October 27, 2008 [ CURRENT ]   [ ARCHIVE ] [houston institute] New East End Gallery, Community Event Space Opening Oct 31 and Nov 1 October 27, 2008 Please join us for the opening of our new gallery location and community event space. Houston Institute for Culture will present several events on October 31 and November 1, along with our neighbors on the Tlaquepaque Market - Bohemeo's and the East End Urban Market. On Friday, October 31, Museo Guadalupe Aztlan and Casa Puebla will feature paintings by Rafael Gonzalez Mauricio from Puebla, Mexico. The artist will be present for the opening at 7:00pm. Bohemeo's [www.bohemeos.com] will present music and Aztec dancers for the Day of the Dead beginning at 8:00pm. Bohemeo's will also exhibit "Viva la Vida, Dia de los Muertos: Lucy Falcon's Art Tribute to Life and Death". On Saturday, November 1, we will present "Darkness into Light: Following the Spirit", a film that explores pre-Columbian roots of the Mexican traditional Day of the Dead and Spanish conquest of the land and people, as it surveys centuries of conflict between church and state in Mexico. The film will be shown at 7:00pm (See the film description below), followed by Dr. Grisel Cano, director of Mexican American Studies, Houston Community College-Southeast Campus, who will present a lecture for El dia de los muertos (Day of the Dead). Our new gallery location in the East End will present exhibits, films, speakers, conferences and panel discussions, often as a collaborative effort with other Houston organizations. The gallery will include a bookstore and gift shop. We will also partner with Bohemeo's to present city-wide events on the Tlaquepaque Market. Many great things are happening at this historic Houston location. The opening on October 31 and November 1 will offer a preview of things to come. Please join us at 708-B Telephone Road, Houston, Texas 77023. DIRECTIONS: From I-45 South (take the Telephone Road exit; turn right on Telephone Road; Tlaquepaque Market is on the left before Lockwood) From I-45 North (take the Cullen exit; stay on the access road and pass Cullen; where the access road splits, veer right; at the light, turn left; follow Lockwood to Telephone Road and turn right; Tlaquepaque Market is on the right) Learn more about the new facility, as well as transportation, community support and history of the East End: http://www.houstonculture.org/office/location.html Past [circa 1930] and current photos may also be viewed at the above link; Thanks to Virginia Nguyen, Urban Creative, for permission to use the modern photograph. Below are more topics related to the opening of the new location and HIFC programs, including: -Museum Bookstore and Gift Shop -Community Gift Giving Fair -East End Cultural Arts Festival -East End Urban Market -Darkness into Light: Following the Spirit -Digital Story Resource Center -Houston Story, A Public History Initiative -Juneteenth at Miller Outdoor Theatre -International Accordion Festival in San Antonio -Camp Dos Cabezas at the Children's Museum -Cultural and Natural Wonders in the Southwest -Houston Monthly, a Live Periodical ______________________________________________ Museum Bookstore and Gift Shop The bookstore and gift shop will carry books and films about local and regional history and interests. It will carry works by Houston artists, and regional and international music. Our goal is to model the shop after National Park bookstores, such as the Hubbell Trading Post at Ganado, Arizona. We will keep a relatively low inventory focused on the city and region. We will stock books on local music, such as "Texas Zydeco" and "Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues" by Roger Wood and James Fraher, and books on timely regional interests, like "Deception and Abuse at the Fed: Henry B. Gonzalez Battles Alan Greenspan's Bank". Visitors will find books about historic regional events, like the 1900 storm and the Texas City Disaster, and the interests of Latinos and African Americans. Several titles carried by the bookstore include: "Felix Longoria's Wake: Bereavement, Racism, and the Rise of Mexican American Activism"; "Freedom Colonies: Independent Black Texans in the Time of Jim Crow"; "Bonfire of Roadmaps"; and "What Wildness Is This: Women Write about the Southwest". The store is expected to keep the same hours as the exhibit center, Wednesday through Sunday, 2:00 to 6:00pm, as well as during scheduled events. ______________________________________________ Community Gift Giving Fair The Community Gift Giving Fair will take place on the Tlaquepaque Market in December. It is sponsored by Houston Institute for Culture, Bohemeo's and the East End Urban Market. The goal of this unique event is to give Houstonians the opportunity to support local artists, authors, filmmakers and musicians by giving locally produced items as holiday gifts. This will provide the community a specialized market to choose gifts that are distinctive and well thought out. Artists, authors, filmmakers and musicians should drop by during the opening this weekend or contact us about offering their creations at the Community Gift Giving Fair, as well as through the bookstore and gift shop. Organizations that offer beneficial and educational services may also want to consider being a part of the Community Gift Giving Fair. Its anticipated date is December 13. ______________________________________________ East End Cultural Arts Festival We will partner with Bohemeo's and other area organizations to present the East End Cultural Arts Festival on the Tlaquepaque Market. If you would like to be part of the seasonal festival, as well as many other events and programs of Houston Institute for Culture, please attend the Program Committee Meeting on Saturday, November 1. This will be 2:00pm at 708-B Telephone Road, Houston, Texas 77023. Learn more: http://www.houstonculture.org/meeting ______________________________________________ East End Urban Market The East End Urban Market will open in November on the Tlaquepaque Market. Co-founded by Mari Graham and Pati Martinez, the East End Urban Market will feature the works of artisans from Mexico, as well as other unusual and eclectic wares. The weekend market will offer an open house for vendors on November 1, from 10:00am to 4:00pm, and open for the public on November 15, from 9:00am to 5:00pm. Additional market days are November 29 and December 13. Learn more: http://www.eastendurbanmarket.com ______________________________________________ Darkness into Light: Following the Spirit "Darkness into Light: Following the Spirit," produced by Patricia Lacy Collins and Robert S. Cozens (San Rafael Films) will be shown at 7:00pm on Saturday, November 1. The free screening will take place at 708-B Telephone Road, Houston, Texas 77023. The 56-minute film is narrated by actor Edward James Olmos. "Following the Spirit," the third documentary in the Darkness into Light series, brings the story of the spiritual journey of the people of Mexico to the present time. It traces a long-standing friction between church and state that resulted, in the 19th and 20th centuries, in somber and bloody repression of religious and human rights in Mexico. Suppression of religious life became particularly bitter following the Constitution of 1917. Leading historians paint a broad canvas of multiple struggles that are little known outside of Mexico. The historians and authors who tell this story include Drs. John Mason Hart, Guadalupe Jimenez Codinach, Manuel Ramos Medina, Raul Gonzalez Schmal, Elena Poniatowska, and John Meyer. The irrepressible spirituality of contemporary Mexico plays against the dark years of struggle. Observances of the Days of the Dead, the revived processions of Corpus Christi, and the canonization of San Juan Diego provide memorable counterpoints. Today, resolution of the conflict is underway. As never before, the Mexican people can choose to believe - or not believe - in matters of religion. Learn more about San Rafael Films: http://www.sanrafaelfilms.com ______________________________________________ Digital Story Resource Center In January we will launch one of the most beneficial and visionary projects in Houston - the Digital Story Resource Center. The center promotes community uses of digital technologies to express ideas, explore issues, tell family stories and bridge cultural divides. Youth initiatives through this important center help children develop their ideas and communication skills, and promote positive uses of computers and Internet. The first several months of the project will be dedicated to raising awareness of the center and its activities, as well as recording individual's stories. Our location in the historic East End will be instrumental in establishing the public aspects of this center. Many of its components have been active for the past two years, including educational activities in schools. A major part of the center is a public history initiative that will reveal the Houston Story to the world, while strengthening local communities [www.houstonstory.org]. The center will also present the annual Probanza Film Festival to explore Houston communities through the images and words of everyday life and extraordinary circumstances. In addition to media literacy and accessibility, a major benefit for the region will be enhanced community and media relations, as the organization is frequently asked by national media to provide educational materials and cultural experts on a wide range of local and international subjects. The center's digital libraries and technology arrangements will improve the dissemination process and our ability to meet many requests. To learn more, please see: http://www.digitalstory.org ______________________________________________ Juneteenth at Miller Outdoor Theatre Juneteenth celebrates the most significant historical event of our region - the proclamation of the end of slavery. We present the annual celebration at Miller Outdoor Theatre in June, but the effort to promote the event begins in just a couple of weeks. Our goal is to regain local prominence for this event that is growing nationally. Please join us on Saturday, November 8 for the Juneteenth Publicity Committee meeting. This will be 2:00pm at 708-B Telephone Road, Houston, Texas 77023. Learn more: http://www.june19.org ______________________________________________ International Accordion Festival in San Antonio Houston Institute for Culture was a partner organization in the International Accordion Festival in San Antonio on October 11 and 12. We had many roles and were primarily responsible for presenting artists on the Bolivar Stage. As we noted in the last newsletter, not only were the festival talent, organizers and volunteers exceptional, but City of San Antonio officials and media were really behind this event in a serious way that Houston officials and media should strive to emulate. Houston Institute for Culture has become involved in various ways in programs from Washington DC to Window Rock, Arizona over the past few years and we will discuss the role of tourism and city-wide programs in upcoming meetings, as we continue to raise the organization's level of involvement in Houston quality-of-life issues. We will surely take part in the International Accordion Festival next year and offer the opportunity for several more volunteers to support various functions of the festival. To be eligible to attend as part of our contingent in San Antonio, volunteers will need to be active in local Houston Institute for Culture programs and demonstrate capability to offering productive service. Of coarse we also took note of the fact that amazing talent flew in to Houston from all over the world and stayed, in many cases, in Houston hotels and then went on to offer great performances for large audiences only in San Antonio. We will look into presenting some of next year's artists in Houston. Learn more about the International Accordion Festival: http://www.internationalaccordionfestival.org ______________________________________________ Camp Dos Cabezas at the Children's Museum Several students from the Houston Institute for Culture's Camp Dos Cabezas program were included in an exhibit at the Children's Museum and awarded for being Young Achievers. Campaign for Achievement, a National Urban League program, helps children recognize achievement in their daily lives. The Children's Museum of Houston and the Houston Area Urban League have partnered for the past eight years to create exhibits that reflect examples of achievement through the eyes of Houston's urban youth. The current exhibit ends on November 2. Please make an effort to bring some young people out to the museum to see the exhibit. Camp Dos Cabezas offers children from at-risk communities the experience of a lifetime to help them achieve success in their lives. To volunteer or sponsor scholarships for children to attend camp, please contact us at info@houstonculture.org. Promotional images of Camp Dos Cabezas may be shared with others: http://www.doscabezas.org/images/CampCardSide2.jpg http://www.doscabezas.org/images/CampCardSide1.jpg Learn more: http://www.doscabezas.org ______________________________________________ Cultural and Natural Wonders in the Southwest Our next educational tour takes place from November 22 - 30 over the Thanksgiving week. Starting with Carlsbad Caverns, winding through the Pueblo region of central New Mexico, across the Plains of San Agustin, and reaching the Canyonlands of southern Utah, the trip will present an overview of the spectacular landscape of the Southwest and a survey of diverse cultures and their histories in the region. Photographers will especially be interested in the narrow Slot Canyons that drain torrents to Lake Powell and the Colorado River, as well as Monument Valley, an enduring symbol of the Navajo Nation. Contact us for more details about this trip or attend the opening this weekend to see examples of the many spectacular places we will visit along the way. ______________________________________________ Houston Monthly, a Live Periodical If you enjoy travel, local arts and music, hobbies like photography and blogging, and want to be part of a group that promotes meaningful social interaction, then check out "the next small thing" from Houston Institute for Culture. This program is meant to be small and meaningful, while presenting a full magazine of interests in a live setting. You've heard of Atlantic Monthly, Texas Monthly and Washington Monthly. Now meet Houston Monthly: http://www.houstonmonthly.org Houston Monthly invites the Houston community to meet each month to mingle and share interests. Following a light social hour in an interesting Houston artspace, one or two presenters will share their insights into interesting travel, fun activities that are uniquely Houston, and beneficial community programs. Community involvement is needed in planning fun and educational monthly activities and developing the Houston Monthly blog. If you or someone you know is interested, please contact us. We have also upgraded our Events Calendar to promote more opportunities for meaningful social interaction in Houston. You can now sort events by category, print a weekly listing of events (by using the Weekly Reports link at the bottom) and you can post events more easily. An editor will have to approve them before they appear live to prevent spam. If you would like to become a calendar editor to help us provide this valuable service to Houston, please let us know. Events Calendar: http://www.houstonmonthly.org/calendar Take our poll to tell us what activities you would most like to see at Houston Monthly events and what you think are the most critical issues Houston faces in its future. Online Polls: http://www.houstonmonthly.org/poll/db/poll.php ______________________________________________ This special announcement is being provided to all combined lists of the Houston Institute for Culture, including newsletter subscribers, media, government officials, volunteers, and Houston artists and organizations. Please forward the information to others who are interested. If you are a newsletter subscriber and would like to unsubscribe, please respond and let us know. Also, request additional information about subjects in the above announcements by calling 713-521-3686, or by email at mark@houstonculture.org. The next Program Committee Meeting takes place on Saturday, November 1. This will be 2:00pm at 708-B Telephone Road, Houston, Texas 77023. Learn more about Houston Institute for Culture: http://www.houstonculture.org/resources/hifc.html ____________________________________________________ M  a  r  k @houstonculture.org Houston Institute for Culture 7111 Harwin Drive, Suite 132 Houston, Texas 77036 HOUSTON INSTITUTE FOR CULTURE    SEARCH    info@houstonculture.org