LOCAL Houston | The City Guide OCTOBER 2015 | Page 14

ON OUR RADAR

The Visual Arts Alliance (VAA), an educational organization for serious
practitioners of the visual arts and interested members of the general
public, presents monthly programs. On Wednesday, October 7, the
VAA program will begin with an Art Walk Tour of Rice
University’s public art collection and conclude with attendance at Skyspace, James Turrell’s Twilight Epiphany installation on the
campus. There is no charge to attend and registration is not necessary.
For more information, visit www.visualartsalliance.org.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is set to open its
MFACafe, a new eating facility in the Audrey Jones
Beck Building this fall. The restaurant will feature homemade fare of Italian-born co-creators Paolo Fronza and
Matteo Alessandri and will be brought to life in the space
formerly occupied by Cafe Express. www.mfah.org

The Zoo welcomed a male St. Vincent Amazon parrot name
Mustique Springer. Although Springer will need to be a bit older before making
his public debut in a few years, his family history with the zoo is rich, dating back
to 1972. The bird derives his full name from Mustique Island, which is off the coast
of his native St. Vincent, and from the late Fitzroy Springer who dedicated his life to
the conservation of this species. The Zoo was the first institution to successfully hatch
the species. Springer is the fourth chick hatched at the Zoo and the first male since
1972. The St. Vincent Amazon parrot is classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red
List, with an estimated 734 remaining in the wild based on a 2004 census, however
their population is slowly increasing. Guests can see the four other St. Vincent
Amazon parrots already in public view at the Houston Zoo in Birds of the World.
www.houstonzoo.org
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L O C A L

| october 15