The Houston City Council approved the city's Arts And Cultural Plan on Wednesday, October 14. An arts and cultural plan has not been adopted in 22 years—since 1993. Houston Mayor Annise Parker called the plan “overdue.” The plan lays out local community concerns, provides a vision for the future of Houston’s arts and culture sector, and provides a list of recommendations to achieve long-term goals.

Mayor Parker also stated that “one reason for the setback is the fact that Houston spends fewer public dollars on the arts per capita than any other major U.S. city.” The plan studies the structures of current funding models in Houston, i.e. percentage of annual tax money that certain organizations receive. When her terms ends next year, Mayor Parker hopes the plan will keep “the public’s responsibility to keep the discussion going.”

In January 2015, Americans for the Arts and the United States Conference of Mayors presented Mayor Annise Parker with the Mayors National Award for Local Arts Leadership for her support of the arts during her nearly 17 year career as a City Councilmember, Controller, and now Mayor of Houston.