department for Houston Arts Alliance. I think when it was time for a leadership transition, the board felt like, because of my experience distributing these dollars on the city and the organization’s behalf, and because of the rapport and trust that was really important for me to build with the community, they thought those were qualities they wanted in the CEO who was going to come in.
Now I’ve been in this role for a little over a year and a half, and it’s been a privilege and honor. I’m really humbled by the opportunity to do this work and serve the organization in this new leadership capacity.
Her Agenda: How much does the City of Houston allocate to funding the arts?
Taylor Jackson: Annually, for our grant-making work, we distribute about $17 million, roughly on the city’s behalf. All of the grants that we distribute are funded by the hotel occupancy tax. There’s an allocation dedicated towards arts, culture, and tourism, and we receive a cut of that allocation and distribute those funds. So when we have really good hot years, which we were anticipating this year when FIFA came to town and some other really big conferences, we’re able to distribute more money, which feels really good.
Our civic artwork is funded a little differently. It’s not funded by the hotel occupancy tax.
It’s actually based on CIP dollars, which are Capital Improvement Plan dollars that are allocated to different city budgets. It really depends on what new construction projects are going on, what conservation work is going on, but currently we have about 870 pieces of civic art within the city civic art collection. The value of that work, of course, is increasing year over year, which is really exciting to see this live asset sort of continue to build revenue for the city.
Her Agenda: Why is investment in the arts so important?
Taylor Jackson: A lot of folks like to think about the arts as a subsidy, but it really is an investment. Cultural, civic infrastructure, the economy, and ultimately the future of our city of Houston. It’s not as simple as just buying a piece of art or attending a show; you really are investing in the future of our communities.
I believe [art] is like the fire underneath that brings up everyone’s passions, care, and love for each other, for the city. There’s a livelihood that connects us all by way of this vessel that is art. I always try to push that it’s not just an elective or a hobby. It really is quintessential and core to the ways in which we relate to each other, we connect with each other, we communicate with each other, and ultimately how we tell our story. Our collective story that the world gets to hear and hopefully appreciate.
Her Agenda: What’s a project that you’re proud of during your tenure as CEO of the Houston Arts Alliance?
Taylor Jackson: In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, our disaster services department was originally launched at the organization. It was really about advocating for creatives, creative entrepreneurs, and artists to be eligible for federal relief funding in the aftermath of a disaster. You essentially have these small business owners that are not able to rebuild at the same rate that other folks could because they were not eligible to receive any support.
As that advocacy work sort of kicked up by way of the Disaster Services Department, we also started up a disaster relief fund so that in the aftermath of a disaster, we could give out microgrants to at least help some of these artists and creative entrepreneurs get back to their work a little bit faster. We relaunched our newly rebranded disaster services department. It is now resilience and recovery. We’re still heading up advocacy efforts, disaster preparation and recovery support, but incorporating now more intentionally career and economic mobility opportunities, again, for artists to learn how to sustain their practices, whether that’s by way of grant writing workshops, tax seminars, marketing and communication workshops, budget workshops.
We also relaunched our digital Houston Civic Art Map, so you can actually go onto the website, locate all 870 plus pieces that are in the City Civic Art Collection, learn about their origin, learn about the artists behind them, visit the artist profile, and get connected to some really incredible, unique artists doing expansive work in the arts and cultural space across the city, across Harris County.
Her Agenda: What advice do you have to anyone wanting to start a career in the arts, whether that’s as a creative or on the business side?
Taylor Jackson: Stay with it. Every day is not easy, breezy, beautiful, Cover Girl. There are a lot of ups and downs when it comes to this work. But I think if you are passionate about supporting the ecosystem or about your own practice as an artist, it’s absolutely worth it.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve received a no on my career journey in the arts, whether that was getting denied a grant or not getting that corporate sponsorship that you wanted or having to wait on a big project or plan that you have because you need the right resources and people to come together to execute it. But when it does, when all of those pieces come together, when you get that yes, and you’re actually able to see the thing come to fruition, every no received before becomes worth it at that point.
I would encourage folks to stay hungry, stay passionate, stay connected, stay in community, stay collaborative.
