Tommy Usrey has served as a long-time board member and past chair of Louisiana Partnership for the Arts and is also past chair of Americans for the Arts’ State Arts Action Network. Usrey has demonstrated time and again the instinctive ability to bring together people, political opportunities, and resources to grow and strengthen the arts on the state level starting from the ground up.

In his roles with the Louisiana Citizens for the Arts and Louisiana Partnership for the Arts, he has helped the organizations achieve stability and become guiding influences in the state. Under Usrey’s leadership, these organizations have helped to brand Louisiana as a uniquely creative place.

Usrey follows in the footsteps of Alene Valkanas as a believer in the power of the arts to change lives and communities for the better. For these reasons, Tommy Usrey was selected as the 2013 winner of the Alene Valkanas State Arts Advocacy Award.