Good afternoon.

I don't have a gavel, so I'll just do the best that I can.

Uh I am Councilmember Carolyn Evans Shabaz, the chair of the Arts and Culture Committee, and good afternoon.

And it's now 2 05 p.m.

And I hereby call the meeting to order.

We are meeting in the City Hall Council Chamber, 901 Bagby Street, second floor, Houston, Texas.

This meeting is open to the public and is being broadcast live on HTV, the City of Houston's municipal channel.

Presentation materials are available on the city's website.

I would like to recognize my colleagues who serve on the committee.

And I'd first like to recognize Vice Chair, Councilmember Mario Castillo.

And then I have also Councilmember Julia Ramirez.

And then I have Councilmember Sally Alcorn.

Oh, and then we have Vice Mayor Pro Tim Amy Peck here.

Wow.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

So and I also want to acknowledge that we have representation from Mayor Pro Tem uh Castex Tatum from Councilmember Alejandra Salinas, our star child today.

And you are here.

Councilmore Marquis.

Well, Councilmember Martinez.

Okay.

Down here from Councilmember Thomas.

And then Councilmember Mary Nan Huffman.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

And this time we will move to opening remarks.

And I will offer brief remarks and then recognize and in well, actually, I've already remarked.

I'm gonna send it to my cat my Vice Chair Castillo, if if you would like to make some comments.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Um I just I'm excited we're meeting again so soon.

I feel like we just had a meeting not too long ago, but I understand what the schedule uh why we're here, and we have a packed agenda.

There's a number of great presentations and updates that I look forward to hearing.

So uh without further ado, I'll end my remarks so we can get to the the business of the meeting.

Well, thank you.

And before we move to the uh first item, I want to take a moment to recognize an important leader in Houston's cultural community landscape, and I'd like to ask Corey Wilson, who now serves as president and CEO of the Emancipation Park Conservancy.

He stepped into his role at a pivotal time for one of our city's most historic and culturally significant spaces.

Uh with more than a decade of leadership experience in parks and recreation, including overseeing large-scale operations, budgets, and nationally recognized systems.

He brings both operational excellence and strategic vision to this position.

Under his leadership in Baton Rouge.

Yeah, I got that.

His system was recognized as one of the best in the country, and now that same level of excellence is being brought here to Houston.

What makes this especially meaningful is his understanding of the deeper purpose of Emancipation Park, not just as a park, but as a historic and cultural anchor for the third ward and for our city as a whole.

And as we look ahead to the Juneteenth, you know we're gonna be there shaking the tail feather on uh Juneteenth, 2026, and the continued enhancements of Emancipation Park, which is so exciting, and including expanded programming and a strengthened cultural presence.

His leadership will play a critical role in ensuring that this space continues to educate, empower, and inspire.

And we are so very proud to have you in Houston, and we look forward to the impact of your work.

If you wanted to say a few words, you certainly can.

I've said enough about you, so we can hear from you.

Thank you.

Well, thank you, Madam Chair.

I appreciate uh warm welcome as well as I want to recognize the other committee members as well.

Thank you for your time and service.

And so we're excited about everything that's happening at Emancipation Park.

We have some great um renovation and new construction that's happening at the park as we speak, right in time for Juneteenth.

And just wanted to share uh we're excited to have our our honorable mayor John Whitmine as the uh honorary chair of the Juneteenth concert this year.

And so, in addition to that, we have a lot of exciting things happening at the park on June 6th.

We'll have a Freedom Walk.

Um, and we'll share more information about that at that the next committee meeting.

But really excited to be here and looking forward to working with everyone.

We have a jewel uh at Emancipation Park, one of the many jewels here in the city of Houston.

So looking forward to working with everyone, and uh I'll have a more informative presentation next month.

Thank you.

Well, thank you so much.

We do have a ribbon cutting on Emancipation uh Boulevard tomorrow at 9 30.

So you may want to walk down the street just a little.

Yes, probably we'll have a ribbon cutting.

Uh and thank you.

Arts and culture continue to play a vital role in Houston's economic growth, neighborhood identity, and quality of life.

And this committee remains committed to ensuring that our investments are equitable, transparent, and responsive to the communities we serve.

Our first item on the agenda that we're going to um address.

We have the mini mural program, Ilya Kielis, Up Art Studios.

Public art at the neighborhood level plays an important role in community identity, beautiful, and local engagement.

And I'm certainly recognizing you.

Uh and please give us your presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Chairwoman, we appreciate you for having us up here.

I'm Noah Keelas, Elia's husband and partner.

Thank you very much.

Um thank you, everyone for being here.

Um, thank you to the Arts and Culture Um Council and uh Michelle from the Mayor's Office of the Arts for having us today.

Um, we are the co-founders and principals of Up Art Studio.

Uh UpArt Studio is a Houston-based Latino-owned civic art and creative placemaking firm.

Um, Noah and I founded the studio nearly 15 years ago to help connect artists with paid opportunities in the public realm, and to use public art as a tool to beautify and strengthen communities.

Over the years, we've produced and facilitated more than a thousand public artworks across Houston, including the Mini Murals program, our Big Walls Big Dreams Mural Festival, and the Houston Mural Map.

We also manage public art programs for management districts, TURS, uh, other municipalities and private clients.

And today we're here to talk about mini-murals, the program that we're most known for and uh one of the most relevant to this council.

Uh next slide, please.

So, what is mini murals?

Since 2015, minimurals has been transforming the gray traffic signal control cabinets you see at intersections all over Houston into hand painted works of public art.

Uh, this pro this is a project that we created in partnership with Houston Public Works, and at the time uh it was the Mocha office.

We commissioned local artists to design and paint original murals directly on these utility cabinets, turning something most people walk right past into neighborhood land into a neighborhood landmark.

The program has been recognized as a model for creative placemaking and private public public private partnership.

Um and in April 2025, we were featured nationally on the Today Show, and the project has been covered hundreds of times by media outlets, including all of the news the news stations, Houston Public Media, Houstonia Magazine, and others.

Today we've completed more than two, I'm sorry, more than 475 cabinets across 55 neighborhoods, um, and at least one in every council district.

Next slide.

So this probably doesn't read very well.

Uh so I'll just give you a quick uh history.

Uh we launched in 2015 with 31 cabinets in District K, sponsored by the late council member Larry Green.

We had support from Public Works, the Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs, Fresh Arts, and the East End Foundation.

Uh, we also began working with the management districts, churches, and civic associations across the region.

That pilot was a hit.

Um, the more council members and management districts came on board, and within two years, we had painted 145 cabinets.

By 2017 through 2020, the program had scaled citywide, reaching every council district.

We secured our first professional services agreement with the city of Houston during that period.

Um, from 2021 through 2024, the program expanded to Austin, and we signed our second um City of Houston contract.

Um and in 2025, we celebrated um the our 10th anniversary, um, which is when the Today Show came calling.

Um next slide.

Um, so how it works at a high level, here's how uh it works.

Um there's four steps.

First, a sponsor identifies um and funds a cabinet.

Uh that sponsor can be a city city entity, a management district, civic association, nonprofit.

It could even be an individual person.

Um second, we match an artist from our vetted roster to the project.

Uh third, we do community engagement, sometimes through meetings, sometimes through a theme sponsor provides.

And honestly, the best murals are the ones where the artist is given creative freedom with that direction.

And fourth, the artist creates a rendering for approval and then hand paints the cabinet on site.

That typically takes one to three days.

Next slide is about the process.

So for those who want a little more detail, um, here's the full process, start to finish.

It begins with the sponsorship agreement between the sponsor and up art studio.

For city sponsored cabinets, we work uh we work through the CDSF process, or council district service fund process.

Um we then coordinate local approval with Houston Public Works, the location approval with Houston Public Works.

Um and then next comes the artist and artwork selection, and there are three ways to go about that.

You can browse our online portfolio at minimurals.org/slash portfolio and select an existing design, or you can select a specific artist from the roster to commission a work, or you can give us a theme, and we'll do a call for renderings from our artist pool.

If the project calls for community engagement, we can do uh that through an in-person or online meeting, a community survey, or a theme provided by the sponsor.

Once the rendering is approved by the sponsor, it then goes to the city for the Office of Uh of the Arts and Houston Public Works handle the artwork approval.

Really, it's Office of the Arts handles the artwork approval.

Public Works is looking at for edit to make sure it doesn't violate any signage ordinance.

And then we handle everything from there.

We clean and prime the cabinet, coordinate the painting, apply an anti-graffiti clear coat, do a quality inspection, photography, and then a final close out report.

Next slide.

A quick word on community engagement.

Since um I know that matters uh to this group and to really to everyone in public art, um, engagement can take many forms.

For some projects, we hold in-person or online meetings with neighborhood stakeholders.

For others, the sponsor or community gives us a theme to work with.

Um, and then we've also done online surveys or in-person surveys too.

Um, and in many cases, the artist is given broad creative freedom, and those tend to be the strongest murals.

When an artist can interpret a neighborhood's identity through their own lens, the result is something that really resonates.

Yes, we're very proud of that.

We like to do the project with the community, not for the community.

So, next slide um is a snapshot of our impact over the past uh 10 plus years.

475 um more than 475 cabinets painted, 116 artists have participated, um, 55 plus neighborhoods reached every one of the 11 council districts has at least one.

And I want to highlight um the funding picture here over the life of the program.

Roughly 41% of mini murals have been funded by the city through um council offices, um, the mayor's office of complete communities and grants.

The other 59% has been funded by non-city sponsors, so that's like the management districts, THERS, civic associations, and others.

Um, that uh public and private mix is one of the things that makes the program work.

Next slide.

So where we are, um this map shows every mini mural across Houston.

This is actually through mid-2025.

Um, both city funded and non-city funded, completed and in progress.

As you can see, the program reaches every part of the city.

District K has the most at 87, and that goes back to Councilmember Green's uh early support and continued support from Mayor Pro from Mayor, sorry, say Mayor Pro Tem, I'm used to saying Vice Mayor.

Mayor Pro Tem, Martha Cassix Tatum, uh District C and I follow with 67 and 66 respectively.

Every district has been touched by the program, and we're always looking to expand into areas that are underserved.

The next slide is about our artists.

Um the artists are the heart of the program.

116 have painted mini murals over the past decade.

Um, and as I mentioned already, the current roster has 55.

It's a diverse group of Houston-based creatives working across styles from photo realism to abstract to folk art.

Uh, we bring artists in through an open call process and vet for quality and professionalism.

Many of our artists have gone on to larger scale public art commissions, even things like sculptures.

Um, and it's been a uh mini murals has been a launching pad for their careers.

In fact, there's an open call right now that's happening.

Yes, thank you.

So if you know any artist, or anyone who's interested, please.

Please apply.

Please apply.

Next slide.

Um, so if you're interested in bringing mini murals to your district, um, here's what that looks like.

Um, you can identify intersections in your district that have tracks traffic signal control cabinets, basically, anywhere that there's a traffic light, there's going to be a cabinet.

Um, reach out to uh Michelle at Mo at um at the Office of the Arts, and uh, and then we'll discuss scope and timeline.

Um, you can choose how the artwork gets commissioned.

You can either pick an existing design, select a specific artist, or give us a theme.

We handle everything else, location approval through public works, artist coordination, community engagement, artwork approval, painting, clear coat, and closeout.

I'd encourage you to explore our portfolio at minimurals.org slash portfolio.

You can see the range of styles and designs our artists have created.

And finally, um, that's the program.

Thank you for your time today.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

Um, and um, yeah, that's it.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Uh the chair recognizes council member Alcoy.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you.

I was actually here at City Hall as a staffer when this first came up when Larry Green first did that, suggested that, and it's just been so great to see how it's grown across the city.

So thank you so much.

Some are some are city funded and some are privately funded.

49% of the boxes are 41% of the boxes.

City funded city funded.

41% city funded.

And I know they run the gamut depending on the artist, I'm sure, but is there a kind of an average cost?

Did you say that?

The the average cost is 3450 to 3950.

And the difference is um whether you want us to do community engagement or not.

And or did that be community engagement because we will go far with community engagement.

Yeah.

We need it.

Well, great.

I think they're fabulous.

And uh di did y'all just dream this up in your head.

How did the the idea start?

Okay, so the the truth is um we're not the first city in in the republic to do it, but we're the first city to do it in a partnership with our with our with our city the way we have it.

You know, we said they're doing it everywhere else.

Why not here?

Yeah, I have seen them in other cities.

So it wasn't who cares.

They're here and we're glad we're glad they're here.

Thank you.

Thank you for your contributions to our city.

We're we're at we are a not, we're a flatland, and everything we see is at straight level, our eyes, and we try to unclutter with signage and whatnot.

So when when our eyes go to something, um a beautiful piece of art on a you know, boring public works, you know, box.

We appreciate it.

Thank you, Council Member.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Thank you.

Uh the chair recognizes uh vice chair Castillo.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you both for the presentation.

Great to see y'all.

Elliot also want to uh thank you for your service on the near North Side Tours board as well.

Um, this is something I think really that takes what's would just be you know traffic signal infrastructure and turns it into a very neighborhood centric piece of art and it can be tailored to a small community, an individual that was important to the community, you name it, you see them all over the city.

Uh fantastic program.

Are these murals um part of the city civic art catalog?

Technically, they're not because they are considered temporary artworks.

Okay, yes, we and they don't and they they don't fall under the traditional temporary of the nine months rule and all of that.

Um they have their own set of rules, I guess.

Um I'm not really sure why, but um it they are considered temporary pieces of work.

Okay.

That was um one thing I was wondering, and then you mentioned some of the other projects y'all are involved in.

Um the mural, what was it?

Big big walls, big dreams, big world big dreams.

Um are those separate from the city of Houston, those are just things y'all do as up art, not a part of uh big Walls Big Dreams is one of the longest continuous mural festivals in the United States.

Um that's completely separate.

It's a passion project or the studio.

Uh Mini Murals is a dedicated project for the city with city artists.

It's just one of those things.

Although I will say that Big Walls Big Dreams, Mini Murals, and the Houston Mural Map are all also partial uh funded in part by the Houston Arts Alliance and the City of Houston grants.

So we we receive a support for uh support for organizations grant, and that grant is what um it in part covers uh some of those costs.

All right, thank you all both.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'd like to recognize the representative from uh council member Tiffany D.

Thomas.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you for the presentation.

Um there's no doubt that you know, driving around the city and walking around the city seeing these little pockets of um artwork don't are you know, they certainly spark joy and bring you know life to to something that to um Vice Chair Castillo's point, you know, would otherwise just be a piece of electrical equipment.

Um I do want to address on behalf of council member Thomas our office's experience um working on the mini mural project.

Um we currently have two projects scheduled, and our experience with the first has been frankly less than satisfactory.

Um this project has experienced an extended timeline, repeated delays, and inconsistent communication.

Um at this stage, the outcome does not reflect the level of care coordination or execution that was expected.

Uh this effort was intended to reflect and honor a historically significant uh community of Piney Point, which is a former freedman's town in District F.

Um, and that requires a level of diligence, intentionality, and follow-through that matches the importance of the work.

Um that standard in our view has not been met.

Um with uh when projects are delivered on behalf of the city to historically overlooked communities, there's an expectation of quality, accountability, and respect.

And that expectation remains um our office has been in conversation with procurement about this, and um we'll be following up with Director Leal um directly as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I'm and I you know apologize for that experience.

Um there were several factors um that played into that experience, um, partially um driven by you know the community.

Yeah, well, we met we met with the community multiple times, and um, you know, we we did uh we met with them in person, we did an online survey, we got their feedback, the artist did some you know, some renderings um that I believe it was four.

Well, and then and then they went to the council members' office and it took us in a completely different direction, and we kind of started going more in a historical uh direction, and then when we took that back to the community, the community said that's not what we want.

And so, you know, it was kind of like a series of things.

Um, I think that um as I said in the presentation, some of the best boxes come when there's less dictation of you know, every single little element in the box.

That's when it gets a little uh complicated and less of uh an artist vision as opposed to um you know we're just putting things on a box.

And with respect to the council members, community members, um they had a lot of input, and we wanted to we wanted to achieve what they sorry about that.

They had a lot of they had a lot of input on the box.

There's there's only so much real estate on this on the surface, so we could only get so much.

And with the with the different renderings and then with the input from the council members' office, and then we were back to the community to be repetitive, then they switched it around.

And so this is why we're at the delay.

And there was a recent email that came through.

We responded and we gave uh a response, and we're still waiting back from to hear back from the council members' office to hear what the actual issues are so that we can rectify them.

Yeah, absolutely.

We uh, you know, have successfully implemented 478 of these.

Um in many disadvantaged neighborhoods, many red line communities, many many overlooked communities.

Um, you know, and this is honestly has never happened at this scale.

Um, and it's not the standard of our program, and we do want to continue to work with your office so that we can um, you know, as I said in the email, it's not completed yet.

Um, and that we hope that when the artist does complete it and we get all of the feedback that um it will be a box of the Piney Pet Point neighborhood will be proud of it.

Sure.

I'm happy to just touch on that briefly.

Um again, you mentioned in your presentation a one to uh one to three day completion time.

We're coming up on a week.

Right.

Um, there was some editorializing that happened, um, inclusion of street names that are not even in the neighborhood.

I believe whoever made the decision to change the street names of again a historic freedmanstown that has undergone gentrification and all sorts of commercial development over the years, and providing this art box in their neighborhood was just another gesture from Councilmember Thomas to let them know that she is thinking of them, and so for their experience to be what it has been, and for our experience with communication um ongoing for the past months.

I mean, this was budgeted for in fiscal year 2024.

We are now in fiscal year 2026, and it's still the first of two are still not completed.

Umclusion of street names that are in Piney Point Village, which is in District G, which is not Piney Point.

No, and I did address that with F the person who and so just the ongoing sort of back and forth um limited updates on timeline completion and reflecting you know what the community feedback was.

I believe the original what rendering was pine cones and butterflies.

I mean, again, this is there is a level of historical significance of this neighborhood, both to the residents that live there and to council member Thomas, who continues to champion them, and so just providing comments on our office's experience.

I it's clear that this is a successful program, but it has not met again the standards that you all have held yourselves to with the other installations around the city.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you for that, and we do apologize, and we're doing everything to try to correct that.

We look forward to continue working with you until this is done.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

You delivered that quite eloquently on behalf of your council member, not as emphatically as she probably would have, but certainly eloquently for sure.

But certainly thank you for your your engagement.

We only can do better if we listen to each other and try to make those changes and adjustments.

So thank you so very much.

Uh we've been joined by the uh mayor's office arts uh director, Michelle Lia.

If you want to come forward and uh give us your presentation, we sure would appreciate it.

Sure, thank you.

I think you all are crap.

Okay.

Thank you all so much, and I apologize for that.

I had to rearrange the order um so that I could take a quick time-sensitive call, but thank you.

Um and I I do want to acknowledge the feedback that we've heard um, you know, on all sides around the the mini mural program and the success of that.

And I know that I've been working and in conversation with uh district F about some solutions to address that, and and so I think we have a path forward that that everyone will be satisfied with, and and so I appreciate you all coming and sharing your concerns today.

I don't have too many updates.

I know we have a couple more uh great presentations, and uh one of those is going to be sharing the citywide Juneteenth festivities, and so I will let them go into a third ward uh cultural district go into those details, but there will be a lot happening around that time, and because the May meeting will likely be canceled of this committee will likely be canceled due to budget workshops.

I wanted to make sure that you know the things that were coming in that early part of June that we could highlight for you all.

In addition to that, the Rothco Chapel asked to share that they have neighborhood community day on April 18th at 1 p.m.

And they'll have a number number of community partners, including Express Children's Theater and the Islamic Arts Society leading programs such as family art workshops, calligraphy demonstrations, and cultural activities across the campus.

So that would be a great activity to join and bring the family if anyone is interested.

Um and then the of course the art car parade is happening here this weekend and at Saturday at 2 p.m.

is the parade the main event, um, and there are lots of other festivities around that happening throughout the weekend, but that is also a great family-friendly event to participate in.

I know there have been some uh questions and comments here at the committee um that around ways that the arts and culture community could be better connected to what is happening around the World Cup and the influx of visitors that we're gonna be receiving.

And so um there are, and I can share a link um through the council offices, but there I think are some uh informational calls that are being held this week around you know how to engage with um everything, participate in the fanfare, but also in keeping with FIFA's rules and restrictions.

In addition to that, there are a number of things happening, both in terms of um art being integrated into FanFest.

Um I know that Gracie Chavez, uh, who is the former uh founding music officer for the city uh in her group were contracted to do their own Houston spin on the FIFA theme song, and that will play at FanFest and also at the games.

Um and then there are a number of other um kind of activations and installations and activities happening around the city that independently but in complement to that, including at Miller Outdoor and and other um you know public programming, and so I'm compiling that and we'll share that with you all via email.

But I do want to highlight all of the great things that are happening, and we're continuing to have conversations about further ways that we could integrate the arts and culture community into all the festivities.

That's all I have, unless you have any questions for me.

Okay, uh, it's only been a short time, so uh you probably didn't have a lot of updates.

I know it's been just a couple weeks, yeah.

Yeah, but I want to thank you for coming um for and for giving us that update.

I believe we have uh a question from the representative from council member Mary Nan Huffman's office.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh, and welcome to the City of Houston.

Thank you.

Um just a quick question here.

Does the city of Houston maintain a list of pieces of art that the city owns?

They do.

Okay.

Because I know Councilmember Huffman a couple of years ago asked for this list.

Um would you be able to share it with with us for our review?

Yes, absolutely.

And and I do want to speak a little bit to that project.

I know um you all weren't at the committee meeting that just happened a couple weeks ago, and we've had kind of a series of uh off scheduling things, including during March because of council break week.

Um, but we did roll out the Civic Art Collection website and map, which actually lists um the items in the collection and where they are around the city in a really user-friendly way so that folks can go, you know, independently and find them and look at them and enjoy and experience them.

But um, we can share all of that information with you.

I know that that was long delayed in part due to transitions with the former Mocha office.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

And does it have the valuation of valuation of each piece of art, or is that something that you could get to us, or because I know they were going through a process of of uh you know valuing all the pieces of art that the city owns?

Um I believe there is a complete um appraisal report.

I'll have to look into that and and and get back to you, but I believe that has been completed.

Okay.

Um recognizing council member Elcoy.

Thank you.

Hi.

Um untitled art's coming back, right?

Yes.

When when is that?

It is the is it the last weekend in September?

September.

So in the fall, and then are we are we kind of going after other things like that, you know, trying to build some economic development and our art scene and well, thank you for asking.

I'm very excited about um, I was just visiting, I think I said this last month, the Houston Ballet.

They um brought a convention or bringing a convention to Houston.

It is a dance competition.

There's about 2,000 participants, 8,000 total attendees.

It will happen over nine days.

The economic impact is I think nearing 20 million is what they estimate.

It's a competition that is annual that existed in New York for a number of years.

Um, and I think has bounced around a bit, and there's a possibility that Houston could experience it again, or it could be a a more long-term uh partnership.

Kind of a new home for it.

When is that kind of that's uh um in the I believe it's the first week of May, second week of May, like eighth around May 8th.

Um and so um that's just one example, but there are um, you know, there are frequent events, and I think Untitled certainly uh in my conversations with their founders and their leadership has um a goal to sort of build this into a bigger activation for Houston and in Houston.

And there were in the inaugural fair um last year a number of different activations around the city um and a lot of excitement, and so I think that will continue to grow into something substantial for Houston.

And I think the folks at Untitled um are excited, we're excited about it.

The folks at Houston First are excited about it.

So um we are always looking to um bring more arts and culture tourism into the region.

And I think to the question about the civic art map, you know, when folks come, whether it's for the ballet conference or what or an oil and gas conference or any other conference, there's a really user-friendly resource now that they could walk around downtown and see works in the city's collection.

And and we have such a that's all great news.

We have such a wide variety array of art, everything institutions, big and small, performing.

I mean, is there any thought to like focusing on one big thing to to kind of make us known for?

I mean, we're known for everything, and we kind of don't want to put you know, we don't want the ballet to be more than the museum or whatever, but but you know, like to kind of build a name for ourselves in in one area or many areas, and not sure what I'm asking.

You know, I think we are kind of known for being a world-class arts and culture arts and culture destination.

Um, I think maybe we don't always step back as Houstonians and recognize how we're viewed externally, but I think that is pretty significant, and I think it does range from you know, neighborhood level programming and events and activations all the way to the major institutions, and that's part of why the city um supports and allocates you know hot dollars to the arts and culture community in that way so that it touches every facet of the community.

Um, and I think that a lot of the institutions that we have in town and a lot of the the programming, they really do a great job of collaborating with each other, and you'll hear in a minute from the cultural districts, and that I think is one way that that cohesively brings it all together.

Yeah.

Well, Helen, I my staff and I today at lunch went ran over to the Museum of Fine Arts and saw the Kusama exhibit and saw the Afraid of Cala exhibit and climbed in that orange net thing.

I was gonna say I recommend everybody doing it's a blast.

You feel like a little kid.

Yeah, did you just be afraid of it?

Socks on and climb through the Ernesto Neto tunnel.

That's a great another family-friendly, you know, good for all ages kind of art experience.

That was amazing.

And you can do all that in like 70 minutes if you time it right from City Hall.

So check it out.

Thank you.

Okay, I don't think we have any other questions.

So thank you so very much for your presentation.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Okay, now on the agenda it says the Houston Cultural District's updates.

I don't know who that would be.

We're gonna call you just a minute, Jason.

I want to recognize Deloitte Parker still here.

Did he leave?

Oh, get on Deloitte.

Uh Deloitte Parker, uh certainly have to recognize him.

He's the co-founder and executive director of the Shape Center since 1969.

Um and certainly if you wanted to have a word, uh Deloitte, you certainly can hear all the culture flavor.

Thank you.

May I learn more.

Okay.

All right.

Y'all, that's a big deal there.

But Deloitte Parker to sit down and learn.

I'm telling you, and I love him, regardless of whether he's fussing at me or not.

Okay, we're gonna move on to Jason Oliver.

Um the third ward cultural district.

Uh this is gonna be exciting, and I'm always excited to see Jason Oliver.

I know I'll see him a lot when we start talking about the budget because he really stays on top of things, and I'm so very proud of him.

And we used to have a little breakfast over this is it.

Long, long, long you remember that, right?

You were just a baby then.

But that's always a pleasure to see you, though.

So please give us your presentation.

All right.

Thank you, and good afternoon.

So I'm Jan Oliver on the Third World Cultural District, located in the in District D, the district of destination.

Today I'll be talking about a small but important part of the work that we're doing in the cultural district.

That is uh we are the convening organization for Juneteenth Houston, the citywide collaborative.

So we do a lot, but this is one of the our flagship events that we do in bringing together stakeholders from across the city um for this Juneteenth programming.

Uh, you can go to the Juneteenth Houston website, of course, and then also the Third World Cultural District's website to find out more about what we have going on.

Uh next slide.

And actually, Councilmember Alcorn had asked a question about this brand for Houston's arts and culture ecosystem.

Uh this is something that the cultural districts are working on because that is is a really important conversation.

I don't know if you all heard all the whispering that was happening.

We were really excited about that question.

Because that is literally, we've we've hired a firm to really start working on and developing that right now.

So hopefully give us a few months and we'll have something for you.

Uh but Juneteenth Houston really came out of um seven neighborhoods coming together because we know that uh the arts, arts, and culture are not a luxury, but they're a necessity for strong, safe, and vibrant communities.

Next up.

So there was a next slide.

Yeah.

So uh we were asking a question as Juneteenth became a federal holiday.

Oh, thank you so much.

So much better for my back.

Uh it's okay.

Thank you.

Yes.

Okay.

So as in the wake of Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday, we said, well, what um who will tell our stories once the oldest black holiday in Houston becomes global, right?

Uh, and and then in 2022, through the collective efforts of uh people from Third, Fourth, and Fifth Wards, Independence Heights, Acres Home, Sunnyside, and South Park, uh, with community members from really across the city and the region.

We came together to uh to really talk about what celebrations and what honoring this holiday would look like.

Next slide, please.

Some general history about uh Juneteenth for anyone who might be watching online that that's not familiar with the holiday, of course, starting uh in in 1865, but it's important to remember that Houston was just a fledgling city when when Juneteenth uh first took place, right?

It was it was new, which means that Juneteenth is an important part of Houston's story.

Um, and and emancipation, the story of emancipation, it's really important for the the story of the city of Houston and the state of Texas.

Emancipation Park, and I'm glad that you all had Corey come up and talk about that as the as the new CEO of Emancipation Park is really the birthplace of the Juneteenth celebration.

So uh really over 160 years of of Juneteenth celebrations happening at that park, right in third ward, right?

Right here in the city of Houston.

This is incredibly important.

And I really appreciate District D, I mean District F coming in uh and talking about the the uh Piney Point neighborhood.

Councilmember Thomas has talked about that quite a bit.

I wasn't aware that we had that um freedom colony that that had formed immediately shortly after emancipation in uh in District F, right?

We hear a lot about Freedmanstown, and of course, we see the bricks.

We don't have as many of those physical markers in in areas like District F.

So what we do with Juneteenth Houston is really make sure that we tell the stories about places that are that are important to the fabric of Houston, even though the physical markers may not be there anymore.

Next slide.

So one of the main um one of the the main elements that we that we do as this Juneteenth Houston Citywide Collaborative is this festival.

And I want to first say we we really can't do this without a lot of support from the city.

We have our annual press conference here, the mayor's office of the arts, right?

Um the mayor, city council, mayor's office of special events with all of our permits.

Thank you in advance for uh helping make sure that you know our food trucks and all that and everything with the park gets settled.

We really can't do any of this without the the support of the city.

And I want to extend a formal invitation to both council and the public to this event um on June 6th.

So Juneteenth takes place on June 19th.

But we have this festival at on June 6th at Emancipation Park.

One acknowledging the importance of Emancipation Park to the story of Juneteenth, but also because we don't want to get in the way of all the celebrations that are going on literally throughout the region, right?

So we do this at the beginning to say, all right, we're bringing together these historic seven neighborhoods with the with the the broader community of Houston.

And now we're going to tell you go out, make sure you're making it to Emancipation Park celebration, right?

Make sure you're going to Acres Homes, make sure you're going to the parade there.

Make sure you're going all the way across the city to celebrate this, celebrate this holiday.

Next slide.

And June is really a month where Houston comes alive.

This isn't new.

What we're going to see in terms of the World Cup isn't new.

Houston is very active in June.

Something that uh is is an important part of Juneteenth Houston.

We said, well, and this is an issue that we're working on, the arts in general, grateful to the Houston Arts Alliance for their calendar.

We also have a calendar through Juneteenth Houston because we said we need people to be able to find out about all these events.

If we're doing a kickoff, people need to be able to see where in District H are people celebrating, um, celebrating, you know, Juneteenth.

Where across the city are people celebrating this.

And what we've seen over the years is that people are very much interested in this, right?

With over 275 events across the area that have been added to our calendar, right?

Thousands, tens of thousands of visitors, donations, and so on.

This is a really important economic driver, but this is also really important cultural uh aspect to to our community.

And we're seeing the the neighborhoods consistently engaging with this work that we're happening.

Uh next next slide.

And just to highlight a little bit about what we are what we're seeing in terms of the engagement.

We're bringing again people from across the city together to plan this event.

And one of the other elements that we have, so we have the website, the festival festival, but also this uh bus tour, our Black Houston bus tour that takes us across over 40 different sites across the city, right?

That we are that we put together and and do annually.

I want to extend an invitation to District F to think about if there are ways that we can incorporate that story of Piney Point into the festival, right, or into the work of Juneteenth Houston.

Very, very happy to have that conversation as well.

Next slide.

And then if we're looking at some of the impact, right?

We're seeing again thousands of elements, uh residents that are participating, new unique programming that's being activated here, and so much in investments that's taking place.

This is important for both visitors and residents of Houston.

And we know that when we invest in our communities, we see that coming back in turn.

So every dollar that we see invested in high taxes, we're grateful to be a recipient of uh wholesale occupancy taxes from the city through the Houston Arts Alliance.

Hello to Taylor Jackson, uh the CEO of HAA who's here in the room.

But we also, yeah, we know that that that money comes back to the city twofold in taxes, right?

The money that we're paying to the people that are uh performing at our events or selling food or uh setting up the the infrastructure, all of that requires money that it that then those people, these are Houstonians that are putting on this event, right?

Juneteenth is a really important Houston story.

Next slide.

So putting out a call to um to everybody who may be watching because we know that uh arts and culture is one of the favorite committees of of the city that everybody's watching online.

Of course, you can support Juneteenth in many ways.

Uh go to our website, donate, volunteer, apply.

If you have artists that are interested, we pay artists to do public art activations, right, to uh create different uh elements that that we highlight during our festival and to perform, of course.

And then this is we've been doing this since 2022.

This is our fifth year of the Juneteenth Houston Collaborative.

So if you're interested in in getting more involved, right, or you have ideas about ways that we can support within the different uh within the different districts or across the city, we would absolutely love to have additional conversations both with council members and with members of the broader community.

Next slide.

Yeah, it's really important that we support the arts in order to foster a more cohesive and engaged populace.

So here um are a few dates that I want the community to see.

Of course, the uh we're we're really doing this kickoff for what we're calling the 19 days of Juneteenth.

This is gonna be a big month, but 19 days of Juneteenth, kicking off on on the first with the festival at Emancipation Park coming up on June 6th, and then we'll be doing the bus tour on June 13th.

Again, these are only the events that the citywide collaborative are doing, but like we said, there have been over 270 events that have been on our calendar.

There will be things going on all throughout the month.

Um to that end, go to the next slide.

I want to to mention a couple of things that'll be happening during the time of FIFA, right?

So the World Cup is coming, that'll be kicking off toward the middle of the month after our official kickoff celebration.

But Juneteenth is going to have an exciting match that day, right?

Haiti versus Brazil, which I think is a is a great match to happen on on Juneteenth.

Uh just that there was a question earlier about thinking about the the economic development in our art sector, right?

Um one of the elements that that we're doing this year is Juneteenth on Almeda.

Almida is a really important and and vibrant economic corridor, but uh left to its own devices.

There is room for more support and and structure, right?

To make sure that we're supporting both the businesses and then making sure that our residents and neighbors, but also visitors are having an amazing experience.

So we're working with a lot of the um the businesses that we have in the area, as well as artists and arts organizations to come through and create what we're calling Juneteenth on Almeda, which will be on Juneteenth, since it's a Friday this year, uh a celebration and an activation up and along that that corridor.

You can find more events uh at Juneteenth Houston.org, but really wanted to mention that alongside, and I know that Marcy uh will will be talking about this um with the cultural districts line item in the agenda, but we're really making sure to spread to the businesses and the organizations that we have.

Like, what are the guidelines for the World Cup for these community partners that are looking to participate uh in in the World Cup and what are the FIFA guidelines, right?

But there is uh the cultural districts also working on a campaign to promote the different activities, not just the Museum of Fine Arts, but more that are going on and that will be available and accessible to residents and visitors that are coming here.

I just want to give, take a point of privilege and give a quick shout out to Yates High School.

Um we have uh have a Yates alumna here.

Yates, Jack Yates, JY celebrates a hundred years this month.

Um, this is their centennial.

An example of what we're doing and how we're thinking about uh Juneteenth in uh alignment with this story about telling Houston stories.

Uh we have collaborated with PhotoFest.

If you haven't visited one of the 50 plus sites where the PhotoFest Biennial is taking place across the city, uh I highly encourage that.

But we'll be having an outdoor uh exhibition that's taking place in third ward, completely free public art that we're talking about, that's put together in collaboration with current Yates High School students and the teacher Danielle Mason to show some of that historic work um reflecting the historic I on Third Ward exhibition that was done in collaboration between the Museum of Fine Arts and Yates High School.

That'll be on view uh on on Alabama Street in Live Oak later later this month.

So a lot of exciting things going on.

Juneteenth is just a great example of how the city can come alive through the arts, and that can be a great tool for economic development and and strengthening the city.

So thank you all.

Thank you, Jason.

And what was that council member Alcorn, J WAFA Life, right?

She's taught us all.

JY for life, man.

Um recognizing me.

Go ahead.

I I don't know if you were gonna talk first.

But anyway, Jason, great to see you, and thanks for all you're doing.

This is great.

I didn't realize all this collaborative was happening, so I really like the explanation.

I've been looking around the website and on your Instagram.

You've got a lot of great content out of there.

I think the bus tour sounds really cool.

Like how long is that gonna take out of 40 places?

It's it's a bit of a marathon.

So, you know, we'll have water for you, but it's a little and social facts, but it's a marathon.

I think that sounds really interesting.

I'm gonna have to get on board with that.

But thank you.

Um, thank you for coming, and we'll be sure to share a lot of this in our newsletters and everything, so more people can participate.

I know you get tons of participation, but it sounds sounds like you've got a great year ahead, and the FIFA thing's really gonna drive it home.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Tia recognizes uh the representative from Councilmember Thomas.

Hi, Jason.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for your excellent presentation.

Um, we certainly are familiar with Thur Ward uh Cultural Art District and the collaborative, but thank you for the really thorough presentation.

Didn't realize just the breadth of um efforts and collaboration that you all have put together, and um also want to thank you for recognizing Piney Point.

We'll definitely welcome a conversation with you.

Um we can set up a meeting to kind of see what that potential collaboration could look like.

I think Pani Point is one that uh shocks a lot of people, just to the history that truly is there.

So we'd love to see how we can collaborate on that effort.

Absolutely, thank you.

Great, fantastic idea.

Um recognizing the representative from uh Mayo Pro Tim Castex Tatum.

I didn't have that.

Oh, you did?

No.

Oh, function because I didn't touch it.

Okay, okay.

That's okay if you did.

Well, thank you anyway.

Well, uh, thank you, everyone.

Thank you for that presentation.

And Corey, you coming, you better get ready to get busy and excited.

That Juneteenth is major, but you're coming from Baton Rouge.

So you have the Marigua, but you have not seen the Emancipation Park celebration.

It'll be a wonderful celebration and a wonderful welcome.

So thank you, Jason.

Thank you.

Okay, I'm not sure.

Do we have any cultural district updates?

Oh, sure.

We do, Councilman Chair Evan Shabaz.

There's a uh presentation, and I believe that Marcy Dallas and uh Claudia De Vasco have a presentation on behalf of the cultural districts in Houston collectively.

Thank you.

Corey Corey told me it was some updates, but he didn't tell me who.

So welcome, thank you.

My Cory.

My quarry core.

Not Corey Wilson.

Corey Glill.

Well, good afternoon.

Thank you all for being here today.

It's so nice to see so many of you here at the Arts and Culture Committee meeting, and we're grateful for your uh for your attention to the committee.

Um Director Lyell asked me to give some updates on the work that the cultural districts are doing.

We've been here twice since this committee began its work, once in September of 2024, whenever Long Chu from Houston Endowment and I came to give an overview of the work that the cultural districts were beginning.

And then again in May 2025, whenever Craig Hautschalt from the Theater District and Um Harrison Guy from the Fifth Ward Cultural District came to give an update on the work that Hue Arts is doing, which is an initiative of the collective uh cultural districts work.

Next slide.

I thought I would just give um I'll just um say that Claudia and I are the ones who are standing here, but the cultural districts is a collective of many people who are working together from the seven state designated cultural districts in Houston.

Um we've done lots of work with the community over the last four years to talk about what it is that the community would like for the cultural districts to be working on collectively.

Um, and so I just want to acknowledge the leadership of the seven cultural districts here.

Next slide.

And just as a really brief overview, especially because some of you weren't here whenever we were here in 2024 and 2025.

Um, the cultural districts is a state designation.

The Texas legislature gave the authority to Texas Commission on the Arts in 2005 to designate cultural districts.

It's an open application.

Any area or neighborhood where there's lots of cultural vibrancy can come together and apply.

There's an application that's open each year.

If there are areas in your districts that you think would make sense for a cultural district, we would love to talk to you or your constituents about that too, because Houston has seven state designated cultural districts, which is the most in any city in the state, but we know that there are other parts of town in addition to the seven that exist where there's lots of culturally rich activity, and so we'd love to talk about how we could even bring more cultural districts to to Houston.

But the reason that the state put this program together is to encourage cultural tourism and economic development.

So that's what the seven cultural districts are tasked with.

Next slide, please.

I just put a map here to show you the location of the seven districts.

Um so each of the districts are really different from each other.

You have the large institutional districts, and actually you can go to the next slide too that highlights that.

Um each of the districts are really different from each other, and they have their own individual focus.

Each of the districts are really different from each other, and they have their own individual focus.

So as you can imagine, the museum district and the theater district are institution-based, and they're really different from the arts and cultural activity that happens in more heritage focused districts like the Fifth Ward and the Third Ward and East End.

And then we also have districts that are really focused on where our creation happens, like Arts District Houston, which houses more than 400 artist studios in Houston.

Next slide, please.

And you can learn a little bit more.

Next slide, please.

You can learn a little bit more.

We have a website, Houston Culturaldistricts.com.

There's a great short video that explains the difference between the seven districts and gives a little bit of information about that in Houston.

Next slide.

But what we are here to talk about is the collective work of the cultural district.

So the districts have for the last several years been doing an evaluation project to look at the impact that they make across the community.

And the things that they're focused on are cultural vibrancy, community cohesion, and economic development.

Those are the three areas where, according to the evaluation and the research that we've been doing, that the districts are making their greatest impact.

Next slide, please.

But the work that they're doing together as a collective was decided about four years ago through lots of conversations with the community about what was it that the city is missing and how can in the arts and culture space and how can the districts work together to sort of help to bridge that gap.

So a lot of this speaks to what you were just talking about, Councilmember Alcorn.

But the idea when the cultural districts got together is as you can imagine, the goals of say East End are really different from the goals of the museum district.

And so when we first started talking, the conversation was about what is it that we all have in common.

What is it that the whole sector is really interested in?

What's the really high level work that we can all be doing together?

And what we heard from each other and from the community was that Houston has a really excellent arts and culture sector.

I think I said whenever I was here two years ago that I worked at a big museum in New York City before I moved to Houston, and whenever I left that museum, everyone at the museum said to me, like, why in the world would you go to Houston?

I don't understand.

You know, and so, but those of us who are who live here know that it is a very vibrant and diverse arts and culture space.

You have major institutions that are world-renowned.

You have amazing community, you know, community festivals and community celebrations and that kind of thing.

You have a huge number of um working artists, and you have everything in between.

And we as a city don't do a good enough job of telling that story.

And that's what the cultural districts thought was sort of like the common ground that we all had together, and it was also what the community said.

Like we really have to change the perception of arts and culture in Houston.

And that helps everybody in the sector, and it helps the city as well.

So the districts got together and came up with two strategies.

One is to celebrate arts and culture, and one is to champion arts and culture.

Championing arts and culture has turned into this initiative called HueArts.

We have a website, HughArts.com that you can look at to learn more about the platform.

But we're going to talk about one of the strategic platform areas here today that HueArts is working on, and that's effective storytelling.

I want to recognize there are two members, I think, of the leadership team from HueArts in the audience, Rue Rob Jackson, who is leading the team on economic opportunity, and Jason Oliver, who you just heard from, who's leading our advocacy work.

Um and Claudia DeVasco is leading our effective storytelling work group.

We specifically hired people who are already working in arts and culture to help with this initiative because it's things that we're all already thinking about.

Um, and so it brings a really like hands-on here, boots on the ground kind of feel to the work and and knowledge of what the needs are that exist.

So I want to ask Claudia to say a little bit about the effective storytelling work, and then we'll tell you about an initiative that we have coming up.

Thank you, Marcy.

Hello, council members.

Thank you so much for your service and your continued support on this committee.

You know me in my capacity as managing director of Miller Outdoor Theater, but I am here in the capacity of uh serving on the board at the museum district and also on the Hue Arts Leadership team.

I first entered this conversation in this work when I was invited to serve on the task force.

What I think is really special is that the cultural districts identified the need to include others in the sector, not just those working in the cultural district, but individual artists, practitioners, those adjacent to our community to explore what do we need, what do we need to focus on?

And out of those conversations came these four initiatives the vibrant spaces, effective storytelling, public funding, and economic development.

I have the honor and I'm excited to be able to lead the working group in effective storytelling, which is really trying to answer exactly what Marcy said.

How do we change the narrative on how Houston is perceived?

So many of us within the sector, we know, and those on this committee, you know how wonderful and vibrant Houston is.

But oftentimes that message doesn't get translated to tourists.

If you were online during the big rodeo commotion that was happening happening last month with the influx of tourists who were looking for things to do, it's almost as if we haven't really yet communicated what Houston has to offer outside of the industry or some of our main signature events like the rodeo.

But also that story hasn't necessarily been communicated to the people that live and work here or to the businesses and the folks that call this place their home.

So we've been getting together as members of the sector, and this is uh everyone from artists creatives, folks that are administrators, folks that work adjacent to the arts, to start exploring some of these strategies.

For example, we had this mini arts hackathon a couple of weeks ago, and out of that came an idea, just like what you were mentioning, Calma.

It's uh could we have a citywide expo that truly reflects what we have to offer so that folks can kind of sample it on a weekend and explore.

And those are the kinds of ideas we're trying to figure out, including how do we collaborate with influencers, local influencers to spread the message, how can we better support the information we provide to you all so that the city leadership can also be very aware of all the wonderful things that are happening because I'm still learning about them and all the things as just uh shown by what Jason presented and all the Juneteenth activity that I wasn't aware of either.

Last fall we had a really wonderful event.

It was the first time the arts sector came together for the Greater Houston Arts Forum.

It was hosted in partnership with Hobby Center and the Houston Arts Alliance.

We brought the sector together for panels and workshops and conversation, and we held a storytelling workshop with the entire group to assess what does our sector, what do we really feel is the character or the brand of Houston arts and culture.

Uh next slide, please.

Out of that, uh we not only held an in-person workshop, we surveyed the group, and then uh we came back and provided a report to the effective storytelling working group.

And through that, it was really clear that we have an understanding of our arts and culture uh community sector work industry as diverse, um, that we see it more as a vibe rather than connected to one particular industry or signature event like you might find in Hollywood or New Orleans with music, and that there was this consistent feeling of feeling underrepresented, under championed across the board in Houston.

So it was really clear after this work and the work that we were doing, that we're doing actively on the working group, that we needed to continue to partner with the cultural districts on how to tell that story better.

So I'm gonna pass it on to Marcy to communicate what we've been up to.

So the cultural districts have recently invested in an initiative.

Next slide, please.

I'll ask Ren Mitchell to come up from the Black Sheep Agency.

Um, the cultural districts have recently hired, very recently hired the Black Sheep Agency to help us think through a brand for the art sector in Houston.

This is not a brand for the cultural districts.

This is thinking about how we, all of us, we all of us, the whole sector, all of you, um, talk about the art sector in Houston.

Um, and so we'll we'll ask Ren to just share a little bit about sort of like the timeline and the plan for that work.

Happily, thanks for having me.

I was um planning on coming up crouching because I was wanting the podium to dance a little bit again.

Um happy to be here and represent the Black Sheep Agency.

Um we are a creative brand strategy firm.

Um, for 17 years, Black Sheep has been rooted right here in Houston, um, partnering with institutions, civic organizations that make this city extraordinary.

And we're really happy to be involved in this project.

It sounds like it's timely as some of this conversation has been um bubbling up to this moment.

Um we have also in the past served as the City of Houston public engagement um agency and led the community engagement for the most recent arts and cultural plan.

It's been a while, but uh we were part of that process.

Um, so we understand how cultural identity takes shape and how it resonates across generations, neighborhoods, um, communities.

So when the cultural districts came together to create this unified brand for the arts in the city, we are just thrilled and honored to be the chosen partner.

Um this project is more than a logo.

It is the plan is to be a crystallizing Houston thing that really brings all the creative identity together and gives every Houstonian and a visitor a reason to say, wow, the arts here are really world class.

We're currently in the immersion process, um, which means we are interviewing anyone and everyone.

We've started with the cultural districts, but we will also listen to voices that represent a full 360-degree stakeholder map of the city and the region.

If you want to be interviewed, we would love to talk to your office.

And we don't want to miss any voices, but the point is to create an arts and cultural campaign that really uplifts and amplifies what's already happening in the city.

So we're happy to work alongside these amazing people on the heels of that storytelling workshop at the forum.

There's momentum behind this, and we're really excited to be in the Jarvis seat.

And next slide.

October is when we plan to roll out this new initiative.

So we'll be doing the work until then.

October is also National Arts and Humanities Month.

And for the last two years, actually, the cultural districts have hosted a uh breakfast or reception related to National Arts and Humanities Month.

Uh in 2024, we were at um Houston Endowment.

I know Councilmember Evan Shabazz, Martinez, uh, Ramirez were there.

Last year we were with the Hobby Center and we were with Houston Arts Alliance at the Greater Houston Arts Forum.

We held a reception, Councilmember Castillo came and gave a proclamation.

Um this year we know the date early because I know that many of you often want to come to the reception and aren't able to.

This year we know the date early, it's gonna be on October 12th.

Um, we're again working, Hue Arts, the Cultural Districts, um, Houston Arts Alliance and the Hobby Center are working again to put together the Greater Houston Arts Forum in October.

This is officially the Save the Date for you and for the community.

But this year we're partnering with Texans for the Arts, which is the state Arts Advocacy Agency for the Arts.

Um, they work a lot at making sure that funding remains steady and increases at the state level, which we all benefit from here.

In fact, one of the major benefits of having cultural districts in in Houston is that there's a special grant at the state level that's only available to cultural districts and entities within cultural districts.

Um, that grip funding has been there for the last eight um years, and in those eight years, they've distributed about 30 million dollars in funding.

15 million of that 30 million has come to Houston because we have more cultural districts than the rest of the state.

So there's a direct financial incentive to having that there too.

So we'll follow up with all of your offices to make sure that you have that October 12th date on your calendar, and we hope that um that we'll be able to see you all there.

And I'll just add one other initiative that's coming up that we were probably gonna talk about at the May meeting, but now that there's not one, I'll just add that led by um Craig Haushalt and the theater district.

Um, there will be an initiative to promote the arts and cultural activities that are happening during FIFA, and so we'll be following up with your offices and asking you to please share that out with your constituents as well soon.

Well, thank you.

Um just you missed it by a day.

My birthday is October 13th.

But we can celebrate early.

Anyway, uh Chia recognizes Councilmember Alcoin.

Thank you, Chair, and thanks for the presentation, and also thanks for articulating what I was trying to ask so much better than I was actually asking it.

Um, just basically to be known for something or have us tell that story a little bit better.

Um, the example that was given to me was kind of after the Asian financial crisis, how the South Korean government really invested in K-pop.

I mean, that that that like they put they made that a big emphasis, and now look, I mean, it's like a huge thing.

And so, kind of where do we need to be?

Where do we need to put our emphasis so we can be known for all the great vibrant, wonderful art that we have to to the rest of the world?

It's a huge economic driver, and we want we want more people to know about it.

So thanks for the work you're doing.

I'd love to be.

I don't know what my thoughts are, but I'd love to be interviewed.

Great.

That's great.

And um, and just look forward to the work that you're doing.

I know one of the things that I'm really the most excited about about the work that we're doing with Black Sheep is through the at the last Greater Houston Arts Forum and the storytelling uh workshop that we had, there was a conversation about how you know New York's known for Broadway, or you know, LA's known for the film industry.

Like different cities are known for different kinds of things.

And Houston, what makes us interesting and unique as a space for arts and culture is the diversity that exists here.

I mean, you see, we talk about this being a diverse city, but you really see it reflected in the arts and culture here, and so we really hope that we are able to sort of like have that as the thing that Houston's known for and figure out a way that we can put that out with a larger megaphone.

Yeah, it's hard because there's so much.

It's not hard to like boil it down.

But like even in the Kinder survey, it's you know, people value diversity and the experiences.

Like that's what people like most about Houston.

You've got all kinds of cultural and all kinds of experiences that you have there, but that's hard to like.

It's not like come see the art or you know, whatever.

I mean, we have the rodeo, we have lots of signature events and things, but the way to talk about our arts and culture and that really kind of sums it up.

So good luck, Black Show.

Yeah, we're excited.

We're excited.

Councilmember Castillo Vice Chair.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you both for the presentation.

It's good to have you all back at the committee.

Uh, you talked about new cultural districts.

Um you talk more about the process and the anticipated timeline on what it would take to establish and create a new cultural district.

Sure.

I'll give a sort of brief overview, and I'm happy to talk in more detail too, because I think cultural districts are a great sort of economic engine for the state across the board.

Um, and I really like the way that they bring diverse constituencies together.

Um but the process is that every summer there's uh application deadline at Texas Commission on the Arts.

The you can go on Texas Commission on the Arts' website, there's a section about cultural districts.

You can read all about what the criteria is and what the questions are.

Um of us, the seven of us in Houston who are cultural districts, have filled out that application and gone through the process.

Um, and so would be happy to share what that experience has been like.

But the idea is that it is a footprint that has cultural vibrancy within that footprint, and you have to demonstrate that to the state to the state.

So the vibrancy already has to exist.

It's not to create vibrancy in a certain space, it's just to recognize and sort of package the story.

Um then there's a committee of peers across the state who sit and review those applications in the summer and then select.

It's a competitive process.

Um many cultural districts in Houston had to apply more than once.

Um I sit on that panel many years, and um usually about half of those who apply are accepted into the process.

Got it.

Thank you for that information.

Um there are a number of cultural districts that intersect district H, and I know that they do add uh to the community, to the economy as well, is just highlighting different uh fabrics of the culture.

So um would love to talk to you more about potential new additions and and applications.

Yeah, I'll add one other thing is that some cities have a cultural district process.

Austin does, for example.

Austin designates cultural districts.

In fact, the last time I sat on a panel, two of the applications had already been approved as cultural districts at the city level, and then we're applying at the state level.

Some counties have cultural district designations.

That's something that we're investigating with Harris County too.

I know Los Angeles has a county cultural district designation, and so there are other ways also if the state cultural district designation doesn't work for certain kinds of things that I think we can look at looking at if there's something that could happen more at the county or the city level too.

Got it.

Thank you very much.

Well, thank you, all three for your presentation.

And and Claudia, in in your other role, when do I give my 15th seconds of fame?

When do we when does the Miller Outdoor Theater start back so I can come and greet everybody?

Yes, of course.

Well, on that Juneteenth note, the first show of the season at Miller Outdoor Theater is Juneteenth.

Okay.

Our construction, uh, many of you were at our groundbreaking for the new gateway project at Miller Outdoor.

That construction is set to end at the end of May.

I'm knocking on wood to make sure that we meet that deadline.

Um, and then we will be ready to begin the season by June 19th and continue until November 14th.

So I better see you at June 19th.

So I know there's lots of other events happening too.

So if we got to it all.

They're all in the district of destination, so I can make it.

Thank you.

I'll send you more information.

But thank you so much.

Thank you.

Okay.

All right.

Now I've now time for public speakers.

I don't know if we have anyone signed up.

But if there's someone who would like to come forward and identify yourself, um, what organization you represent, and if you have a question or comment, um, we'll have two minutes.

Start now.

No, I'm kidding.

Hello, council members.

Um, my name's Anastasia Carages.

I live in District H.

I am an artist and community organizer for Zinefest Houston.

I have an event um to share about.

It's called Uncle Bob's Photo Zine Market.

We are partnering with um the PhotoFest Biennial this year, and we're gonna be at Silver Street Studios on this is our fourth iteration of the festival.

And for those of you not familiar with zines, they're self-published magazines.

Um, and um, yeah, we're very really grateful to be partnering with PhotoFest this year, and um, we hope you can make it out for that.

Thanks.

Certainly if you get that information to us, we'll try to get it out there for you.

Okay, thank you.

But thank you.

I'll share it in my newsletter.

Okay, thanks.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Okay.

Come on up.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to the council members for forming and serving on this vital committee.

Uh, my name is Jake Margolin.

As artists, my husband Nick Vaughn and I have been grateful recipients of career changing grants from the Houston Arts Alliance as well as Civic Art Commissions from the City of Houston.

Um, and I'm here today as the executive director of a new 501c3 nonprofit that Nick and I founded called the Rendezvous Center for Art, uh, which supports queer interdisciplinary art in Houston.

Uh we're at the early stages of establishing a brick and mortar queer visual arts center.

Um, and I wanted to speak briefly about the Houston Queer Agenda and its relevance to this committee.

And while a couple of uh you are already familiar with the agenda, I know there are probably others who are not.

Uh, last February Rendezvous was one of 27 queer serving organizations who put together the Greater Houston LGBTQ plus community summit at the Montrose Center, uh, out of which came a unified agenda.

Um, and many thanks to those of you who are present for the formal reading on February 8th.

Um and there are three items in the agenda that relate directly to the arts that I wanted to share here because I hope that as this committee and the cultural arts districts continue their important work that you can support the needs of Houston's LGBTQ plus community as articulated in the agenda.

Um, one is to establish a dedicated LGBTQI plus art, history, and performance center uh or museum.

Another is to create and support more opportunities and venues outside of home, work, and school, where LGBTQIA plus people can build community in a safe and sober space.

Um the third is to require the cultural arts districts and institutions throughout the city to fund LGBTQIA plus advocates and to implement gender neutral bathrooms uh without policing.

The arts and culture are central to Houston's queer community, uh, and your work can be a part of strengthening and bolstering this community.

Uh and Rendezvous is happy to partner with any of you on specifics or ideas on any and all of it.

And so thank you for your advocacy for your work uh and for your dedication.

And thank you.

Any information that you want to disseminate to us, just make sure that we we get it, and thank you for coming forward.

I certainly will.

Okay.

We have another.

Okay.

Hello, and thank you to the council.

I'm Christina Brungart.

I'm with Alley Theater.

And I wanted to first of all start with a big thank you to you and the mayor's office for your support.

Um, one of the things that is coming up very soon is Alley Theater got a national endowment for the arts grant, thanks to support from the mayor's office.

Um, we are working to kick it off right now with our fences by August Wilson, which will be opening on April 22nd.

But there's going to be far-reaching community activities across several districts over the next year and a half.

So thank you so much for that.

The other is you did mention the importance of bringing in tourism and conferences and expanding um the presence of the arts within our national uh forums.

And one of the things that Alley Theater is doing is actually hosting the League of Resident Theaters at the end of this month.

Um, over 80 theaters in the country are part of it as member organizations encompassing over 30 states, and they will be convening here at the end of April to discuss the different things that impact our organizations with a special focus on arts education this year.

So it's a wonderful opportunity for people to understand more about the wonderful things that we do here in Houston and the importance of the arts in Houston.

So thank you so much for your support and the opportunity to share that with you.

Thank you.

And just as a little trivia, way back in the day, I was in Pinocchio.

I was a little bitty girl.

Were you part of the Pinocchio?

I was not Pinocchio.

Let's be clear.

But I was in a play.

That was something that I remember from many many, many years ago.

That's so cool.

Were you part of Merry Go Round with Allie?

Was I was part of the Merry Go-Round group, which is Ali's.

I have no idea.

I just know I was there repeating whatever the person next to me see it.

I was just that young.

I didn't know any lines.

We may reach out to you because we are collecting stories.

My nose didn't go like that.

Wonderful.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

Okay, I think uh Deloitte Parker was going to speak.

Thank you.

I've listened and I've learned.

You know, that's what I said.

I've learned that you don't have to say a whole lot to mean a whole lot.

And what I like to share with you all is that uh the culture district, I've been third shapes, I've been running shapes enough for 56 years.

And culture has been something that we've embraced all 56 of those years.

The Wanza, Pan African Cultural Festival, Youth Festivals, Freedom Tour, where you retrace the civil rights movement, learning the cultures.

And uh the city has been instrumental in helping us with that.

We'd like to thank you for that.

And we will continue.

We are in our we went through a very challenging period this past year where our building caught on fire, and we didn't lose the building.

We didn't lose the spirit.

In fact, we continue to operate.

And there are two kinds of insurance.

You get insurance that you pay every month for, right?

Never file a claim, right?

When you do, you catch hell getting your money.

Then there's another kind of insurance.

And that's what we have.

So the city of Houston is inclusive, inclusive in that.

And all organizations in the city have helped us to go stronger, better, and stronger.

So I'd like to thank the city of Houston first.

And this culture district and Houston Arts Alliance and all of your organizations, cultural organizations in particular, that contributed to us being able to still continue to be do what we're doing.

Again, it's unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and FAITH.

Those are the seven principles that we embrace.

These are cultural, and uh we thank the city of Houston.

We thank you, Councilwoman, and for what you've done to contribute, and all city council and the city of Houston for, and it go all the way back to Mayor Sylvester Turner, who lived the light.

Anyway, y'all take care.

Thank you very much.

And thank you, Deloitte, for all your years that you have shaped.

You have actually shaped the minds of so many young and older people.

Thank you.

I believe that concludes uh the meeting.

There's no further business before this committee.

Oh, I'm sorry, Councilmember Castillo.

Yeah, we're just pushing these buttons and y'all don't know it, right?

All right.

Uh this as there's no further business before this committee.

This meeting of the Arts and Culture Committee is now adjourned.

And I thank you, and you have a great afternoon.

And it is 3 27 p.m.

Have a wonderful day.