Luis Purón, Executive Director

Luis Purón has served as Executive Director for Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA) since 2015, working to elevate the organization to new levels of prominence and recognition in the United States. Under his leadership, RCA has developed new art education activities, programs for the visual, culinary, and performing arts, as well as new festivals and events, which have boosted cultural tourism and economic development of Rockport, Texas, recognized as one of the top ten artist colonies in the country.

One of the most notable accomplishments of Purón’s tenure has been the development and opening of the new downtown 1.2-acre Rockport Center for the Arts campus featuring a 14,000-square-foot visual arts and education building, an 8,000-square-foot conference center, and a 16,000-square-foot sculpture garden. More than seven hundred people attended the December 2022 grand opening festivities and since its inauguration, RCA tourism visitation has tripled, and revenue has doubled.

After the loss of the former RCA facility located on Aransas Bay during Hurricane Harvey (2017), the RCA Board of Directors, Purón, and his staff set up a base of operations in Corpus Christi within five days of the catastrophic event. Even without a building of their own, no RCA programs or events were canceled, including the prestigious, international traveling exhibit Birds in Art, which was hosted just 34 days after Hurricane Harvey through a partnership with the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi.

In 2018, Purón and the RCA Board launched a successful $13 million capital campaign to construct a new facility in the heart of the city. Purón worked with local entities, Aransas County Long Term Recovery, and the City of Rockport, to procure a $5M disaster recovery grant from the Economic Development Administration to build a facility that could withstand the next 100-year storm. The capital project was completed with zero debt. Coordinating with the City of Rockport, the Federal Government, and local and state history groups, Purón also helped to relocate the beloved Kline’s Cafe, a local landmark that had served as the RCA’s temporary home following the hurricane.

Purón is a member of the tourism development council for the Rockport-Fulton Chamber of Commerce. He also serves on the board of directors of Texans for the Arts, a non-partisan statewide arts advocacy organization that provides coordinated information about legislative activity related to arts issues and organizing advocacy efforts to protect and increase public funding for the arts at the state, national and local levels.

Born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, Purón has been enjoying life in the Coastal Bend as a Rockport resident since 2015.