Our Mission

Waco Cultural Arts Fest brings together music, dance, poetry, film, performance arts, visual arts, and scientific pursuits in its weekend festival held in Indian Spring Park and the Waco Convention Center. Waco Cultural Arts Festival, a three-day festival celebrating hands-on “Arts for All”, performance art includes varied musical genres symbolizing the cross cultural power of music and dance. Attendance has risen from 3,000 to 18,000. Since 2004 the festival has placed educational outreach performances and workshops in the Waco Independent School District investing over $50,000 in school programming for K-12.

Art on Elm, a one-day pop up art event on Waco's historic Elm Avenue. With a juried exhibition, artist booths, food, music and local nonprofits, it's a great opportunity to go east of the Brazos.

A collaboration with NeighborWorks Waco to support a safe, family arts event in an East Waco neighborhood park supporting efforts to keep it drug free.

We believe in supporting the arts and arts education all year. In our goal to bring the arts to all sections of Waco, we partner with groups during the school year and summer to provide art programming to students of all ages.

Educational programs include:

• Art at the ARC: Summer Art Camp in collaboration with the Arc of McLennan County for students with autism and cerebral palsy.
• The Opportunity Center: A day program for adults on the autism spectrum that fosters social, artistic, vocational, volunteer, and entrepreneurial development.

In support of arts for all programming, Cultural Arts of Waco advocates for art in public spaces.
Projects

• Doris Miller Memorial: honors an awe-inspiring African-American hero while providing a place for reflection and learning.
• Branding the Brazos:   "Waco Chisholm Trail Heritage" Sculpture, a series of sculptures that pay homage to Waco's role along the historic cattle-drive trail and enable visitors to visualize Texas folklore, culture and history.
• Waco National Outdoor Sculpture Invitational brings unique sculptures by renowned and emerging artists into Waco’s downtown in order to promote art in public places.
• Mid-America Arts Alliance Mural: EAST WACO LIBRARY - "StoryTellers" Artist David Lowenstein - a community based arts project
• South Waco Mural"Images from the Past"  IIra Watkins & Chesley Smith  lead artists - a community based arts project.

  The future: ARTPLACE, a planned arts hub on Elm Avenue in East Waco.

A 1.5 million project to restore a 1940"s drug store, converted to a segregated cinema into a community arts hub.