FOOD | ARTS | COMMUNITY | STYLE+LEISURE
ART INSPIRATION
AROUND EVERY CORNER
CULTURE THRIVES IN HOUSTON'S ENVIRONMENT
I was driving on California’s famed Highway 1 to get to my aunt’s house one summer and I was listening to NPR. They were
doing a show on Houston’s modern music scene and as I rolled past the beautiful nature, I realized where California has beauty,
we have an interesting and diverse arts and culture scene. Like our wild live oak trees, our creative organizations are growing
and changing and connecting all the time. I’m a long-time arts fan and chronicler of Houston’s organizations – first as a young
child who was exposed to companies like the Houston Symphony, Houston Ballet and Alley Theatre, and since 2004, through
GISH PICKS: CURATED CULTURE FOR KIDS & ADULTS (www.GishPicks.com). My mind is so boggled by all that’s happening out there
each week that I created my PICKS to narrow down the choices to three for adults, three for kids each weekend. As I wrote this
article, I realized yet again that there is an amazing array of choices. Please note this is a small fraction of the organizations I love.
Houston is the most diverse city in the country so I would be remiss if I didn’t mention just a few of the organizations representing
rich influences from around the world: the Alliance Française de Houston (www.alliancehouston.org), which was founded in
1923; the 39-year-old Arab American Cultural and Community Center (www.acchouston.org); the Italian Cultural and Community
Center (www.iccchouston.com); and the Czech Center Museum Houston (www.czechcenter.org), the last two located in the Museum District.
We are full of film organizations that present screenings and festivals on a regular basis: the Aurora Picture Show (www.aurora-
pictureshow.org) is celebrating their 20th anny in June; Worldfest (www.worldfest.org) has an annual festival in April and Cinema Arts
Society (www.cinemartsociety.org) has one each November. 14 Pews (www.14Pews.org) will remain open despite previous plans to
close, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org) is expanding to a second theatre for films. In the theatre arena, both
Catastrophic Theatre (www.catastrophictheatre.com) and Rec Room Arts (www.recroomarts.org) present edgy, unusual and often funny shows
while Ensemble Theatre (www.ensemblehouston.com) focuses on African American stories and Mildred’s Umbrella (www.mildredsumbrella.com)
focuses on works by women.
We have museums for everything in Houston! There’s the National Museum of Funeral History (www.nmfh.org); the Houston
Maritime Museum (www.houstonmaritime.org); and two that are being updated: the Printing Museum (www.printingmuseum.org) and the
Holocaust Museum (www.hmh.org). And if you’re looking for quirky/outsider art, be sure to check out the Orange Show Center
for Visionary Art (www.orangeshow.org) and its projects: the Orange Show Monument, Smither Park, the Beer Can House and the
Houston Art Car Parade.
And, finally, here are a few dance and music organizations I recommend checking out. Interesting programs are happening at
METdance (www.metdance.org); Dance of Asian America (www.danceaa.org); and Ad Deum Dance Company (www.danceaddeum.com). Bayou
City Performing Arts (www.bcpahouston.org) is home to the Bayou City Women’s Chorus and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Houston, and
the International Voices Choir (www.voiceshouston.org) has the mission of “global harmony in a divided world.”
Art must move me, open me to new worlds and make me think. All these organizations have done that in one way or another.
I hope this inspires you to explore all the arts and culture Houston has to offer!
02.8.2018
5:42pm
Lindley Fish Amphitheater | Smither Park
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L O C A L | 5 . 2018
By Sarah Gish | Photography provided by The Orange Show
5 . 2018 | L O C A L
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