Editor's note: This story is part of an ongoing series for Arts Access examining the health and well-being of our North Texas arts economy.
The Arts Community Alliance (TACA) announced Tuesday that it will award $650,000 in 2025 Catalyst Grants to 50 arts organizations across Dallas county.
Unlike project-specific grants, the Catalyst Grants provide unrestricted funding to nonprofit arts organizations after a rigorous assessment process. For 10 months, each organization is evaluated by volunteer TACA members. The money they are awarded is based on the success of their public programming and shows. TACA awards funding each year as part of its broader mission to strengthen the arts community.
“We are very proud to award these grants every year,” said Maura Sheffler, the Donna Wilhelm Family president and executive director of TACA. “We know they provide very important funding to the arts community.”
Last month, the National Endowment for the Arts withdrew grants for cultural institutions nationwide. Thirteen North Texas groups lost more than $345,000 in funding. Seven of this year's Catalyst Grant recipients were among those affected, including Bishop Arts Theatre Center, Kitchen Dog Theater Company and Teatro Dallas.
Although the Catalyst recipients were chosen before the NEA cuts, Sheffler said TACA has been in direct conversation with organizations they oversee about ways they can continue to support.
“This is definitely a very important year to support the arts and cultural community,” she said. “At the end of the day, we do the best that we can with the resources we have available to us.”
Along with the Catalyst Grants, TACA supports local artists and organizations through the TACA New Works Fund, which aims to support arts in underrepresented communities, and through Pop-Up Grants, which are awarded to different artists in sums of up to $7,500 every other month. They also offer arts-specific professional development programs such as the Arts Accelerator and the Amplifier Workshops.
“The more people that support the arts, the more sustainable we will be able to be as a sector,” Sheffler said.
TACA’s 2025 Catalyst grantees include the following:
Arts Mission Oak Cliff
AT&T Performing Arts Center
Avant Chamber Ballet
Basically Beethoven
Bishop Arts Theatre Center
Bombshell Dance Project
Broadway Dallas
Bruce Wood Dance
Cara Mía Theatre
The Cedars Union
Dallas Chamber Symphony
Dallas Children's Theater
Dallas Film Society
Dallas Museum of Art
The Dallas Opera
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Theater Center
Dallas Winds
Deep Vellum Publishing
Echo Theatre
The Firehouse Theatre
Greater Dallas Choral Society
Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra
Junior Players Guild
Kitchen Dog Theater Company
Knowbox Dance
Nasher Sculpture Center
New Texas Symphony Orchestra
Orchestra of New Spain
Orpheus Chamber Singers
OutLoud Dallas
Over the Bridge Arts
Pegasus Contemporary Ballet
Pegasus Media Project
Lone Star Wind Orchestra
Prism Movement Theater
Sammons Center For The Arts
Second Thought Theatre
Shakespeare Dallas
Soul Rep Theatre Company
Teatro Dallas
Texas Ballet Theater
Texas Winds Musical Outreach
Theatre Three
TITAS/Dance Unbound
Undermain Theatre
Uptown Players
Verdigris Ensemble
The Women's Chorus of Dallas
The Writer's Garret
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