A drawing by Colleen Maynard. Image: Colleen Maynard
Houston’s Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs announced this week its most recent round of awardees for its quarterly Let Creativity Happen! grant. Established in 2018, and run by the city in collaboration with the Houston Arts Alliance, the grant program is designed to support artists’ “creative risk-taking” by providing funding opportunities for projects that may not otherwise be eligible for grants. Money for the Let Creativity Happen! grants comes from Houston’s Hotel Occupancy Tax.
Debbie McNulty, the director of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, commented on how the 14 artists, 6 organizations and 2 collectives awarded in this cycle contribute to Houston’s profile as a destination for the arts:
“Each grant fuels a new art experience for residents and visitors and continues to deliver on Houston’s identity as an exceptional arts and cultural destination. We are making connections between our diverse and growing pool of artists and I can’t wait to see the new collaborations and creativity that will come next.”
Below is a full list of awardees, and their projects. The deadline for the next round of this quarterly grant is 5:30 PM July 1, 2019.
14 Pews, Native American and Indigenous Film Series (Visual Arts & Film)
Andrew Karnavas, Houston Sound Library: An Audio Sample Pack (Sound Design)
BABA RUEROB, A3L: Across 3 Languages (Music)
Candice D’Meza, Radical Awakening: Recognizing Racism (Theater)
Colleen Maynard, Celebrating Coral (Visual Arts – Drawing)
Cressandra Thibodeaux, Fry Bread and Gumbo (Film)
Dana Kroos, The Museum of Cracked Pavement (Interdisciplinary)
Frame Dance, METROdances 2019 (Dance, Music & Flow Arts)
Gregory Carter & Patrick Renner, Who You Think Built The Pyramids? (Multidisciplinary)
Henry Sanchez, The BioArt Bayo-torium (Social practice, art-science, multi-disciplinary)
Iris Contreras, 14th Annual Frida Festival (Visual Arts)
Jessi Bowman, FLATS Presents (Photography)
Jesus Cantu Medel, The Hand-made Texan Boot: An Art Project Aimed at Its Preservation (Folk Arts)
Kurt Stallman, Among Rivers (Music, Composition and Sound Art)
Next Iteration Ensemble, Intercultural Play Reading Series (Visual Arts & Film)
Pilot Dance, The Long Stay (Modern Dance)
Pride Houston, Pride Houston Art Program (Visual Art)
Rebecca French, LGBTQ Art Camp! (Social practice)
TEATRX, REFLEXION: A Latinx New Works Project (Theatre)
Adam Casteneda, Things Left Behind (Dance & Literary Arts)
Tom Carter, Houston Cassette Culture 1980-1989 (Music)
Writers in the Schools, Myth City (Writing)
