L-R: Emanuelee “Outspoken” Bean and Madeleine Gaudin of Writers in the Schools (WITS); Gloria Bounds and Olivia Koch of the CenterPoint Energy Foundation; Giuseppe Taurino, Aubrey Burghardt, and Amy Evans of WITS during a grant check presentation at the WITS office in July 2025 / Courtesy of WITS
A recent major grant from the CenterPoint Energy Foundation will allow Writers in the Schools, a Houston-based literary education nonprofit, to launch a pilot expansion of its programs into more schools in the Greater Houston area.
“With CenterPoint Energy Foundation’s support, WITS will be able to expand into communities where access to arts education is severely limited, and reach more children with transformative creative writing experiences that develop literacy, self-expression, and confidence,” said Giuseppe Taurino, WITS’ Executive Director, in a statement.
By placing professional writers and spoken word artists in classrooms and offering after-school programs in poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, WITS aims to reach “approximately 200 additional students—the equivalent of 10 classrooms—with at least 12 hours of dynamic writing instruction over a semester,” according to a press release.
Funded by shareholders, the CenterPoint Energy Foundation seeks to invest in programs that promote education, community vitality, and workforce development. The Foundation awards grants annually to eligible organizations in Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, and Texas, to serve the communities where the company has a business presence.
“By investing in WITS, we are helping more students discover the joy of writing and the power of their own voices,” said Alicia Dixon, the Foundation’s Director of Community Relations, in a statement.
In addition to supporting WITS’ pilot expansion, which will also receive support from the Powell Foundation, the CenterPoint Energy Foundation grant will be used to help sustain WITS’ existing programs within HISD, which reaches more than 4,500 students annually.
Sixteen youth teams from around the world competed in this year’s semi-finals. Meta4 Houston made the Top Four—along with teams from Orlando (Exodus United), Nashville (Southern Word), and Baltimore (Dew More)—advancing to the Final Stage and winning the competition on July 20.
This marks the second consecutive year that Houston has taken the title as top youth poetry team in the country, following the team’s historic 2023 win and Top Ten performances in past years.
Founded in 2007, Meta4 Houston is a program of the literary arts education nonprofit Writers in the Schools (WITS). Six teen poets are selected each year through competition at the annual Space City Grand Slam.
This year’s Meta4 Houston team includes four new members and two returning members: Bela Kalra (High School for the Performing and Visual Arts), Amaya Newsome (Humble High School), Cristina Perez-Ruiz (High School for the Performing and Visual Arts), Mya Skelton (Humble High School), and returning teammates Samiyah Green (High School for the Performing and Visual Arts) and Adriana Winkelmayer (Emery/Weiner Jewish School).
Considered one of largest, long-running youth slam festivals in the world, Brave New Voices aims to encourage and amplify youth voices by connecting poetry, spoken word, youth development, and civic engagement.
“We are proud to be two-time champions of Brave New Voices, spreading youth expression and literacy through poetry slam,” stated Emanuelee “Outspoken” Bean, former Houston Poet Laureate and Meta4 Houston head coach, in an email.
Bean and Alinda “Adam” Mac, Assistant Coach and Meta4 Houston alum, mentored the team, as they wrote, choreographed, and rehearsed a collection of poems inspired by their experiences living in Houston. At Brave New Voices, the 2024 Meta4 Houston team performed original poems “on difficult topics including Texas climate change, gun violence, fast fashion, the human condition, and how the best role model is one willing to make change,” according to WITS.
On social media, Bean shared photos that documented the final days of preparation leading up to winning the competition:
“We’re ecstatic for the Meta4 Houston Fellows. These powerful young artists have been hard at work honing their craft for months and are deserving of this great win,” said Giuseppe Taurino, WITS Executive Director, in a statement.
“Their dedication to exploring, investigating, and genuinely interacting with the world around them is inspiring,” said Taurino.
Houston is home to an active slam poetry scene, which includes both youth and adults. Earlier this summer, Smoke Slam—featuring Houston Poet Laureate Aris Kian Brown, LeChell “The Shootah,” R.J. Wright, Blacqwildflowr, and Sherrika Mitchell, coached by Ebony Stewart—also brought home a national title, taking first place at the 2024 Southern Fried Poetry Slam in Pompano Beach, Florida in June.
L-R: Võ Đức Quang is the new Interim Executive Director of Public Poetry, and Jesús Pacheco is the new Executive and Artistic Director of Houston Early Music / Courtesy of Public Poetry and Houston Early Music
The Houston literary nonprofit, Public Poetry, recently named poet, host, and community leader, Võ Đức Quang as its Interim Executive Director, effective immediately.
Founded in 2011, Public Poetry has expanded its programs over the years to include a free monthly Reading Series in partnership with the City of Houston/Houston Public Library, the annual REELpoetry International Film Festival, poetry contests, and publications.
Public Poetry showcases the enduring power of poetry, conveying poetry’s range, relevance and reach throughout the year. Working locally, nationally and internationally, we sustain diverse minority voices, layer multiple genres, encourage collaboration, commission new work, and create new opportunities and paid work for poets. We initiate collaborative partnerships and engagement to enrich the community and to deliver poetry to audiences in Houston and beyond.
– Public Poetry Mission Statement
“My goal is to continue Public Poetry’s outreach to artists, and showcase talents to audiences in Houston and beyond,” said Võ in a statement.
Võ succeeds Founding Director Fran Sanders, who announced her intention to step down last summer and will now concentrate her time on the REELpoetry film festival.
Since November 2022, Võ has managed and hosted Public Poetry’s monthly Reading Series and Open Mic—a role that he will continue to be involved in as Interim Executive Director.
Considered the organization’s flagship program, the Reading Series transitioned from an in-person only series to a hybrid online/in-person series following the COVID-19 shutdown. Võ will work to maintain the hybrid model, which he said has attracted a larger audience outside of Houston and across the United States.
“Public Poetry should make use of our strengths to showcase poets beyond Houston, give young emerging poets a venue to hone their craft, and bridge different forms of poetry,” said Võ in an email to Houston Arts Journal. “As of now I am still managing the series, which is my passion, though I have considered having guest hosts to keep the program lively.”
Võ told Houston Arts Journal that he also aims to achieve proposed financial and organizational goals over the course of the next year in order to bring Public Poetry “up-to-date.”
***
Houston Early Music recently appointed internationally-renowned Houston percussionist and music educator Jesús Pacheco as its new Executive and Artistic Director.
“Having performed with all the major early music groups in Houston, Jesús brings a uniquely qualified perspective and passion for this genre. In addition, being a native of Spain, Jesús has an intense appreciation for the importance of highlighting various international expressions of early music to appeal to the diverse Houston audiences,” said Houston Early Music in a social media post on July 15.
A graduate of the Seville Conservatory in Spain, Pacheco has performed with international ensembles such as the Royal Symphonic Orchestra of Sevilla, the Cordoba Symphony Orchestra, and the Bach Collegium-Stuttgart Bachakademie.
He has collaborated widely with Houston ensembles, including Apollo Chamber Players, Ars Lyrica Houston, Bach Society Houston, The Houston Brass Band, Houston Grand Opera, The Magnolia City Brass Band, Mercury Houston, Octave Illusion, and others.
Along with mezzo-soprano Cecilia Duarte, Pacheco is the co-founder and co-director of Arte Puro, an organization “with the mission to bring Hispanic music and art to the stage through musical fusion and artistic collaboration.” He also teaches at The Awty International School.
“Jesús is a versatile percussionist who thrives in the culturally varied music scene of Houston, where he performs styles ranging from early and classical music to contemporary styles such as musical theatre, Latin music, and flamenco,” said Houston Early Music in a statement.
“[We are] most fortunate to have him serve in this dual role [of Executive and Artistic Director] and we are excited and anxious to see his skills unfold in the curation of our future seasons,” stated the organization.
Pacheco succeeds Julia Simpson in the role.
Initially formed in 1965 as the Houston Harpsichord Society, Houston Early Music “presents historically informed performances of music from the Medieval through Classical periods by internationally-recognized artists” through an annual season of concerts and programs.
Full Disclosure: Houston Arts Journal’s Catherine Lu was featured as an independent poet on Public Poetry’s Reading Series in June 2024.
Poet Elizabeth Hsu / Courtesy of Writers in the Schools
Elizabeth Hsu, a student at University of Texas Online High School, has been named the 2023-2024 Houston Youth Poet Laureate, as appointed by Mayor Sylvester Turner.
Hsu’s one-year term officially begins on November 16, 2023, following a commencement ceremony. She becomes the city’s 8th Youth Poet Laureate, succeeding Ariana Lee, who is now a freshman at Stanford University.
“I’m honored to name Elizabeth as the next Youth Poet Laureate,” said Mayor Turner in a statement. “She is thoughtful and civic-minded, and her poetry reflects Houston’s future, and through her work, she will demonstrate how youth voices continue to shape the story of our city.”
An active member of the youth poetry community, Hsu was a semifinalist and the Texas Representative for the 2023-2024 National Student Poet competition. She is an alumna of the Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship, the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio, the Stanford Humanities Institute, and the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program: Between the Lines.
According to WITS, Hsu merges a love of place and identity into her poetry, and she loves the power of language, her friends and family, and her four cats. In addition to writing, Hsu is a classical singer and a member of the Houston Grand Opera Bauer High School Voice Studio.
at fifteen I feel like I’m barely a human. I’m fourteen pages of tests and charts, stuck all together with thumbtacks and flesh and a broken signature for feet.
As part of her appointment, Hsu will receive a $1000 scholarship and will work closely with Houston Poet Laureate Aris Kian as her mentor over the next year. Hsu will connect with the community through writing and poetry performance, as well as complete a project that serves Houstonians.
“My project is aimed at increasing youth accessibility to diverse literature and encouraging young people to write poetry, especially in the wake of library conversion and book bans,” said Hsu in a statement.
“Through public readings, workshops, and media outreach, the project aims to ensure access to diverse literature and nurture spaces for learning and exploration,” she said.
Leading up to her appointment by Mayor Turner, Hsu went through an application process, and then a selection process by a diverse group of poets, scholars, literary experts, and community representatives. This year’s committee included poet J. Estanislao Lopez, Raie Crawford of Performing Arts Houston, Rich Levy of Inprint, and Anthony Sutton of the University of Houston.
“Throughout the process, we were blown away by Elizabeth’s poetic talent and her thoughtful engagement with community issues,” said Giuseppe Taurino, WITS Executive Director in a statement. “We’re delighted to welcome another Youth Poet Laureate to the Houston stage.”
Giuseppe Taurino / Courtesy of Writers in the Schools
The long-running literary and education nonprofit Writers in the Schools recently announced writer, educator, and arts leader Giuseppe Taurino as its new Executive Director. Taurino began his role on September 1, 2023.
“Writers in the Schools’ mission is to connect children and youth with professional writers and spoken word artists to unlock the joy and power of storytelling and creative expression. Giuseppe’s profound dedication to creative writing, education, and community engagement will undoubtedly elevate our mission and impact the lives of countless young writers,” said Kalinda Campbell, WITS Board President, in a statement.
Taurino comes to WITS after having served nearly a decade as Associate Director of the University of Houston Creative Writing Program. His previous roles include Manager of Capacity Building Initiatives for Houston Arts Alliance and Executive Director of Badgerdog Literary Publishing in Austin. A graduate of the UH Creative Writing Program (MFA, 2006), Taurino is an award-winning writer who has been active in the Houston literary community as a Fiction Editor for Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts and a co-curator of the Poison Pen Reading Series.
While Taurino is new to WITS’ leadership, he has had a long relationship with the organization, which began with his teaching writing workshops to young students in 2003.
“Between my time in grad school and the year following it, I worked as a WITS writer-in-residence at over 40 placements. I felt proud of the work I found myself a part of,” wrote Taurino in an open letter to the community.
“Here was a program (WITS) that not only facilitated the telling of young people’s stories but celebrated them. A program that granted permission and built a community that created a space for young people to engage the worth of their experiences and imagination because of the value they brought to the world,” he said.
Meta-Four Houston won First Place at the 2023 Brave New Voices International Poetry Slam. L-R: Alinda “Adam” Mac (Assistant Coach), Isabella Diaz-Mira, Myaan Sonenshein, Samiyah Green, Ariana Lee, Emanuelee “Outspoken” Bean (Head Coach), and Kylan Denney / Photo by Sandrella Bush
Founded in 1983, WITS works with local educators, writers, and spoken word artists to teach students the craft of writing. Programs include creative writing summer camps and free workshops and public readings at parks, libraries, hospitals, and community centers.
WITS also co-sponsors and coordinates the Houston Youth Poet Laureate program, established in 2016 as one of the longest-running programs of its kind in Texas, as well as the Meta-Four Houston Youth Slam Poetry Team, which is currently ranked as the Top Youth Slam Poetry Team in the country.
Taurino says that he believes that engaging children in the joy of reading and writing is transformative and empowering.
“Looking ahead, my vision for the organization is simple. I want Writers in the Schools to be an organization that acts with conviction,” Taurino said. “And I unequivocally believe that WITS helps bolster the work of educators by unlocking pathways toward critical and creative thinking, which are the foundation for lifelong education in and out of the classroom.”
Meta-Four Houston at Brave New Voices 2023. L-R: Alinda “Adam” Mac (Assistant Coach), Isabella Diaz-Mira, Myaan Sonenshein, Samiyah Green, Ariana Lee, Emanuelee “Outspoken” Bean (Head Coach), and Kylan Denney / Photo by Sandrella Bush
Emanuelee “Outspoken” Bean says that he is “immensely proud” of the 2023 Meta-Four Houston team and the poems that they wrote and brought to life this summer, which led to the team’s first ever win at the Brave New Voices International Poetry Slam.
Bean, a Houston Poet Laureate Emeritus, champion performance poet, and educator, has coached the youth slam poetry team since 2009. He says it “means to world” to him to have witnessed the teen poets at work and to have guided them through choreography, edits, and revisions to bring out their best.
“Meta-Four Houston has been one of the reasons why I anchored myself to this city and still call it home,” said Bean in an email to Houston Arts Journal.
“Poetry is a world that’s made of your thoughts and brings more out of you than one may realize. I have been impacted by poetry, and it has shaped my worldview and has been saving grace for so many people,” he said. “I have made a career here in Houston, and it’s because of the power of poetry.”
During the Brave New Voices International Poetry Festival—one of the oldest and largest youth poetry festivals in the world—Meta-Four Houston took first place at the Slam Competition on July 22, 2023 in San Francisco.
According to a press release, 20 teams from around the world competed in this year’s semi-finals. The top four teams (Houston, New York, Nashville, and Sacramento) then advanced to four rounds of spoken word performances in the finals, where Houston won.
While Meta-Four Houston has performed well at Brave New Voices in the past—ranking as a Top Ten team in 2014 and 2017 and scoring only a tenth of a point short of making the final stage in 2017, according to Bean—this year’s achievement is a historic win: the first time for Houston to take the title as the top youth poetry team in the country.
To prepare, the poets work together to come up with ideas and concepts, which often engage with social issues. Then they create and write group pieces, as well as individual pieces, which are set to original choreography. There are hours of intense practice, along with practice competitions.
At Brave New Voices, Meta-Four Houston performed poems that contemplated topics such as women’s health, the refugee crisis, the human condition, and race relations.
VIDEO: Meta-Four Houston performs their poem “Lifesaver” on the Brave New Voices Final Stage, July 22, 2023 at the Herbst Theater, San Francisco / Courtesy of Alinda “Adam” Mac
Founded in 2007, Meta-Four Houston is made up of six Houston teens, selected annually at the Space City Grand Slam, who represent the city at local and national performances and competitions. The program is run by Writers in the Schools, which aims to provide students with opportunities to discover their voices, amplify personal stories, and develop community and global awareness through writing and poetry.
The members of Meta-Four Houston are:
Kylan Denney, a 2023 graduate of Humble High School, who will attend Stanford University
Isabella Diaz-Mira, a 2023 graduate from St. John’s School, who will attend Washington University in St. Louis
Samiyah Green, a rising sophomore at Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
Ariana Lee, Houston Youth Poet Laureate and a 2023 graduate of St. John’s School, who will attend Stanford University
Myaan Sonenshein, a rising 11th grader at Kinder HSPVA
According to the most recent survey of U.S. trends in arts attendance and literary reading by the National Endowment for the Arts, the share of 18-24 year-olds who read poetry more than doubled between 2012 and 2017, jumping from 8% in 2012 to 17% in 2017.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, visits to the website Poets.org went up by 30%.
Texas has also seen an increase in the number of Poet Laureate positions, with Austin naming its first Youth Poet Laureate in 2021 and Dallas inaugurating both an Adult and a Youth Poet Laureate in 2022.
“Poetry has given me community and a way to more deeply connect with the world and other people,” said Ariana Lee in an email to Houston Arts Journal.
“This is my second year on the team, and I’ve been lucky to receive coaching from Outspoken Bean and Blacqwildflowr, as well as Adam Mac and Norah Rami, who were both previous members of Meta-Four,” she said. “With their help, I’ve grown more confident in my writing, speaking, and performance abilities, and I’ve made life-long friendships.”
Lee said that she discovered her love of poetry during the pandemic, when she started watching slam poetry videos online—and became inspired and compelled to try it.
“Some of the very first slam poetry videos I ever saw were of youth teams competing at Brave New Voices, so winning Brave New Voices was a full-circle moment,” she said.
Writers in the Schools will host a public celebration of Meta-Four Houston’s championship on August 15, 2023, from 7-9pm, at Stages.
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.
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
First Fridays at Inprint, in a photo from Dec. 7, 2019 / Courtesy of First Fridays Facebook page
When poet Chris Wise moved to Houston about 20 years ago, he searched for open mics where he could perform his poetry. That’s when he discovered First Fridays—and he’s a better writer for it, he says.
“What I liked about it was that it was free, which is a beautiful comment on who may participate. I was very broke back then,” said Wise. “The range of skill level and notoriety of the readers spanned the spectrum—so there really was a space for everyone. I became friends with the writers I admired, and in turn I learned from them.”
There have been other local poetry readings and open mics that he’s attended over the years, he added, but some are gone or now rebooted under different concepts by different people.
“First Fridays has been consistent and under one person, Robert Clark,” Wise said.
Robert Clark, founder of First Fridays, in a photo from January, 2020 / Courtesy of First Fridays Facebook page
Clark, a longtime Houston-based poet, educator, and director of the Houston Poetry Festival, established First Fridays in 1975. He coordinated and hosted it without interruption until March 2020 when it was indefinitely suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Determined to bring it out of its hiatus and to continue Clark’s vision, a group of 20 local poets and First Friday regulars organized and rallied this past winter, and came up with a plan to revive the series.
“[Robert] has been hoping that someone would pick up his love and passion for his First Friday Reading Series for him,” said Richard Gamez, Clark’s longtime partner. Clark has been struggling with health issues recently, leading loved ones to establish a GoFund Me campaign on his behalf.
First Fridays COVID-19 shutdown notice from 2020 / Courtesy of Chris Wise
First Fridays is now set to relaunch over the next 12 months at Inprint, resuming for the first time since the pandemic. Four local poets (Kelly Anne Ellis, Angelique Jamail, Yolanda Movsessian, and Chris Wise) will rotate as hosts. Each event is free and includes a reading by a featured poet, followed by an open mic for anyone to perform their work.
Wise shared with Houston Arts Journal the First Fridays 2023-2024 season schedule:
DATE
HOST
FEATURED POET
April 7, 2023
Chris Wise
Marlon Lizama
May 5, 2023
Kelly Anne Ellis
John Gorman
June 2, 2023
Yolanda Movsessian
Anthony Sutton
July 7, 2023
Yolanda Movsessian
Rebecca Danelly
August 4, 2023
Kelly Anne Ellis
Tina Cardona
September 1, 2023
Kelly Anne Ellis
Maha Abdel Wahab
October 6, 2023
Yolanda Movsessian
Ayokunle Falomo
November 3, 2023
Angelique Jamail
Charlie Scott
December 1, 2023
Chris Wise
Amir Safi
January 5, 2024
Angelique Jamail
Christa Forster
February 2, 2024
Angelique Jamail
Paige Poe
March 1, 2024
Chris Wise
Blacksnow
The inaugural post-pandemic reading is Friday, April 7, 2023 at 8pm at Inprint. Doors open at 7:30pm. Chris Wise hosts poet-activist Marlon Lizama, author of My Spanglish Hip Hop Story.
A piece of Houston’s literary history
During its 45 years, from 1975-2020, First Fridays grew into a series beloved by local poets.
“I always have a great time when I am able to go and look forward to getting to hear a variety of poets, those that I have known for years and new friends I’m meeting for the first time,” wrote Lupe Mendez, 2022-2023 Texas Poet Laureate, in an article for Poets & Writers.
Stories of its venue changes have taken on the quality of folklore, according to poet and original attendee R.T. Castleberry.
Castleberry recalls First Fridays’ early years, when the open mics and readings were held at locations like an auction house, the Orange Show, a café, and music clubs and bars—including Hard Thymes, a former folk music venue once located on Bissonnet.
“Hard Thymes was split between a bar area and a performance/eating area complete with an elevated stage. In the five or so years First Friday was held there, it became notorious for the rowdy behavior of both performers and audiences. As mentioned, it had a bar area,” said Castleberry.
After Hard Thymes closed, the series moved to the former Firehouse Gallery on Westheimer.
“The Firehouse featured a large, brick porch for performers and audiences to relax and visit on, a tiny kitchen area behind the performance area where the cool kids hung out drinking beer and double glass doors in the street level performance area,” recalled Castleberry.
“In the days when the Westheimer Weekend Crawl was in its heyday, the poets read with their backs to the street—and the street traffic. The Firehouse also continued in the First Friday reputation for unruliness,” he said.
Scenes from First Fridays at Inprint / Courtesy of First Fridays Facebook page
First Fridays eventually settled down its roots at Inprint, which has provided a home for the series for the past 20-plus years.
“[Robert Clark] wanted there to be a space for local poets to share their work with the public and each other. He was committed to always highlighting a featured writer, followed by an open mic, so that less established writers could share a poem or two,” said Krupa Parikh, Inprint’s Associate Director.
“Our former Houston Mayor Annise Parker was once an open mic poet,” Parikh added.
Legacy as Houston’s “oldest”
First Fridays has often been called Houston’s “oldest poetry reading series”—a distinction based on a general consensus among local poets.
Houston Arts Journal also reviewed the timeline of several local reading series. Inprint’s own Margarett Root Brown Reading Series, now in its 42nd season, is a close second oldest (and features both poetry and fiction). In addition, Houston has plenty of other well-established literary series that have formed in the past two-to-three decades and in recent years, including Gulf Coast, Nuestra Palabra, Poison Pen, Public Poetry, Write About Now, and Tintero Projects. Together, they provide an overlapping network of poets, writers, and lovers of the written and spoken word, forming the fabric of the city’s literary scene.
Parikh believes that First Fridays has had a “tremendous impact” on the local poetry community.
“It has given established and emerging poets a platform to share their work and helped many local poets connect with each other. It has also helped encourage many to keep writing poetry and keep nurturing a love of it,” she said.
Poet Chris Wise / Courtesy of chris-wise.com
Poet Chris Wise also notes that the series’ supportive and welcoming atmosphere creates a space not only to enjoy poetry—but to learn, collaborate, receive feedback, and share opportunities on a more level playing field.
“The collection of word artists who come to First Fridays range from unpublished to widely published,” he said. “First Fridays has always bridged the gap between street poets and academic poets, between the beats and the elites.”
Parikh says that part of what makes First Fridays unique is “a very community-based feel, thanks to the way Robert ran it”—a spirit that organizers have aimed to recreate in their grassroots efforts behind First Fridays’ relaunch, keeping it independent from any institution.
“While Inprint is proud to be host of the series and provide support, the curation, logistical planning, and organizing of First Fridays today is led by community members,” said Parikh. “We are thrilled to see the way these community members are coming together to reignite the series and carry on Robert’s legacy.”
Houston Arts Journal 