Alissa McCain will receive the 2019 Cindi Lazzari Artist Advocate Award from the Texas Entertainment and Sports Law Section (TESLAW) of the State Bar of Texas on November 20 at the InterContinental Stephen F. Austin Hotel. Alissa has twenty years of dedicated and groundbreaking artist advocacy work that has had a substantial impact on the lives of thousands of artists across Texas.
A highly experienced and well-respected community leader, Alissa has maintained a singular focus: the success and advancement of artists.
Her work at Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts over the last seven years has provided both pro bono legal counseling to artists statewide in Texas and events and programs in all major cities in Texas.
In addition, Alissa was not only a founding board member of Capitol View Arts and working board member every year since its inception, she worked tirelessly as a member of the Austin Arts Commission to assist in re-working the funding metrics used to provide City of Austin grant money to help the smaller arts organizations receive their fair share of those funds.
Other notable accomplishments include her service as a Commissioner on the Austin Arts Commission (appointed by Council Member Ora Houston), a consultant and contributing writer to the Austin Music Census, COO of the Austin Creative Alliance, and Director of Programs and Operations for the Austin Music Foundation.
Alissa’s career embodies the traditions of the Lazzari Award — supporting and educating artists by creating the kind of resources that allow creators to thrive. TESLAW will present the award to Alissa on Wednesday, November 20, 2019 at 6:15 P.M. at the Stephen F. Austin Hotel in conjunction with the welcome event for the 29th Annual Entertainment Law Institute hosted in Austin by the State Bar of Texas.
Alissa will receive a plaque created by renowned Austin Artist Rejina Thomas.
About the Lazzari Award: The Lazzari Artist Advocacy Award is named for the late Cindi Lazzari, a leading Texas attorney who went far beyond the call of duty in her efforts to protect the rights of artists in the music industry. It is awarded by TESLAW.
In these challenging times for Texas musicians, the Section wants to recognize the exciting heroes and heroines of all the music communities across Texas who carry on the tradition of Cindi’s good works.
Previous recipients of the Lazzari Award include Juan Tejeda (musician, arts administrator and activist), Robin Shivers (artist manager and founder of the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians), Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts, SIMS Foundation, Nikki Rowling (co-founder of Austin Music Foundation and author of the Austin Music Census), Casey Monahan (the first head of the Governor’s Music Office) and Margaret Moser (the journalist and long-time music editor for the Austin Chronicle).
About the Artist: Rejina Thomas (African American Contemporary Artist) Circa 1979- present. Creative, Rejina Thomas has mastered her trades of Custom Glass Engraving and fabrication with mixed media including metal, stone, and plastics over the last three decades. Her acclaimed artwork is held in public places and private collections around the world. She did all the double acid etch Victorian stencil pattern Glass Art in the Texas State Capitol. Miss Thomas is also well respected as an abstract painter and muralist. Reji Thomas lives and works in Austin, Texas and continues every day to look at life through Abstract Colored glasses in order to see the best in Humanity. https://www.rejithomasart.com/
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