Ron Thompson

Ron Thompson is a creative strategist, civic leader, and arts entrepreneur with a 26-year track record of launching ventures that shape culture and spark public imagination. His work sits at the intersection of the arts, civic engagement, and social impact—where creativity becomes infrastructure.

He founded the first nonprofit social-purpose advertising agency in Texas, designed to connect institutional funders and the public around campaigns that built awareness and solvency for both established and emerging solutions to community issues. Ron has also developed outreach and capital funds to drive arts-based economic development and expand the impact of creative industry ventures. Modern Luxury Magazine describes him as a “creative capitalist” for his entrepreneurial approach to funding the arts.

A lifelong resident of Duncanville, Texas, Ron served as the inaugural Chair of the Duncanville Arts Commission. During his tenure, he worked closely with commissioners, City Council, and City Management to establish the Commission as the city’s largest and most dynamic, the adoption of the Duncanville Arts Fund and secured the official designation of Armstrong Park as a Cultural District—milestones that helped redefine the city’s civic identity and cultural economy.

He has been deeply involved in the North Texas arts ecosystem for decades and was named Volunteer of the Year by the Sammons Center for the Arts—recognized nationally as a model for arts incubation and one of the most respected examples of adaptive reuse of a historic space for the performing arts. He is also a former founding board member of the Duncanville Nature Conservancy, whose early advocacy helped lead to the establishment of the Charles F. Ladd Nature Preserve—a 42-acre remnant of rare blackland prairie and a natural gem in the heart of the city.

Ron maintains his childhood home in Duncanville; a mid-century modern townhouse in Dallas’ Oak Lawn neighborhood, which he shares with his partner, attorney Robert Todd; and their mountain retreat near Taos, New Mexico, where he is currently at work on a book about the legacy of Western swing music.

He is a member of the Taos Arts Council, the Taos Center for the Arts, and Texans for the Arts. He is also a former board member of the Dance Council of North Texas and the Duncanville Community Theatre.

Ron founded Arts in Our Park to address a critical gap in Duncanville’s creative ecosystem: the absence of local arts infrastructure. While opportunities for redevelopment surround the Armstrong Park Cultural District, only one arts organization currently calls the city home. Arts in Our Park responds by creating creative hotspots in every neighborhood park—gathering community interest, drawing in local artists, and activating public space through accessible, high-impact cultural experiences.

This strategy lays the groundwork for a lasting creative presence in Duncanville—one rooted in place, driven by people, and built to grow. Through Arts in Our Park and beyond, Ron continues to develop platforms that expand access, elevate local voices, and position the arts as a driver of civic identity, economic vitality, and neighborhood pride.