Brittany Kelley
BUDA — Buda’s Inspired Minds Art Center was recently awarded for its community effort and business initiatives.
The honor is part of the President’s Awards, which are hosted annually by the Texas Downtown Association, an organization that began in 1985 to “connect and service downtown professionals and champions,” stated its website. The awards consist of 11 categories, ranging from Best Commercial Interior to Best Economic Game Changer to Best Downtown Business — the latter of which Inspired Minds won.
The categories are split into two sections: over and under a population of 50,000.
According to Buda's Main Street manager Garret Hope, Inspired Minds was chosen after the Main Street Advisory Board sat down to determine which businesses to nominate.
“I think there were a couple that we had talked about, at least in the committee meeting, that we thought would be good. I think just from the conversation, just knowing how long Inspired Minds has been around [and] the fact that they do so many different things for our community and the surrounding community — whenever you’re reading through the prompts, they checked every box,” explained Hope.
The Texas Downtown Association stated that each category is judged by the company’s creativity, innovation, best practices, ease of replication, public/private partnership and success solutions to downtown revitalization issues. The Best Downtown Business Award, specifically, focuses on how the business promotes the downtown as a destination of locals and tourists. Then, separate panels of professionals will rank submissions on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest. After, the scores are gathered to determine the finalists, where a winner will be selected.
The most exciting part, said Hope, is that Inspired Minds was unaware of the nomination.
“When I found out, I was honestly surprised. While we've put so much time and effort into making Inspired Minds Art Center exceptional for our community, there are so many incredible small businesses in downtowns across Texas doing meaningful, community-centered work! My first thought was of my incredible business partner, Susan Guerra, and our creative team of artists, managers, staff, and volunteers who show up every day with purpose, passion, and heart,” said co-founder Sinéad Whiteside.
The award was presented at the 40th Texas Downtown Association President’s Awards in Waco Nov. 2-5.
Not only was the award validating, Whiteside explained, but it proves that art is not an “add-on” to life, but a necessity, as the community sees how important art and creativity are in contributing to the wellbeing of residents.
The art center opened in January 2020, according to a previous article from the Hays Free Press, to support local artists and the community to create a dialogue of creativity, passion, fine art and a celebration of culture.
It offers several programs for adults, teens and children that teach techniques in painting, ceramics, fiber arts and theatre, as well as emphasize critical thinking and problem-solving.
Hope stated that the city is proud of Inspired Minds, as the award also brings recognition to the city, especially since the judges noted that this has been one of the most competitive years to date.
“Susan and I felt grateful to the city of Buda for nominating us and for continually believing that the arts and culture matter in the well-being and identity of a community,” concluded Whiteside. “It doesn’t feel like ‘we’ won it alone — it feels like the community won it with us.”
To learn more information about Inspired Minds, visit www.inspiredminds.art.
