Annual Meeting Marks Changes for AHCA
After a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AHCA Annual Meeting returns Sunday, May 16 to celebrate successes, acknowledge new challenges, and mark a change in leadership.
Due to ongoing concerns about the pandemic, the meeting will be a virtual event streamed from the historic Chateau Bellevue, built in 1874 and home of the Austin Woman’s Club since 1929. Members were emailed an invitation in early May with a link to use to participate in the meeting online via Zoom.
This year’s Annual Meeting will follow the traditional part business, part celebration format. On the business side, former Austin Mayor Lee Cooke will wrap up his term as AHCA president by delivering a state of the AHCA address, covering progress AHCA has made during the past two years. New members of the AHCA Board of Directors and Executive Committee will be introduced and formally elected, and Cooke will hand over the president’s gavel to incoming President Kent Collins, who will offer his vision of the AHCA path forward.
On the celebration side, the Annual Meeting will feature the presentation of the “Volunteer of the Year Award,” a recognition of those who provided oral history interviews during the past two years, and the announcement of the winner of the 2020 Katherine Drake Hart Award, honoring the historic preservation efforts of a member of the Austin community. The winner will be presented “Pop the Whip,” a piece crafted by Austin architect and sculpture Bob Coffee, one of the original founders of the AHCA. “Pop the Whip” expresses the energy created when citizens are working together for a common goal.
President Cooke said the setting for this year’s Annual Meeting, Chateau Bellevue, is significant for a number of reasons. “As one of the houses in the historic Bremond Block of downtown, Chateau Bellevue is part of an important part of Austin’s significant history as the Capitol of Texas,” said Cooke. “We hope this will be the beginning of an active partnership with the newly founded Friends of Chateau Bellevue.”
The AHCA Annual Meeting is open to the general public. Email AHCA Executive Director Jeff Cohen at jcohen@austinhistory.net to request a Zoom link to access the meeting online.