The purpose of this report is to interest volunteers and supporters in the mission and important work of Houston Institute for Culture. The outward purpose of the organization is to interest the public to a greater extent in diverse cultural activities and dialogue to improve communities.
If we know of a hungry child or someone who is in danger, the most important thing to do is help them. The rest of the time, when the sense of urgency doesn't call us to action, we can make the world a better place by better understanding diverse cultures and divergent social and economic conditions people face in our world.
Diverse interests are critical to equal opportunity, desegregated economies, representation of community voices, and survival of arts and cultural activities that improve our overall education and quality of life.
Houston Institute for Culture is in a great position to do great things for Houston and we are limited only by our ability to involve and inspire the community. Use of our programs and resources is growing, and community response exceeds our current capacities. What this tells us is, we are doing the right thing. We are working to achieve increased educational activities for audiences and great life experiences for individuals who need them most. We have ambitious goals, outlined in the "Plan for the Future" and "Current Activities" pages of this report. Volunteers who are motivated and visionary will make great things happen.
We will pursue the course of history, as ours in Houston was written more than 460 years ago in Cabeza de Vaca's account of the clash of cultures on the Gulf Coast and collision of two worlds. We will witness and document the passing of old traditions and survey the cult of television. And we will host forums on the cultures of rich and poor in modern America. It could be said in simple terms that our mission is to promote diverse interests.
ACTIVITIES
FUTURE
ACTIVITIES
An important means to improving cultural literacy is building diverse interests.
The diverse world we live in offers more choices than ever before -- more educational opportunities, more religious centers in our neighborhoods, more forms of music and art, more television channels and up-to-the-minute communications, more opinions, more products and services... But, as a mass public, we are literally turning our attention to only a few channels on our televisions and car radios. We are spending more on fewer forms of entertainment. We are paying bigger shares of our community income to fewer people. We are facing serious problems in our communities and in the world with fewer solutions on the table. As a mainstream society, we are hearing fewer voices on every topic outside of the mainstream.
Diverse music, art and cultural activities enlighten the public. Wide interests, supported by consumer ideology in favor of local communities, promote a diversified economy that has the potential to benefit all communities.
Diverse cultural experience is necessary to improve support for the deficit trends we are faced with today in critical thinking, eclectic arts, independent media, local economic concerns, small businesses, strong traditions, social activism, and innovative musical and literary expression.
The goals we can accomplish and the community needs we can meet are unarguably necessary in our mission: to help at-risk children find a reason to stay in school; to begin to eliminate economic segregation; to achieve greater cultural literacy in our diverse world; to reduce violence on all levels, in houses and nations, by improving our understanding of social conditions; to achieve a higher quality of life for everyone where the wealth of our planet proves this should be possible; and to discover a desire for lifelong learning in everyone. Each of these goals, and many more, could be discussed at length in this report, but the real need is for volunteers to form their own understanding and beliefs, and extend the level of community dialogue we can create with our current educational programs and the multitude of possibilities in the future.
Increased volunteer support is currently our greatest need and will surely be the key to our success. With interest in Houston Institute for Culture rising steadily, we recognize that it is important for us to provide increased reliable programs and services for the benefit of artists and cultural organizations in Houston, and to interest the community to strengthen support for local artists and organizations. We are achieving extraordinary participation in our programs and record highs in the use of our on-line resources and educational materials. Great visibility, combined with the tremendous value of our projects to the community, makes this an excellent time for volunteers to help us build a great organization and make positive changes in Houston. As the organization grows, so will opportunities to do even more valuable work within the organization.
The Houston Institute for Culture currently seeks volunteers through our website and electronic newsletter, and by attending volunteer fairs. Occasionally, we organize campaigns to recruit volunteers in person at community meetings and classrooms, and through postings on bulletin boards. We need to reach the status where volunteers recognize the ownership of their efforts in the organization and recruit more volunteers to make their program, or their part of the mission, more effective.
In this report we will indicate our volunteer needs for each of our programs with a description of each program listed in the contents of this report. Please remember, we are open to new ideas that can further our mission and help achieve the goals of the organization in the community. The opportunities to shape our purpose and make a difference are limitless.
Our new "Asian Traditions" volunteer campaign, launching in October, as well as our planned documentary projects on Native America and Spanish America (La Tierra Adentro), offer examples of our efforts to focus on specific areas where we are in need of greater community involvement and voices.
Non-profit
Organization
info@houstonculture.org
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PAGE ONE Viewbook Regional Research Educational Travel Programs Youth Education Camp Documentary Projects Internet Features Internet Resources |
PAGE TWO Forums and Discussions Virtual Classroom Educational Media Event and Media Planning Exploration Boating Parade Project Special Projects |
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