TACA (The Arts Community Alliance) announced two familiar names as its 2026 TACA Silver Cup Award honorees: Nancy Carlson and Andy Smith. The honorees will be recognized at the 48th annual TACA Silver Cup Luncheon on Friday, May 8, 2026, at the Omni Dallas Hotel.
“Nancy and Andy represent the very best of what the Silver Cup Award honors,” said Maura Sheffler, the Donna Wilhelm Family President and Executive Director of TACA. “They lead with heart, vision and a deep belief in the power of the arts to transform lives. We are thrilled to recognize their tremendous impact on the cultural life of North Texas.”
Lynn McBee and Terri West will co-chair the 2026 luncheon, continuing an annual tradition of honoring individuals for their exceptional volunteerism, advocacy and leadership in the arts. The award celebrates those who have made a lasting impact on North Texas’s cultural vitality and have shown an unwavering commitment to elevating the arts in our community.
Nancy Carlson has been involved in the arts in Dallas since moving to Dallas with her family in 2000. Currently, she is a trustee of the Dallas Museum of Art and also serves on the Program Advisory Committee of the Nasher Sculpture Center. She is a board member of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science and a member of the Board of Advisors of the Dallas Children’s Theater.
Victoria Gomez
Victoria Gomez
Nancy Carlson has been active in the Dallas arts community since 2000 and is currently a trustee of the Dallas Museum of Art.
Carlson is a trustee emerita of Rice University and the University of Texas School of Law Foundation, as well as a former board chair of TACA and a former board member of the Dallas Theater Center, Texas Ballet Theater and SMU Meadows School for the Arts. She is also a former trustee of St. Mark’s School of Texas and Greenhill School.
Andy Smith is the Director of Giving and Volunteering for Texas Instruments and is the Executive Director of the TI Foundation.
Smith serves on the boards of the All Angels Foundation, Communities Foundation of Texas, Dallas Theater Center (president), TACA, The Dallas Assembly and the SMU Dedman College Executive Board. He also served on the Dallas Black Dance Theatre Advisory Stakeholder Task Force.
Additionally, Smith and his husband, Paul von Wupperfeld, are co-chairing, along with Meagan LeBoissiere, a $12M comprehensive campaign for the Resource Center’s new health campus.
Victoria Gomez
Victoria Gomez
Andy Smith, a fifth-generation Texan, is the Director of Giving and Volunteering for Texas Instruments and is the Executive Director of the TI Foundation.
Smith was a recipient of a 2021 Obelisk Award, Business Champion of the Arts category, and is a Leadership Dallas alumnus. He and Paul co-chaired the 2024 Art Ball benefiting the Dallas Museum of Art, and galas for the Dallas Symphony, the Dallas Theater Center and Dallas Summer Musicals (now Broadway Dallas). Smith co-chaired the 2023 TACA Silver Cup Awards Luncheon.
A fifth-generation Texan, Smith received an associate degree from Tyler Junior College and a Bachelor of Arts from Southern Methodist University, cum laude.
Proceeds from the TACA Silver Cup Luncheon support TACA’s mission to invest in the vibrancy and resilience of a diverse Dallas arts community through transformative grantmaking and professional development programs.
Ticket, table and sponsorship information will be available in early 2026.
Learn more: TACA