Creative Houston

Tolerance Bridge

Mayor touts plan for $7 million bridge with a twist - Houston Chronicle, 2008-Dec-4, by Bradley Olson: Mayor Bill White on Wednesday unveiled plans for the "Tolerance Bridge," a $7 million project built with public and private funds that will connect pedestrian and bike trails along Allen Parkway with those on Memorial Drive near Montrose Boulevard. The bridge design features a visual sleight of hand: a twisted archway at its center that from afar, project officials told City Council members, will make it appear impossible to cross. However, when pedestrians or bikers are closer, they will see the bridge is easily passable. From one vantage point, the "twisted arc" will frame the Houston skyline. "What we found with Discovery Green is that when we invest in these high-quality public places, that it improves the property values and the living environment and quality of life all around there," White said. "So, I think great art is part of a real city."

Dec. 13 GreenCamp

Houston Business Journal: GreenCamp to bring together advocates of eco-friendly city, 2008-Nov-28, by Mary Ann Azevedo: GreenCamp Houston ’08, to be held at the Houston Technology Center on Dec. 13, will focus on topics such as green/clean technology, renewable energy, sustainability, best practices in energy conservation, material reuse and recycling and reduction of both personal and business waste. Bar camps — essentially open, participatory workshops with content provided by the participants — are not new to the Bayou City. ... For Josh Tabin, head of Houston-based StartUpHouston.com, the idea made sense. “Our intent is for yet another grassroots collaborative gathering of people who have an interest in various green ideas, to bring them together with people they might not have otherwise come across,” he says. You can learn more at GreenCamp.ning.com and register at greencamphouston.eventbrite.com

Nano World Headquarters Planned

Houston Chronicle: Developers see opportunity in nanotechnology, 2008-May 23, by Eric Berger: A local developer and a group of scientists ... want to create something called "Nano World Headquarters" just south of Houston in a 150-acre Pearland development called the WaterLights District. The bold, but still unfunded, plan calls for the development of a large facility where nascent nanotechnology companies can gain access to lab space and expensive, sensitive equipment without having to buy it.

National Book Award Touches Houston

Houston Chronicle: Texas native, UH poet win National Book Awards, 2008-Nov-19, by Fritz Lanham: Annette Gordon-Reed made history — and on her birthday — Wednesday when she became the first African-American woman to win the National Book Award in nonfiction. The East Texas native who grew up in Conroe won for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (Norton), an exhaustively detailed history of Sally Hemings, the slave woman who became Thomas Jefferson's mistress, and Hemings' remarkable extended family.The poetry prize went to University of Houston professor Mark Doty for Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems (HarperCollins).

Houston Cinema Art Society Announced

HCAS Press Release: The Houston Cinema Arts Society (HCAS), a newly formed non-profit organization has joined Houston’s cultural landscape. Created under the direction of a dedicated task force with the support of Mayor Bill White and the leadership of Franci Crane, the organization will focus on presenting cinema, mixed-media performances and new media art and installations during an annual festival every November in Houston. HCAS plans to collaborate with Houston museums, art centers, theaters, cultural organizations and other urban spaces to co-host new media offerings.

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Updating Fun in Houston

The editors of the Ultimate section of the Houston Chronicle has just announced their picks for 2008 Ultimate Houston Fun & Games. They provide good descriptions, but no links. So go there and read the details, come back here to click on links.

• Wet Experience: Discovery Green sprinklers
• Christmas Display: Houstonian Hotel's gingerbread display
• Baseball Team: Rice Owls
• Slam Poetry: Project Row Houses open-mike night
• Shaker-Upper of Classes: Nova Arts Project rethinking of classical plays
• Cultural Nudge: Caroline Collective events, including Lebowski Fest
• Brain Food for Kids: Cool Brains! Inprint Readings for Young People at the Hobby Center
• Record Label: Mia Kat Empire
• Skate Park: Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark
• Bicycle Tour: Tour de Hood with Veon McReynolds
• Wildlife: Bayou Wildlife Park in Alvin
• Place to See a Drag Show: Cousins
• Sunday Tango: Avant Garden on Sunday nights
• Massage Classes: Leisure Learning Unlimited
• Dance Floor: South Beach
• Unheralded Outdoor Event: Festival Chicano in Miller Outdoor Theatre
• Creative Oddball: Poopy Lungstuffing at Super Happy Fun Land
• Live Music Venue on Main Street: Shoeshine Charley's Big Top Lounge
  
• Showcase for Local Musical-Theater Talent: Masquerade Theatre

More Collaboration across Industries in Houston

Several Houston corporations and institutions are blasting down the silos and trying to cross-pollinate ideas from the energy, scientific, and medical communities. One instigator is Professor Ioannis Kakadiaris of the University of Houston, who is involved with both programs. (via Houston Business Journal).

1. Apache Corporation sponsored a one-day symposium on biomedical and seismic imaging at the University of Houston on November 6, 2008. The event was staged by the Institute for Biomedical Imaging Sciences, a research partnership between Methodist Hospital, University of Houston, and Weill Cornell Medical College. Our goal is to produce cutting-edge technologies and scientific advances in biomedical imaging science to improve healthcare across the globe. We achieve this by creating synergies between our facilities and faculty that would not be possible by the individual centers alone. In addition, we work closely to attract research funding and philanthropy to achieve this goal.
   
   
2. Pumps and Pipes is a unique collaborative effort between Houston's largest industries to explore potential crossover ideas and extract shared technologies. Sponsoring members include ExxonMobil, the Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center and the University of Houston. The next symposium is planned for Dec. 8, 2008. The intention of this collaboration is to stimulate discussion, spark ideas and share new technologies between these industries that face similar challenges, even if on a very different scale. ...The intent in establishing Pumps and Pipes is to pool the collective talent and resources of these industries to stimulate collaborative research initiatives with a global impact.

How Houston Landed Latin Grammys

Houston Press: Houston Goes International with the Latin Grammys, 2008-Nov-13, by Chris Gray: The Latin Grammys coming to Houston is a direct result of the efforts of official host committee Houston es Musica. A who's who of leading Houston executives, politicians and marketing minds, the committee is co-chaired by Daniel Barreto, President and CEO of Blue Door Marketing; Alex Lopez Negrete, President and CEO of advertising agency Lopez Negrete communications; and Dan Wolterman and John Hofmeister, the current and immediate past presidents of the Greater Houston Partnership. Others on the committee include Mayor Pro Tem and District H city councilman (and, as of last week, Harris County Sheriff-elect) Adrian Garcia; Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Sylvia Garcia; Susan Christian, Deputy Director of the Mayor's office of special events; Port of Houston Authority Chairman Jim Edmonds; and Jorge Franz, the GHCVB's Executive Director of Tourism.

Abaroa's description of his early contact with Houston es Musica sounds suspiciously like Houston itself — sprawling, independent and, just maybe, a little disorganized. "It's funny, because they did not appoint one single person," he says. "Initially we met with [about] 30 people who introduced themselves to us as the committee to bring the Latin Grammys to Houston, but then I found that this was not an established committee. It was just a bunch of people who were trying to do something. They didn't even have an internal structure. "I just asked, 'Who's in command?'" Abaroa adds. "Then I found there was one guy who was the leader, but not because they elected him — every time there was a difficult question, they'd turn and look at him, and he always found the answer. It was Adrian Garcia."

Houston Reporter Questions Arts Funding

Complaining about the museum-area signage was just the lead-in for a Houston reporter to question the way city art funds are being spent. KTRK ABC 13 News: Bad signs in the Museum District?, 2008-Nov-13, by Wayne Dolcefino: Houston mandates 18 percent of all hotel tax money the city gets be set aside for art tourism. And it all goes to the Houston Arts Alliance. Then it is divvied up. In one year that meant $1.9 million for the Museum District...."We have a responsibility to get information out 24/7, 365 days a year about what is playing now," Young said....And the rest of the money is divvied up directly to the museums based on how many tourists they bring here. ...The biggest recipient of your tax money is the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. But do they really need taxpayers help?... In a small building on Washington Street, artist Bert Long works on a $75,000 painting that is now a year behind schedule. It will soon hang above the children's section in a River Oaks area library. .. It will be only the second city art project completed in the city in years, even though there is millions to create art and the art bureaucracy has swelled.

Arts Alliance CEO Targets Cultural Tourism

Houston Business Journal: Face to Face With Jonathon Glus, CEO of Houston Arts Alliance, 2008-Nov-7, by Christine Hall: Under Glus’ leadership, Houston’s first sustainable cultural tourism program is being developed. He is also responsible for the long-term cultural planning and development of the arts sector. ... For the first time, Houston will host the annual National Arts Marketing Partnership conference, which will bring arts marketing professionals from across the United States, Europe and Asia to Houston. It is the only conference of its kind that focuses on the nonprofit arts industry. This year the topic is the intersection of marketing and fundraising.

Hurricane Center for Innovative Technology

Houston Business Journal: Hurricane awareness creates rising tide of research centers, 2008-Nov-7, by Monica Perin: Cumaraswamy Vipulanandan and a dozen other professors from the Cullen College of Engineering and other UH colleges are pooling their expertise to research materials and techniques that will minimize structural damage and aid in rapid recovery from hurricanes. Vipulanandan officially started up the Texas Hurricane Center for Innovative Technology after two years of planning and getting approval from the university. Researchers are already at work on developing and testing so-called “smart” materials, which will be the focus of the center. ... “We are striving to be a world-class testing and research facility that develops hurricane protection products and systems as well as repair technologies to mitigate losses both on and offshore.”

Houston Funding Start-ups

Houston Business Journal: Houston VC edges closer to Dallas, Austin, 2008-Nov-7, by Mary Ann Azevedo: Houston has historically lagged behind Austin and Dallas when it comes to venture capital dollars raised, but that gap seemed to narrow in the third quarter this year. Eight Houston companies raised a combined $74.8 million in the third quarter ... The Houston number was actually higher, but one of the eight local VC recipients, RigNet Inc., did not disclose how much VC funding it received ...Neal Dikeman, chairman of Cleantech.org ... who hails from Houston and graduated from Texas A&M University, says the city’s biggest challenge when it comes to venture capital is that “there’s not very much of it.” ... Dikeman says VC surveys don’t capture the bulk of the technology investments in the energy or cleantech sector “because they don’t count Exxon or Conoco, which both have quite substantial research centers” in the Houston area.

Creative Events for December 2008

This December, Houston creatives can enjoy both traditional and modern entertainments, in town and out.

The Alley Theatre has two holiday productions:
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, through Dec. 28 on the main stage.
The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, Dec. 5 - Dec. 28 on the Neuhaus Stage.

Sunday, December 7, drive out to Beaumont to enjoy
"Melodies of Christmas" at the McFaddin-Ward House
1 to 4 pm Open House: Enjoy Christmas from a by-gone era when joyous music was very much a part of the holiday celebration. Area choir groups and musical performers will spread their musical cheer. Visitors can tour the first floor of the house enjoying the music and the rarely-seen Christmas decorations from the 1920s.

Saturday, December 13 at 6 pm
Texas' 47th Annual Christmas Boat Lane Parade on Clear Lake
The parade features more than 100 brightly decorated power and sailboats that will traverse the Clear Lake channel from the South Shore Harbour Marina and the Nassau Bay Lagoon to Galveston Bay. More than 100,000 people traditionally enjoy this event from land and from hundreds of boats anchored throughout the Lake.

Friday, December 19 at 7 pm
At the Rothko Chapel, the Trio Angelico performs a new composition by jazz artist Paul English entitled Season of Light. No charge, but please RSVP.

Artist Helps School Children Fight Pollution

Houston Chronicle: Mel Chin attacking pollution, 2008-Nov-6, by Douglas Britt: Mel Chin is a Houston-born conceptual artist known for politically engaged work in unconventional settings. Now he wants schoolchildren in his hometown and around the country to collaborate with him on his latest effort: tackling lead pollution in New Orleans and other cities through a project that combines art, science, education and advocacy. ... The artist said the goal of Operation Paydirt is to collect 3 million drawings — 3 "fundred-million" dollars' worth — from schools around the country and deliver them in the armored truck to the U.S. Congress with a request for an "even exchange" of $300 million. That's what Mielke estimates it would cost to treat the approximately 86,000 New Orleans properties with dangerously high lead levels in their soil.

Architectural Record recognizes a Houston center for Homeless

Actually, most of the magazine's admiration is for Austin architect Lawrence Speck, who designed the John. S. Dunn Outreach Center for Christ Church Cathedral a few years ago. The center houses the homeless day center called The Beacon, at the corner of Prairie and Caroline in downtown Houston. Architectural Record: Newsmaker: Lawrence W. Speck, 2008-Nov, by William Hanley: During the design process, he interviewed many homeless residents, noting what they felt were the successes and failures of similar facilities. The result of his efforts is the 40,000-square-foot John S. Dunn Outreach Center, completed in late 2006. ... The facility served 7,500 clients in its first year of operation, and averages five to six hundred visitors per day. Cece Fowler, who was the cathedral’s head fundraiser for the project, credits the amount of natural light and the “one-stop shopping” afforded by integrated dining and counseling services to the center’s appeal. ... For his part, Speck says the research that went into the Dunn Center has produced a building that works not only for its clients, but the whole of its Houston neighborhood.

Houston Companies Profit from Recycling

The profitable recycling activities of three companies operating in Houston, Anheuser-Busch, Avangard Innovative, and TieTek, are profiled in the Houston Chronicle: Companies go green and find that it pays, 2008-Nov-4, by Lynn Cook: TieTek founder Henry Sullivan worked in plastics for years at Shell Oil Co. and Huntsman Corp. A self-professed “aging hippie” with a ponytail down to his waist, Sullivan said the environment isn’t a buzzword, it’s a business. “You need a real product, a real market and real people buying it for sound business reasons,” Sullivan said, adding it takes an understanding along the entire supply-and-demand chain to make environmentalism profitable. “I’m not talking enormous profits, but sustainable margins.”

References: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/6094718.html
http://www.anheuser-busch.com/breweryHouston.html
http://www.avaicg.com/
http://www.tietek.com/

Rebranding Houston as Energy Capital

Well, I thought we already were an energy capital ... oh, that kind of energy. I think people would be confused, especially as energy prices struggle, but we should all be flattered that Patricia Martin sees our potential. Houston Chronicle: What Houston needs is an image overhaul, 2008-Nov-4, by Lisa Gray: Martin suggests that Houston could instead become a "compassion brand," known for its friendliness and big heart. ... Alternately, and more powerfully, we could be an "idea brand," a brand that seems magically new and transformative. ... Stop being the Oil City, Martin urges. Instead, be the Energy City. Trumpet Houston's pioneering work in new technologies, such as solar and wind power. At the same time, talk about the other kinds of energy that animate the city. Let the world know about the Art Car Parade, about the Menil, about the opera and ballet and Discovery Green. Encourage the city's art scene to grow. Show the world that, while other cities see their economies are drooping, we remain vital — a place where new ideas can fly, new companies can thrive. Make Houston a place where energetic people want to spend their lives.

View of Houston from Middle East

Don't miss this chance to see Houston from half-way 'round the world. Our diversity impresses, our educational system, not so much. Houston Press 'Hair Balls' blog: Houston, As Seen From The Middle East, 2008-Nov-3, by Paul Knight: Seven professors from seven Middle Eastern countries arrived in Houston on Friday to finish their tour of the United States. Previously the group had traveled to Washington, D.C. and San Francisco and is in town this week to study, among other things, Houston's large Hispanic population. The group took some time to chat with Hair Balls about its observations during the trip.