Reserve your place now for a memorable night of live music, dancing, delicious things to eat and drink, great company and a few surprises. We are celebrating our first quarter century by presenting the first ever “Star of Texas Folklife” Awards to three icons of Texas music: Santiago Jimenez, Jr., Johnny Gimble and Barbara Lynn. Gus Garcia, Ray Benson and Marcia Ball will do the honors and writer Sarah Bird will be on hand to reflect on the pleasures and absurdities of being Texan. Table sponsors receive acknowledgement or ads in the event program and other benefits tailored to your interests and needs.


I will attend and would like to purchase: (table information below)
  ____ Tall in the Saddle Table(s) for 10 at $10,000 each ($9,500 TAX DEDUCTIBLE)
  ____ Silver Spurs Table(s) for 10 at $7,500 each ($7,000 TAX DEDUCTIBLE)
  ____ Big Sky Table(s) for 10 at $3,500 each ($3,000 TAX DEDUCTIBLE)
  ____ Roots Table(s) for 10 at $1,250 each ($750 TAX DEDUCTIBLE)
  ____ Ticket(s) at $125 each ($75 per ticket TAX DEDUCTIBLE)

Please list our table on the table cards, etc. as follows (e.g. Jane and John Smith):

I cannot attend but would like to make a fully tax-deductible donation to Texas Folklife
in the amount of $ ____________

Name:
Address:
City, State, Zip:
Phone:                           E-mail:

Form of payment:       MasterCard ___     Visa  ___    Amex  ___    Check ___

Cardholder’s Name:
Card Number:                                     Exp.Date:                 CVV code:

Signature:

Please make checks payable to Texas Folklife. Please complete this reservation and return it with your check (if applicable) to: Texas Folklife, 1317 S. Congress, Austin, TX 78704 Attn: Sarah Rucker

TALL IN THE SADDLE ($10,000)
VIP seating with honorees and presenters and valet parking for 10 guests;
Your company name and logo on all print materials, web-site and advertising for one year, including:
direct-mail announcements to Texas Folklife’s mailing list of 12,000 Texas residents;
press releases to regional and national media;
lobby signage, event posters, banners and event programs;
and e-vites to 5,000 Central Texans;
Full page ad in event program;
Recognition from the stage at all Texas Folklife events for one year;
Opportunity for your representative to give brief remarks during event;
Opportunity to display signage and distribute information and products (including samples, unless restricted by venue) at Texas Folklife events for one year;
A Texas Folklife event for your company or store (e.g. performance, film screening, exhibit, gallery talk, reception);
Member benefits for your company, including discount-priced tickets for events; invitations to Texas Folklife events throughout the year, including private donor parties with special guests and visiting artists;
Opportunities for your staff to participate in volunteer activities at events; 
Loan for one month of a Texas Folklife photo exhibit for your company ( e.g. “Ranch Gates of the Southwest,” “The Welcoming Table,” “Texas Zydeco”)

SILVER SPURS ($7,500)
VIP seating and valet parking for 10 guests;
Your company name and logo on all print materials, web-site and advertising for one year, including:
direct-mail announcements to Texas Folklife’s mailing list of 12,000 Texas residents;
press releases to regional and national media;
lobby signage, event posters, banners and event programs;
and e-vites to 5,000 Central Texans;
Full page ad in event program
Recognition from the stage at all Texas Folklife events for one year;
Your representative to give brief remarks during event;
Member benefits for your company, including discount-priced tickets for events; invitations to Texas Folklife events throughout the year, including private donor parties with special guests and visiting artists;
Opportunities for your staff to participate in volunteer activities at events. 

BIG SKY ($3,500)
Table for 10 guests;
Your company name and logo on all print materials and advertising, including: direct-mail announcements to Texas Folklife’s mailing list of 12,000 Texas residents; press releases to regional and national media; lobby signage, event posters, banners and event programs; and e-vites to 5,000 Central Texans;
Half page ad in event program;
Recognition from the stage;
Prominent listing as the 2010 title sponsor, with your logo, on our Web site;
Tickets and invitations to Texas Folklife events throughout the year, including 10 VIP tickets to private donor parties with special guests and visiting artists;
Memberships (6) for you or your company, including discount-priced tickets for events and invitations to Texas Folklife events throughout the year, including private donor parties with special guests and visiting artists;
Opportunities for your staff to participate in volunteer activities at events. 

ROOTS ($1,250)
Table for 10 guests;
Your name, or company name and logo on event program, website and printed materials;
Memberships (4) for you or your company, including discount-priced tickets for events and invitations to Texas Folklife events throughout the year, including parties with special guests and visiting artists;
Opportunities for your staff to participate in volunteer activities at events. 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
WHO: Texas Folklife – Preserving and presenting the Lone Star state’s living heritage
WHAT: Texas Roots: 25th Anniversary Party & Star of Texas Folklife Awards
WHERE: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, 4801 La Crosse Avenue, Austin, TX 78739
WHEN: September 30th, 2010, 6:30 pm - 10:00 pm
INFO: www.texasfolklife.org and (512) 441-9255
TIX: $125 (space is very limited); tables from $1,250 to $10,000 sponsorship packages
MEDIA: Details, interviews, and images via david@wyattbrand.com and (512) 904-9928

TEXAS FOLKLIFE KICKS OFF 25TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR WITH SPIRITED GALA EVENT
Johnny Gimble, Santiago Jimenez, Jr., Barbara Lynn get their “Star”
CELEBRATION OF DIVERSITY, LIVING HERITAGE OF TEXAS PRESERVED AND PRESENTED TO 1 MILLION 
   
Austin, Texas – Texas Folklife—a statewide organization dedicated to preserving and presenting the diverse cultures and living heritage of the Lone Star State—today announces their 25th anniversary gala event: Texas Roots: 25th Anniversary Party & Star of Texas Folklife Awards celebrating a quarter century of folklife and honoring three Texas music icons. The first-ever Star of Texas Folklife honorees will be Santiago Jimenez, Jr. (Tejano accordionist from San Antonio), Johnny Gimble (Western swing fiddle player from east Texas), and Barbara Lynn (R&B guitarist, "The Empress of Gulf Coast Soul"). The Guy Forsyth Band will perform.

This memorable and singular night of live music, dancing, food, drink, tall tales (and a few surprises) will be accented by acclaimed writer Sarah Bird, who will reflect on the pleasures and absurdities of being Texan. Civil servant Gus Garcia as well as musicians Ray Benson and Marcia Ball will present the awards at this unique, limited-capacity gala event. The evening will be dedicated to the artists, musicians, writers, and scholars who have contributed so much to Texas Folklife over the last 25 years—many in attendance as special guests.

Texas Roots kicks off the organization’s 25th anniversary year. For a quarter century, Texas Folklife has honored the authentic cultural traditions passed down within Texas communities and explores their importance in contemporary society via statewide performances, community residencies, exhibitions, radio and television projects, education programs, curriculum materials, and apprenticeships—in the state and beyond.

Texas Folklife Executive Director Nancy Bless explains, “The last several years have been outstanding ones for Texas Folklife. We have gained a great deal of national exposure for traditional Texas artists through performances at the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival, and on public television stations throughout the country. The traditional arts help connect our present to its past, they inspire us to examine what it means to be Texan, and they remind us that each culture is equally important and deserving of a place at the table.”

The grand and colorful gala anniversary event is planned to coincide with the Yard Show exhibition at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Yard Show, an exhibition based on the book Yard Art and Handmade Places: Extraordinary Expressions of Home by Austin horticulturist Jill Nokes, opens in September at three Austin venues: the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Texas Folklife and Austin City Hall. Yard Show features photographs, stories, videos, sculptural elements and installations from the yards of individuals who have turned their personal property into memorials, sacred spaces, sculptural fantasies, and cultural landmarks.
More About Texas Folklife

For 25 years, Texas Folklife has honored the authentic cultural traditions passed down within communities and explored their importance in contemporary society. Through performances, including prestigious concerts at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and the wildly popular annual Accordion Kings & Queens Festival in Houston; visually arresting exhibitions on subjects such as blues clubs in Houston, memory boxes made by children of Vietnamese immigrants, and West Texas ranch gates; outreach initiatives such as the Folk Arts in Education program; and collecting and archiving stories from Texas tradition bearers; Texas Folklife has fulfilled its mission in the last quarter century with great success. The anticipated audience for Texas Folklife programs and performances in 2010 is expected to be one million.


HONOREES

Santiago Jiménez, Jr. (San Antonio)
Born in 1944, Jiménez was heir to a rich family tradition of button accordion playing. His grandfather Patricio Jiménez played the accordion, and he would take his son Santiago to hear German polka bands in New Braunfels. Santiago, Sr. became one of the seminal figures in the rise of the conjunto, being one of the first accordionists to add the string bass (tololoche), make phonograph recordings, and appear on the radio in the 1930s. He has made over sixty other recordings of more than 700 pieces on regional labels such as Disco Grande, Disco Sombrero, and Disco Corona, and on the national labels Arhoolie, Rounder, and Watermelon. In recent decades, Santiago Jiménez, Jr. has toured widely throughout the United States and to Europe and the Americas -- including Russia, Great Britain, Spain, France, and Mexico. In the contemporary world of Tejano music, Santiago Jiménez, Jr. is seen as a standard bearer of deep conjunto tradition, a lively performer, and a man of great humor and wit.

Johnny Gimble (Drippings Springs)
Gimble was born in Bascom, Texas, (east of Tyler). He began playing in a band with his brothers at age 12 as the Rose City Swingsters before moving to Louisiana to perform with Jimmie Davis. Late in the 1940s, he joined Bob Wills's band, the Texas Playboys. With Wills, he played both fiddle and electric mandolin, and distinguished himself by using a five-string fiddle (most fiddles have four strings). Gimble left the music business briefly, working in a barbershop and a hospital, until 1969 when he and Wills began recording together again. From this time on he enjoyed steady work as a session musician, including with Merle Haggard on his Bob Wills tribute album and Chet Atkins on Superpickers in 1973 and toured with Willie Nelson worldwide from 1979 to 1981. Gimble was also nominated for a Grammy award for his performance on the 1993 Mark O'Connor album Heroes. Gimble continues to perform, and has appeared in the 1990s and 2000s on Austin City Limits and on Garrison Keillor's television broadcasts.

Barbara Lynn (Gulf Coast)
Barbara Lynn, the “Empress of Gulf Coast Soul,” was born Barbara Linda Ozen in Beaumont in 1942 to a Creole family that arrived from Louisiana in the late 1920s. Growing up, she sang at church and in her school choir, but her only formal music training was a year of piano lessons. While still in grade school, she formed an all girl band, Bobbie Lynn and Her Idols, and in high school wrote “You’ll Lose a Good Thing” that reached the Top Ten in pop and climbed to #1 on the Rhythm & Blues charts just a few years after. She went on to tours throughout the US and Europe with such stars as Jackie Wilson, Gladys Knight, James Brown, Patti Labelle, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Mary Wells, Ike and Tina Turner, and many others. Covered by such musicians as Aretha Franklin, Freddy Fender and the Rolling Stones “Oh Baby (We Got a Good Thing Goin’),” Barbara Lynn is an American original. Later, when Barbara became a mother, there were long periods when she stayed close to home, but kept writing and playing. After the death of her second husband, she was coaxed back on the road with tours of Japan and Korea among others. She is also a featured artist at the annual “Ponderosa Stomp” in New Orleans. In 2009, Texas Folklife presented Miss Barbara Lynn to Washington, DC audiences at the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center.

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