Aaronetta Hamilton Pierce

1993 Inductee
Arts

Aaronetta Hamilton Pierce, a distinguished civil leader and tireless volunteer, has been a passionate advocate for multi-cultural education and artistic development as well as a committed public servant.

In 1985 Governor Mark White appointed Mrs. Pierce to the Texas Commission on the Arts. She was the first African-American woman appointed to the commission in 20 years. She worked to distribute state funds for the arts to a broad range of cultural communities in every region of Texas.

She was a founding member of the Southwest Ethnic Arts Society and served on numerous boards including the United Way of San Antonio, the Education Fund of the Education Partnership and the Partnership for Hope, a project founded by the Rockefeller Foundation to fight poverty.

She served on the San Antonio Museum Association Board of Trustees, the board of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, the University of Texas at San Antonio Development Board, Texas Cultural Trust, the San Antonio Spurs Foundation, and the advisory boards of Sterling Bank, The Witte Museum, and the San Antonio Library Foundation and the executive committee of the United Way of San Antonio. She also served as area director for the Arts for Links, Inc., a national civic organization of African-American women, and as Chair of the Arts Subcommittee for the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority South Central Region.

Mrs. Pierce is president of Premier Artworks, Inc., a company she founded with her husband, Dr. Joseph A. Pierce. Premier Artworks promotes African-American artists throughout the country in public exhibits, museums, corporations, government buildings, businesses and homes.