Conductor Gonzalo Farias / Courtesy of the Houston Symphony
The Houston Symphony has appointed Chilean conductor and pianist Gonzalo Farias as the orchestra’s Assistant Conductor, effective at the start of the 2023-24 season this September. Farias was the winner of an audition process, which included a video submission round and a final in-person conducting round held in May.
According to a press release, Farias’ duties will include conducting the orchestra in various programs, including Education, Family, Community, and Summer concerts, as well as covering for guest conductors and acting as assistant to Music Director Juraj Valčuha. The Houston Symphony’s previously appointed Assistant Conductor was Yue Bao.
Gonzalo Farias / Courtesy of Houston Symphony
Farias is Associate Conductor of the Kansas City Symphony and Associate Conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony. His previous positions have included Assistant Conductor of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra under JoAnn Falletta’s leadership.
As former Music Director of the Joliet Symphony Orchestra, Farias created programs that engaged Hispanic residents of the greater Chicago area “with pre-concert lectures, Latin-based repertoire, and a unique side-by-side bilingual narration of Bizet’s Carmen,” as described in his bio.
Gonzalo Farias was born in Santiago de Chile, where he began his piano studies at age five. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the P.C. University of Chile, and then continued his graduate piano studies at the New England Conservatory as a full-scholarship student of Wha-Kyung Byun and Russell Sherman. He has won first prize at the Claudio Arrau International Piano Competition and prizes at the Maria Canals and Luis Sigall Piano Competitions. As a conductor, Mr. Farias attended the University of Illinois working with Donald Schleicher, the Peabody Conservatory with Marin Alsop, worked privately with the late Otto-Werner Mueller, and studied under the guidance of Larry Rachleff for several years.
With extensive training, experience, and accolades earned in Chile, the U.S., and Europe, Farias was the recipient of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Conducting Fellowship for two seasons, during which he was mentored by Marin Alsop. In 2020, he was selected for the Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview, considered a significant showcase for young emerging conductors sponsored by the League of American Orchestras.
Farias’ bio states that he has a “fond love for piano, chamber, and contemporary music” and is a “passionate reader of second-order cybernetics as a way to help understand how complex systems organize, coordinate, and interconnect with one another.” In addition, he is a practitioner of Zen Buddhism.
Nia’s Daughters Movement Collective hosted a Mother’s Day event with storytelling and a movement class in Wiley Park in Freedmen’s Town, May 2023 / Photo courtesy of Stacey Allen
Through residencies by four artists and collectives between June – September 2023, CAMHLAB at Freedmen’s Town aims to honor, preserve, and amplify the histories, stories, and experiences of Houston’s oldest Black settlement and its residents.
Situated along Buffalo Bayou in Houston’s Fourth Ward, Freedmen’s Town was settled shortly after June 19, 1865—Juneteenth—when enslaved African Americans were finally granted the freedom that had been legally theirs since the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation 2 ½ years earlier. Eager to begin new lives in a new place as freed people, these men, women, and children from the surrounding rural areas journeyed to Houston, and began creating a community.
In what became known as Freedmen’s Town, they built homes, schools, businesses, churches, and lives. They built a world in which African Americans could prosper and thrive. Freedmen’s Town is where Black Houston took shape … By 1880, Freedmen’s Town was home to 95% of Black Houstonians. By the 1930s, it had produced over 400 Black-owned businesses. It was the “mother ward,” the Harlem of the South.
Freedmen’s Town overlooking downtown Houston / Photo courtesy of Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy
In March, the mental health and arts nonprofit The Black Man Project, dance company Nia’s Daughters, and interdisciplinary artists Ann ‘Sole Sister’ Johnson and Billion Tekleab were announced as the 2023 CAMHLAB Freedmen’s Town Artists-in-Residence, and they will carry out projects, community activities, and public presentations over the course of this summer and coming months.
Choreographer and dancer Stacey Allen is the founder and Creative Director of Nia’s Daughters, a movement collective whose works aim to incorporate social justice and activism. During their residency, Allen says her company will create a body of work that centers the stories of resilience and resistance of African Americans in Texas—including The Fairytale Project, a dance theater production inspired by the love story of Jim and Winnie Shankle, and Aesthetic Inheritances, a film and exhibit made in collaboration with artists Danielle Mason and Keda Sharber, which highlights the Freedom Colony Barrett Station and explores Black material culture.
Nia’s Daughters in “The Fairytale Project” / Keda Sharber of Images by Papillon
“This work in Freedmen’s Town is a beautiful extension of this path of storytelling. We’ve been here and will not allow for our stories to be erased. Our goal is that this work conjures memory and sparks something inside audiences, and they cherish their own histories,” said Allen.
According to Allen, Nia’s Daughters kicked off their CAMHLAB residency by hosting an interactive, yet laidback outdoor Mother’s Day event in May in Freedmen’s Town.
“We engaged residents with storytelling with the elder Sister Mama Sonya, and our company members, Lakendra Howard and Sydney Hart with myself led the children in a movement class,” said Allen. “The rest was a super organic kickback—popcorn, juice, a DJ—you know, feeling the flow of Sundays at Wiley Park.”
Nia’s Daughters presented a Mother’s Day event at Wiley Park to kick off their CAMHLAB at Freedmen’s Town artist residency / Photo courtesy of Stacey Allen
Allen says they will return to Wiley Park for another event in coming months, which will include more movement classes, more storytelling, and more kicking back with the community.
“We truly respect the work that Charonda Johnson [Vice President of the Freedmen’s Town Association and a fifth generation Freedmen’s Town resident] has done in her neighborhood and are just honored to be able to build trust with Freedmen’s Town residents and share our movement practice with the youth.”
Allen told Houston Arts Journal that Nia’s Daughters will also present a public program at POST, to be scheduled in the fall, which will include a quilting workshop by Joethella Gipson and the debut of Sister Mama Sonya’s “mahogany messages: poetic melodies,” a new poetry and dance piece with narratives about Freedmen’s Town residents.
This work in Freedmen’s Town is a beautiful extension of this path of storytelling. We’ve been here and will not allow for our stories to be erased. Our goal is that this work conjures memory and sparks something inside audiences, and they cherish their own histories.
Stacey Allen, Nia’s Daughters Movement Collective
These artist residencies point to a community partnership between Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy that goes back to 2020, when the two organizations began formal discussions and programming centered around community engagement and empowerment, as well as “the shared belief that arts and culture is an essential catalyst for change.”
Their partnership also supports artists-in-residence at POST, including Freedmen’s Town Lead Research Fellow Amarie Gipson, whose Reading Room is a curated library of books by and about Black artists, and Freedmen’s Town Film Documentarian Nate Edwards, whose works-in-progress can be viewed this summer during open studio hours:
CAMHLAB at Freedmen’s Town is part of Rebirth in Action: Telling the Story of Freedom—a multi-year project of CAMH, HFTC, the City of Houston, and artist Theaster Gates—which was announced in January and funded by a $1.25 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and an NEA “Our Town” grant.
With the goal to “to promote Houston Freedmen’s Town as monument of Black community, agency, and heritage,” according to a press release, Rebirth in Action includes various phases of artist-led, community, and infrastructure projects—including the archaeological preservation of brick streets, laid by formerly enslaved residents, which hold historical, spiritual, and cultural significance.
Historic Freedmen’s Town bricks at the intersection of Wilson Street and Andrews Street / Photo courtesy of Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
L-R: Linda Lorelle, moderator, with Houston mayoral candidates Robin Williams, John Whitmire, Sheila Jackson Lee, Lee Kaplan, Gilbert Garcia, Robert Gallegos, and Amanda Edwards at the Houston Mayoral Forum on Arts and Culture / Photo by Catherine Lu
This past Monday night, the Houston Mayoral Forum on Arts and Culture—the first candidate forum of this campaign—took place before a packed audience at the Hobby Center’s Zilkha Hall.
The public event was organized by the city’s seven state-designated cultural districts: Arts District Houston, East End Houston Cultural District, 5th Ward Cultural Arts District, Houston Museum District, Midtown Cultural Arts and Entertainment District, Third Ward Cultural Arts District, and Theater District Houston.
In an interview with Houston Public Media, Alison Weaver, Co-President of the Museum District Association and Director of Rice University’s Moody Center for the Arts, said it was exciting to see Houstonians’ enthusiasm and support for the city’s arts and culture.
“We had over 600 people registered for the event before we had to shut down the online registration system,” said Weaver on Houston Matters with Craig Cohen. “So, the energy in the room was fantastic. The interest from across the city was extraordinary.”
According to Hillary J. Hart, Chair of Theater District Houston and Executive Director of Theatre Under the Stars, 400 people showed up in person for the event, filling Zilkha Hall to near capacity.
One of those in attendance was writer, activist, and Houston Poet Laureate, Aris Kian Brown, who live tweeted the forum from her perspective as a member of the arts and culture community:
WE BEGIN! Follow along as I live tweet from Mayoral Forum for Arts & Culture. The room is packed with cultural advocates, arts admin, artists, community organizers and residents at the intersection of all. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Sw7OLsjSjU
Brown documented the candidates’ responses—including goals to increase public art, create affordable housing for artists, and identify new sources of funding for artists—while also expressing her frustration for what she called a lack of “innovative solutions.”
“The candidates had no genuine solution or long-term engagement with arts institutions or artists. We have so much work to do,” she tweeted.
Seven Houston mayoral candidates participated: Amanda Edwards, Robert Gallegos, Gilbert Garcia, Lee Kaplan, Sheila Jackson Lee, John Whitmire, and Robin Williams.
Emmy Award-winning journalist Linda Lorelle served as moderator. Lorelle is also a ballroom dancer, who has been involved on the advisory board for Hope Stone Dance.
Lorelle told the audience that all of the questions were “sourced after conversations and interaction with all of you in the community. So, these are the questions you want answered.”
Candidates responded in alphabetical order, with two minutes to answer each question.
You can watch the entire 2023 Houston Mayoral Forum on Arts and Culture, recorded by Houston Media Source, here:
Forum Questions:
“More than 70% of Americans believe that the benefits of the arts extend beyond the individual to the community. If you are mayor and are planning for the city of the future, how will you ensure that Houston is recognized as a cultural leader?” [14:00 mark in the video]
“Dallas spends on average $17 per capita on the arts, while Austin spends $22.90, compared to Houston’s—are you ready for it—$6.70 … Houston’s thriving arts and culture scene is a significant contributor to the quality of life for its residents and visitors. It is an important economic driver, a primary recruiting tool for corporations, and a key tourism attraction for the city. So, in addition to the current Hotel Occupancy Tax allocations, what plans do you have as Mayor to increase funding for the arts outside of the Hotel Occupancy Tax?” [27:05 mark in the video]
“The city’s previous Cultural Plan is dated 2015. What is your plan as Mayor to invest in and commit to a new citywide Cultural Plan for 2024 and beyond? How will you ensure that diversity, equity, and inclusion are prioritized under this plan?” [42:30 mark in the video]
“There is near universal support for arts education: 91% of Americans believe that the arts are part of a well-rounded K-12 education. Over 90% say students should receive an education in the arts in elementary, middle, and high school. With the state taking over HISD, how will you as Mayor assist schools in making arts education a priority and accessible?” [57:16 mark in the video]
“The arts sector needs artists and workers to thrive. How would you as Mayor ensure that Houston’s diverse artists and cultural workers stay here and thrive here?” [1:12:23 mark in the video]
You can also read the candidates’ written responses to a Pre-Forum Q&A here.
Davidson said he felt “grateful and glad”—as well as stunned—to learn that he had earned both honors for his performance of Rossini’s Bassoon Concerto in the competition’s Final Round on June 11, as part of TMF at the University of Houston.
“I remember thinking and stammering in my own thoughts, Oh my gosh. I won. I actually won. Oh my gosh. This is unreal. I won. Oh my gosh,” he said in an email to Houston Arts Journal. “I am not lying when I say the shock and disbelief lasted for at least another 20 minutes.”
Davidson takes home a $2,000 cash prize—$1,500 for First Place plus $500 for being voted Audience Favorite—and two solo performance opportunities: one with the TMF Orchestra on June 24 and another with the Houston Symphony during its 2023-24 season.
UH’s Texas Music Festival is a selective three-week summer academy for emerging, advanced orchestral musicians, who are pursuing a career in classical music. Organizers say that 81 young artists were accepted from 273 applicants for this year’s festival. Of those 81 TMF musicians, 25 auditioned for the Mitchell-Hogg Competition, and only five finalists made it to the last round.
Finalists included flutist Lorien Britt, a 19-year-old Dallas native and Manhattan School of Music student (Second Prize, $1000); violinist Momoko Uchida, a 22-year-old New York native and recent graduate of the Mannes School of Music (Third Prize, $750); harpist Lily Primus, a 20-year-old Denver native who attends Rice’s Shepherd School of Music; and double bassist Colin Roberts, a 19-year-old Seoul, Korea-born Houstonian who has studied at Baylor University and who will join UH’s Moore School of Music this fall.
2023 Cynthia Woods Mitchell-Ima Hogg Young Artist Competition winners, L-R, Momoko Uchida (3rd Place), Lorien Britt (2nd Place), Xayvion Davidson (1st Place & Audience Favorite), and TMF Director Alan Austin. Photo by Felipe Harker/Univ of Houston Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts
Houston Arts Journal reached out to First Prize and Audience Favorite Winner, Xayvion Davidson, for the following interview:
Houston Arts Journal: Congratulations on your win, Xayvion! When did you start playing bassoon? What drew you, and continues to draw you, to this instrument?
Xayvion Davidson: Thank you! I am unique in the regard that I started on bassoon in fifth grade. I have been playing for nine years. Most people start on clarinet or flute, but the bassoon looked fascinating, had a unique sound, and looked quite difficult. Originally, I thought it was an oboe, which funnily enough was my second choice and all I have to say is, “Thank GOODNESS my mom corrected me!” Imagine having to make oboe reeds for life. Can you imagine all that time wasted on something that probably won’t even work? Sadly, I can relate because I’m doomed to make reeds, thanks to the bassoon.
I got serious about music once I heard of regional band and met my first teacher Dr. Maya Stone, who helped me get into the regional band. When I was there, I enjoyed the social aspect and making music with people as passionate as I was about music and that was what made me want to go pro. What draws me to the bassoon now is the range of the instrument, which is about 3.5 octaves, and the wide range of characters it can portray, from the comedic Sorcerer’s Apprentice to Tchaikovsky’s downright depressing Sixth Symphony.
HAJ: Who are your bassoon heroes or musical heroes?
XD: As for bassoon heroes, Mr. Benjamin Kamins, Dr. Stone, and my fellow studiomates are heroes. Mr. Kamins continues to inspire me, and I have learned a lot from just one year of studying under him because he is a phenomenal teacher. I also learned that he is truly a mentor in every sense of the word. I recall him once saying to me, “Xayvion, I will help you with your reeds until the day I croak.” Though I found it comical, he has helped me and students who have graduated with reeds and continues to check up on them. When he can, he will go to students’ performances and cheer enthusiastically. If his students are around Houston, they will drop by Rice to introduce themselves or sit in on a class.
Though I only studied with her for one year, Dr. Stone is a hero to me because she continues to be a mentor and is there for me when I need it. I am eternally grateful for the support that she has and will continue to give me.
Last but certainly not least, my studiomates are a constant source of inspiration because we are supportive of each other. When I see my studiomates grow and succeed over the year, it is proof that I am in the right spot to accomplish my dream of being an orchestral musician, and I get inspired to work harder.
HAJ: Can you describe how you felt the moment you won the Cynthia Woods Mitchell-Ima Hogg Competition?
XD: Oh, I think everyone who was in the reception hall Sunday could have EASILY answered that one. The one word I immediately felt when I was announced as the winner was shock, followed by disbelief, and it DEFINITELY showed. My mouth was WIDE open after I was announced the winner, when I walked up to the stage with my mouth open, and when I turned around for another ten seconds—maybe more—still gaping. I remember thinking and stammering in my own thoughts, “Oh my gosh. I won. I actually won. Oh my gosh. This is unreal. I won. Oh my gosh.” I am not lying when I say the shock and disbelief lasted for at least another 20 minutes.
HAJ: In addition to the prize money, you’ve won performance opportunities with the TMF Orchestra and the Houston Symphony. What’s most important to you as a performer? What are you trying to communicate or achieve each time you go on stage?
XD: What is important to me is trying to get a message across to my audience because as I have heard from my parents, amongst others, the impression you leave is the most important thing. It is rare to play a technically perfect audition, but if you left a memorable impression on the committee, you still stand a chance of winning. For example, when I was performing the Rossini, I thought about being an opera singer because the concerto sounds very operatic. To me, the first movement sounded like it was about a singer professing his love, and to try to be in the right headspace, I thought of singing to my girlfriend. I love her, and when I was singing my ideas with sappy made-up lyrics, I had fun preparing this.
HAJ: What are your goals or dreams as a musician?
XD: As of right now, my goal is to win an orchestral job, preferably before I graduate, and become a great private instructor.
***
Xayvion Davidson begins his sophomore year this fall at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, studying under Professor Benjamin Kamins. Davidson is an alumnus of the Nashville Symphony’s Accelerando program and NYO2. In 2022, he served as alternate bassoonist and apprentice manager for the National Youth Orchestra of the USA. His honors also include winning the 2022 Curb Youth Symphony Concerto Competition. When he is not practicing the bassoon or making reeds, he enjoys watching TV with his family or playing Splatoon 3.
Mural in progress by artist Aches, located on the side of Houston Ballet’s Margaret Alkek Williams Center for Dance, and “Imagine,” an art car by artist Ruth Sosa Bailey / Photo by Elizabeth Sosa Bailey
The public will have the opportunity to ask Houston mayoral candidates about their visions, stances, and plans for arts and culture in the city, if elected, at a community forum. The Houston Mayoral Forum on Arts and Culture will take place on Monday, June 12, 2023 at 6:30pm, preceded by a public reception at 5:30pm, at the Hobby Center’s Zilkha Hall.
According to a press release, organizers aim to bring the arts sector together to learn about candidate policy positions related artists, arts educators and administrators, culture bearers, and cultural institutions—and to seek answers to the question, “As Houston continues to grow, what role will arts and culture play in this ever-changing environment?”
“The arts sector is still recovering from significant events such as the pandemic,” said Harrison Guy, Artistic Director of Urban Souls Dance Company and Director of Arts and Culture of 5th Ward Cultural Arts District, in a statement.
“As we gear up for an essential election in our city, it’s crucial to create a space for a much-needed conversation that not only focuses on the arts but also acknowledges that artists are small business owners. We must also recognize that arts organizations are a driving force behind what makes our city thrive,” he said.
Based on the Arts and Economic Prosperity 5 report, the most recent national economic impact study by Americans for the Arts, the Greater Houston Region generated $119.3 million in local and state government revenues and supported 25,817 full-time equivalent jobs in 2015. Total spending in the arts and culture industry for the area (including spending by organizations and audiences) was $1.1 billion, helping to generate $801.6 million in household income for local residents.
“As critical economic drivers and significant contributors to the development of our communities, arts and culture must be part of the conversation regarding Houston’s future,” said Hillary J. Hart, Executive Director at Theatre Under the Stars and Chair of Theater District Houston, in a statement.
The format of the Houston Mayoral Forum on Arts and Culture will include opening statements by each candidate, followed by questions from Emmy Award-winning journalist Linda Lorelle, who will serve as the moderator, and questions from the audience. The public can submit questions in advance online, as well as at the event in person.
Writer, educator, and activist Tony Diaz says that he plans to attend the forum to voice his concerns for the evolving needs and changes of the local cultural landscape.
“This is a very exciting time for Latino art and culture in Houston with ALMAAHH about to hire a full-time president of the organization as it launches its visioning sessions quantifying Houston’s Latino Art Eco System, which will be part of its 2023 report. BANF is also identifying and supporting Latino individual artists, collectives, and nonprofits,” Diaz told Houston Arts Journal.
“As an artist, and as the founder of Nuestra Palabra, I would like to know how the mayoral candidates propose to create more funding for Latino Arts nonprofits, collectives, and individual artists. Also, how will they devise ways to work with, build on, and institutionalize the findings of ALMAAHH and BANF to raise Houston’s profile as a Latino arts city?” he said.
Organizers say that all Houston mayoral candidates have been invited to participate in the forum. Confirmed attendees at the time of this publication include Amanda Edwards, Robert Gallegos, Gilbert Garcia, Lee Kaplan, Sheila Jackson Lee, and John Whitmire.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 7, 2023. Incumbent Mayor Sylvester Turner, who has been recognized for his support of arts and culture, is term-limited and will leave office in January 2024.
The public can check voter registration status here and register to vote here.
Gabriela Baeza Ventura, executive editor of Arte Público Press and co-founder of the U.S. Latino Digital Humanities program at University of Houston / Photo credit: University of Houston
Launched in 1992, Arte Público’s Recovery Program is considered the first nationally coordinated attempt—and the largest endeavor of its kind—to recover, index, and publish lost Latino writings that date from the American colonial period through 1960, as described on its website. Its ongoing efforts include the collection and digitization of books, manuscripts, newspapers, photographs, correspondence, and other archival items, including diaries, oral lore, and popular culture.
As a challenge grant, the $500,000 from the NEH aims to leverage federal funding to spur nonfederal support—requiring it to be matched 1-to-1, with Arte Público to fundraise another $500,000 over the next three years. Together, the $1 million will be used toward two main goals, according to a press release: “1) organize, index and preserve digital content and 2) provide multilevel access to the documents and metadata for a wide range of audiences in the United States and abroad.”
Arte Público says that the Recovery Program’s documents are currently stored in several different servers and are not easily searchable. That will change with the implementation of the NEH grant.
“This support from the NEH will be critical in generating additional funding to create a customized cloud-based digital repository of texts and content management system, all with the long-term goal of making the hundreds of thousands of Latino texts already preserved by the Recovery Program accessible to scholars and community members,” said Dr. Gabriela Baeza Ventura, Executive Editor of Arte Público, in a statement.
Baeza Ventura is also Co-Director of the U.S. Latino Digital Humanities Center, which serves as a venue for the Recovery Program’s archives and whose digital infrastructure will be improved through the NEH grant.
At a time when PEN America reports that book bans are on the rise, increasing by 28% during July to December 2022 when compared to the previous six months—with 30% of banned titles being books about race or racism, or that feature characters of color—there is vocal concern for barriers to access to works by Latino authors, particularly in Texas which leads the nation in book bans.
“This grant is extremely significant not only because it will aid the program to consolidate its archive amassed through more than 30 years of research, but also because it will provide a venue to access materials pertinent to U.S. Latino history and literature that is not accessible and increasingly in peril of being lost or banned,” said Baeza Ventura in an email to Houston Arts Journal.
Founded in 1979 by Dr. Nicolás Kanellos, Arte Público is recognized as the nation’s oldest and largest publisher of contemporary and recovered literature by U.S. Latinx authors. It has published bestselling authors, such as Nicholas Mohr, Victor Villaseñor, and Helena María Viramontes, as well as seminal works, including Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street.
Twenty-year veteran of the nonprofit and arts world, Kathryn Lott has been named President of the Discovery Green Conservancy, the nonprofit that runs the 12-acre downtown park through a public-private partnership with the City of Houston.
Lott will begin her leadership role on July 1, 2023, succeeding longtime President Barry Mandel who is retiring after serving as President since 2010.
Since its opening 2008, Discovery Green Park has welcomed more than 20 million visitors, according to its website. Located across from the George R. Brown Convention Center, the urban green space includes a one-acre lake, fountain, playground, public art installations, gardens, and on-site restaurants. The Discovery Green Conservancy works with hundreds of community partners to program family-friendly, arts and culture, and wellness events annually, most of which are free to the public.
As President, Lott will spearhead efforts behind the care, maintenance, and programming of the park, as well as raising more than $6 million toward its annual budget.
Discovery Green’s free movie night series, Bank of America’s Screen on the Green, returns May 27 and June 3. / Photo courtesy of @DiscoveryGreenHouston on Facebook
“The role of president at Discovery Green encapsulates everything I ever dreamed of in my career,” Lott said in a statement.
“I look forward to caring for a beautiful and respected green space while fundraising for programming and performing and visual arts,” she continued. “I am eager to incorporate Houston’s technology into the landscape of the park and continue to make an impact in the community.”
Lott joins the Discovery Green Conservancy from her role as Executive Director of Southern Smoke Foundation, the Houston-based nonprofit that provides emergency relief funding and mental health services for food and beverage industry workers.
In addition, Lott has previously worked for Houston Grand Opera, Performing Arts Houston (formerly Society for the Performing Arts), and the Children’s Museum of Houston. She has also managed her own production company, Lott Entertainment, which she co-created in 2014.
Retiring President Barry Mandel, whose own pre-Discovery Green experience included leadership roles with the Houston Downtown Alliance and the Theater District Association, served as Lott’s mentor when both of them worked together in the downtown arts community, according to a press release.
“You do not know how much joy it gives me to turn over something I love to someone I love,” said Mandel in a statement. “I know she understands the essence of this place and how much it means to me, the team, and the community.”
Violinist Xiao Wang, winner of the 2012 Cynthia Woods Mitchell Young Artist Competition. Wang is now a faculty member at Manhattan School of Music and will serve on the faculty of the 2023 Texas Music Festival/ Photo courtesy of University of Houston
Two of the city’s longest-running classical music competitions will combine efforts to support young artists through enhanced performance opportunities and prize money.
The University of Houston recently announced that it will merge its Cynthia Woods Mitchell Young Artist Competition (founded in 1990) with the Houston Symphony’s Ima Hogg Young Artist Competition (founded in 1976). The inaugural Cynthia Woods Mitchell-Ima Hogg Young Artist Competition will take place on June 11, 2023 at the Immanuel and Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival at UH.
Through funding provided by the Houston Symphony, the UH’s Texas Music Festival will be able to increase its cash prizes for winners by about threefold: 1st Place ($1,500), 2nd Place ($1,000), and 3rd Place ($750), as well as an Audience Favorite Prize ($500). In previous years, the prizes of the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Competition were continent on budget and ranged from $200-$500, according to Alan Austin, General and Artistic Director of the Texas Music Festival.
The first-place winner of the 2023 Mitchell-Hogg Competition will also be awarded opportunities to perform as soloist with the Texas Music Festival Orchestra on June 24 and with the Houston Symphony at an upcoming concert.
Austin calls the Ima Hogg Competition a “much-loved institution in the cultural life of Houston” and says the idea for the merge began when the Houston Symphony opened the conversation.
“The Houston Symphony was seeking a partner for the competition in order to ensure its sustainability in perpetuity,” he said. “TMF’s Cynthia Woods Mitchell Young Artist Competition was an obvious choice for the partnership, with a long history of high-quality musicianship and a list of distinguished winners who have gone on to solo careers and positions in major orchestras.”
The Ima Hogg Competition has been on hiatus since 2020, interrupted only by the pandemic in its nearly 50-year history.
“As we considered its future, it made complete sense to join forces with the prestigious Cynthia Woods Mitchell Young Artist Competition at the University of Houston’s Texas Music Festival,” said John Mangum, Houston Symphony Executive Director and CEO, in a statement.
“Both organizations are deeply committed to creating opportunities for young people to connect with music, so it seemed like a natural partnership,” he said.
Austin describes the collaboration as a “win-win” in support of the next generation of classical musicians—and the merging of the competitions’ namesakes, he adds, is way to continue to honor two cultural and philanthropic icons in the history of Houston, Cynthia Woods Mitchell and Ima Hogg.
According to a press release, the Mitchell-Hogg Competition is open to all Texas Music Festival Orchestra members. Up to eight finalists may be selected for the competition’s open-to-the-public final round.
Poet Aris Kian Brown says that her loves are language, communication, and community organizing. In her new role as Houston Poet Laureate, she will aim to combine those passions to serve Houstonians through teaching, special projects, and written and spoken verse.
“Poetry is a powerful tool to imagine new worlds for ourselves, and I’m excited for the opportunity to continue building narrative power in this city,” she said.
Brown, 25, was officially named Houston’s sixth and youngest Poet Laureate in a reception last Thursday hosted by Mayor Sylvester Turner, the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, and Houston Public Library. She was selected through an application process by a committee of poets, scholars, literary experts, and community representatives, with final determination and appointment by the Mayor.
“It is an honor to have selected Aris as the next Poet Laureate,” said Mayor Turner in a statement. “She represents Houston’s literary future with her prophetic poetry. She will continue the Poet Laureates’ hard work before her, inspire the City of Houston with her words, and bring out the poetry in everyone.”
Brown’s two-year term begins this month, in celebration of National Poetry Month, and runs through April 2025. She succeeds poet Emanuelee “Outspoken” Bean and continues the Houston Poet Laureate tradition, which was launched by Mayor Annise Parker in 2013 with Gwendolyn Zepeda as the city’s inaugural Poet Laureate.
Houston has one of the longest-running poet laureate programs among the five largest cities in the U.S. Los Angeles started its program in 2012, and Phoenix began appointing a Poet Laureate in 2016. Chicago will inaugurate a Poet Laureate this year, while New York does not have a Poet Laureate for the city as a whole – though four of its five boroughs have individual poet laureates, with the oldest program established in Brooklyn in 1979. Houston’s Youth Poet Laureate program also continues to thrive, with poet Ariana Lee appointed as Brown’s teen counterpart last fall.
Ariana Lee, Houston Youth Poet Laureate, and Aris Kian Brown, Houston Poet Laureate / Photo courtesy of Ariana Lee
Brown received her MFA from the University of Houston’s Creative Writing Program. She won the 2022 Inprint Marion Barthelme Prize in Creative Writing for Students with Service to the Houston Literary Community, and recently earned the #2 rank at the 2023 Womxn of the World Poetry Slam. She also serves as the Narrative Change and Media Manager at Houston in Action.
Houston’s literary community reacted on social media with support and enthusiasm for Brown’s appointment – including local poets who expressed admiration for Brown’s writing.
“I love @rosewaterframes’s poetry! Congratulations on becoming the Houston poet laureate. Well deserved,” tweeted poet and translator Stalina Villarreal.
Poet Ayokunle Falomo wrote on social media: “Aris Kian Brown has been my (as well as the city’s) unofficial official poet laureate for so long. Glad it’s official official now! Lead us, Poet.”
Congratulations to 2022 Inprint Marion Barthelme Prize Winner @rosewaterframes for being named the next HOUSTON POET LAUREATE! We know you will do great things! 👑👑👑 pic.twitter.com/th2ojrnHbL
Houston Arts Journal reached out to Brown for permission to print her poem, “Oh, Lola’s,” inspired by the Montrose neighborhood bar, Lola’s Depot:
Oh, Lola’s
You bumper sticker junkyard, jukebox bright, blasting the pink-light anthem of a night
gone on too long. Slide my second sour ‘cross the bar beneath the frilly B-cup bras
hanging like neon chandeliers. I’ll chug down your year-round holiday at our snug
side table: string lights & sloped wooden bench, still jacked from back-throat cackles. In moments
I think I missed out, I remember you, backdrop to Polaroids snapped in the blue
hour with all the homies who held me well after the flash. I ask too much of this hell-
swept city, and sometimes, beneath the ice and maraschino cherries, it answers twice.
Aris Kian Brown
As Houston Poet Laureate, Brown will create and implement a Community Outreach Project. She will also receive a $20,000 honorarium through the City Initiative Grant Program of the City of Houston, which is funded through the Hotel Occupancy Tax that is dedicated to the arts.
Brown’s project, entitled Space for Us: Afrofuturism and the Poetic Imagination, will involve conducting interviews with Houstonians and then stitching a poem from their answers – to highlight the poetry “already embedded in everyday people,” according to a press release. The finished poem will be translated into the top spoken languages in the city.
“My community outreach project seeks to connect with Houstonians in different neighborhoods and learn about their relationship with this city,” said Brown. “I aim to work with community organizations and language justice experts and translation artists to consider how this initiative can be accessible to the communities that speak the various languages of this city besides English.”
“I want to honor the global hub and dynamic that is the love of my life: Houston, while also staying true to my imagination, which is rooted in abolition and Afrofuturism,” she added.
Aris Kian Brown, 2023-2025 Houston Poet Laureate / Photo by Houston Public Library
The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in Houston’s downtown Theater District recently announced Deborah Lugo as Vice President of Programming and Education – a new artistic leadership position at the organization.
Lugo officially begins the role in mid-April, taking on programming and education decisions that previously fell under the purview of the CEO and other members of senior leadership, according to officials at the Hobby Center.
Lugo’s responsibilities will include developing arts and education experiences for audiences, as well as “collaborative efforts with Houston’s artists and arts organizations through a lens of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility, supporting the overall growth and sustainability of the arts ecosystem in our region,” as described in a press release.
“I am profoundly committed to applying, weaving, and leveraging the transformative power of the performing arts through meaningful experiences and active participation to build a more connected community,” said Lugo in a statement.
No stranger to establishing new roles, Lugo previously served as founding Executive Director of Arts Connect Houston and the first Executive Director of Mercury Chamber Orchestra. Originally from Puerto Rico, Lugo brings 17 years of experience in performing arts and education to the Hobby Center. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Princeton University and a Bachelor’s in Violin Performance from Florida International University.
Lugo joins Mark Folkes – who was appointed President and CEO in July 2022 – as the newest members of the Hobby Center’s leadership team.
“We see tremendous opportunity to evolve our programming, education, and community engagement initiatives,” said Folkes in a statement. “Deborah’s passion, strategic creativity, and deep connection to the Houston community will bring the Hobby Center’s programs to a new level of impact.”
Lugo will also play a key role in developing and implementing a new strategic plan for the Hobby Center’s third decade of operations. Having recently celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2022, the organization is in the midst of a strategic planning process “with the goal of identifying how the Hobby Center can be a catalyst for the continued improvement of the arts ecosystem in Houston,” according to a press release.
UPDATE, 4/4/23: This article was updated to include Lugo’s start date and context provided by the Hobby Center, as noted in the second paragraph.
Houston Arts Journal 