• Home
  • popular
  • EVENTS
  • submit-new-event
  • CHARITY GUIDE
  • Children
  • Education
  • Health
  • Veterans
  • Social Services
  • Arts + Culture
  • Animals
  • LGBTQ
  • New Charity
  • TRENDING NEWS
  • News
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Home + Design
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Innovation
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • subscribe
  • about
  • series
  • Embracing Your Inner Cowboy
  • Green Living
  • Summer Fun
  • Real Estate Confidential
  • RX In the City
  • State of the Arts
  • Fall For Fashion
  • Cai's Odyssey
  • Comforts of Home
  • Good Eats
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2010
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2
  • Good Eats 2
  • HMNS Pirates
  • The Future of Houston
  • We Heart Hou 2
  • Music Inspires
  • True Grit
  • Hoops City
  • Green Living 2011
  • Cruizin for a Cure
  • Summer Fun 2011
  • Just Beat It
  • Real Estate 2011
  • Shelby on the Seine
  • Rx in the City 2011
  • Entrepreneur Video Series
  • Going Wild Zoo
  • State of the Arts 2011
  • Fall for Fashion 2011
  • Elaine Turner 2011
  • Comforts of Home 2011
  • King Tut
  • Chevy Girls
  • Good Eats 2011
  • Ready to Jingle
  • Houston at 175
  • The Love Month
  • Clifford on The Catwalk Htx
  • Let's Go Rodeo 2012
  • King's Harbor
  • FotoFest 2012
  • City Centre
  • Hidden Houston
  • Green Living 2012
  • Summer Fun 2012
  • Bookmark
  • 1987: The year that changed Houston
  • Best of Everything 2012
  • Real Estate 2012
  • Rx in the City 2012
  • Lost Pines Road Trip Houston
  • London Dreams
  • State of the Arts 2012
  • HTX Fall For Fashion 2012
  • HTX Good Eats 2012
  • HTX Contemporary Arts 2012
  • HCC 2012
  • Dine to Donate
  • Tasting Room
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • Charming Charlie
  • Asia Society
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2012
  • HTX Mistletoe on the go
  • HTX Sun and Ski
  • HTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • HTX New Beginnings
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013
  • Zadok Sparkle into Spring
  • HTX Let's Go Rodeo 2013
  • HCC Passion for Fashion
  • BCAF 2013
  • HTX Best of 2013
  • HTX City Centre 2013
  • HTX Real Estate 2013
  • HTX France 2013
  • Driving in Style
  • HTX Island Time
  • HTX Super Season 2013
  • HTX Music Scene 2013
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013 2
  • HTX Baker Institute
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • Mothers Day Gift Guide 2021 Houston
  • Staying Ahead of the Game
  • Wrangler Houston
  • First-time Homebuyers Guide Houston 2021
  • Visit Frisco Houston
  • promoted
  • eventdetail
  • Greystar Novel River Oaks
  • Thirdhome Go Houston
  • Dogfish Head Houston
  • LovBe Houston
  • Claire St Amant podcast Houston
  • The Listing Firm Houston
  • South Padre Houston
  • NextGen Real Estate Houston
  • Pioneer Houston
  • Collaborative for Children
  • Decorum
  • Bold Rock Cider
  • Nasher Houston
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2021
  • CityNorth
  • Urban Office
  • Villa Cotton
  • Luck Springs Houston
  • EightyTwo
  • Rectanglo.com
  • Silver Eagle Karbach
  • Mirador Group
  • Nirmanz
  • Bandera Houston
  • Milan Laser
  • Lafayette Travel
  • Highland Park Village Houston
  • Proximo Spirits
  • Douglas Elliman Harris Benson
  • Original ChopShop
  • Bordeaux Houston
  • Strike Marketing
  • Rice Village Gift Guide 2021
  • Downtown District
  • Broadstone Memorial Park
  • Gift Guide
  • Music Lane
  • Blue Circle Foods
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2022
  • True Rest
  • Lone Star Sports
  • Silver Eagle Hard Soda
  • Modelo recipes
  • Modelo Fighting Spirit
  • Athletic Brewing
  • Rodeo Houston
  • Silver Eagle Bud Light Next
  • Waco CVB
  • EnerGenie
  • HLSR Wine Committee
  • All Hands
  • El Paso
  • Avenida Houston
  • Visit Lubbock Houston
  • JW Marriott San Antonio
  • Silver Eagle Tupps
  • Space Center Houston
  • Central Market Houston
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Travel Texas Houston
  • Alliantgroup
  • Golf Live
  • DC Partners
  • Under the Influencer
  • Blossom Hotel
  • San Marcos Houston
  • Photo Essay: Holiday Gift Guide 2009
  • We Heart Hou
  • Walker House
  • HTX Good Eats 2013
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2013
  • HTX Culture Motive
  • HTX Auto Awards
  • HTX Ski Magic
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2014
  • HTX Texas Traveler
  • HTX Cifford on the Catwalk 2014
  • HTX United Way 2014
  • HTX Up to Speed
  • HTX Rodeo 2014
  • HTX City Centre 2014
  • HTX Dos Equis
  • HTX Tastemakers 2014
  • HTX Reliant
  • HTX Houston Symphony
  • HTX Trailblazers
  • HTX_RealEstateConfidential_2014
  • HTX_IW_Marks_FashionSeries
  • HTX_Green_Street
  • Dating 101
  • HTX_Clifford_on_the_Catwalk_2014
  • FIVE CultureMap 5th Birthday Bash
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2014 TEST
  • HTX Texans
  • Bergner and Johnson
  • HTX Good Eats 2014
  • United Way 2014-15_Single Promoted Articles
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Houston
  • Where to Eat Houston
  • Copious Row Single Promoted Articles
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2014
  • htx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Zadok Swiss Watches
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2015
  • HTX Charity Challenge 2015
  • United Way Helpline Promoted Article
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Fusion Academy Promoted Article
  • Clifford on the Catwalk Fall 2015
  • United Way Book Power Promoted Article
  • Jameson HTX
  • Primavera 2015
  • Promenade Place
  • Hotel Galvez
  • Tremont House
  • HTX Tastemakers 2015
  • HTX Digital Graffiti/Alys Beach
  • MD Anderson Breast Cancer Promoted Article
  • HTX RealEstateConfidential 2015
  • HTX Vargos on the Lake
  • Omni Hotel HTX
  • Undies for Everyone
  • Reliant Bright Ideas Houston
  • 2015 Houston Stylemaker
  • HTX Renewable You
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • HTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Kyrie Massage
  • Red Bull Flying Bach
  • Hotze Health and Wellness
  • ReadFest 2015
  • Alzheimer's Promoted Article
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Professional Skin Treatments by NuMe Express

    The Perfect Match?

    The perfect MATCH? New performance center promises to be a Midtown game changer

    Tarra Gaines
    Jan 14, 2016 | 12:30 pm

    With a new year, it’s time to once again to head out to the theater as we at CultureMap continue our tryout of all the new performing arts spaces in town. While the many renovations have brought new theatrical life to some historical and acclaimed companies, 2016 brings in a whole new way to experience Houston’s multitude of artistic performances.

    In fact, we might have just found our perfect performance space MATCH.

    What’s a MATCH?
    Though its website is a bit coy on the subject, MATCH stands for Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston, and in several ways that Mid in the name acts as a kind mission statement for the whole enterprise. Snug in Midtown, at 3400 Main Street right on the METRO rail line, midway between the theater and museum district, since its sleeper fall opening, the MATCH has become a new, comfortable-fit, mid-size home for many a mid to small arts organization.

    The History
    Mid might also be the inspirational word for its development when several performing and visual art non-profit organizations informally came together in 2003 to think about building one, central space for dance, music and theater companies to perform.

    More than a decade later, after talk led to actual organization, a board of directors, business plan and a 25 million dollar capital campaign, the MATCH is now set on Friday (January 15) to officially and grandly open its doors, or in this case its breezeway, for all of Houston to come and celebrate.

    Inside the Spaces
    Along with all its Mid-ness, diversity seems to lie at the philosophical core of the MATCH from the initial vision to the design by Lake/Flato and Studio Red, to the multitude of Houston art organizations and institutions set to and already using the facility. And with that diversity comes adaptability especially when it comes to the performance spaces.

    The MATCH is really two building connected by a large breezeway. The South Building contains office space on the second floor, rehearsal studios on the first floor as well as 3000 feet of gallery space.

    The North Building houses four performances spaces, numbered as Boxes 1-4, which range in size and audience capacity. Box 1 and 3 are blackbox spaces with seating risers that can be configured in many different ways according to the needs of the performance. Box 2, which is intended mostly for dance companies, is larger and contains a set, sprung stage floor for those dance performances.

    Box 4 is the largest and most traditional theatrical space with a proscenium arch, wide stage, and permanent seating for 329.

    The Performances
    During its soft opening last fall, I had the opportunity to see several shows, starting with a play reading during ReadFest in Box 3. A little later in the fall, I saw the multi-talented and rather terrifying Bridget Everett’s cabaret show. For that performance, Box 3 which worked well as utilitarian box space for play readings, became a darkened and moody nightclub with tables and chairs as part of the Lott Entertainment Presents Joe’s Pub Series.

    Most recently, I came out for the Musiqa New Music from Near and Far II concert in Box 4. The one commonality I’ve found in all the performances I’ve sampled so far is a sense of intimacy. Even in the larger space of Box 4 where stage and audience are separated like they are in thousands of traditional proscenium arch theaters around the world, I found half the fun of listening to the beautiful Musiqa music was watching the very expressive faces of the musicians who seemed so close in front of me.

    The Future
    MATCH’s immediate future, January 15 and 17 to be precise, involves a really big party. On Friday, come on down to Midtown for the Light Up the Night Block Party. The ticketed event includes music by DJs Noey Lopez and Vanessa Styvër, food from Lemond Kitchen, Karaoke Cabaret, comedy from BETA Theater’s improv troupe, experimental cinema from the Art in Motion Film Festival and several art exhibitions, including What Shall We Do Next? from Diverse Works.

    Sunday is the a free family day with more music, art, and performances by Main Street’s Theater for Youth.

    As for the coming months and even years, I have a bit of a prediction. Because of the size of the facility and the number of organizations signing up to be a part of the place, I foresee going to the MATCH will be less like seeing a show at the Alley or Hobby Center and more like catching a movie at the cineplex, when it comes to the range of choices.

    Feel like just winding the workday down by taking in some contemporary art? Diverse Works will likely have a show in the gallery space. Want to hear a reading by a Nobel Prize winning writer? Brazos Bookstore has already started programming some visiting authors into the MATCH. Feel like some avant garde theater? Catastrophic Theatre is getting set to move in as well.

    There might come a time, quite soon, when we can decide at the spur-of-the-moment what kind of art we’re in the mood for–dance, music, drama or comedy — and know we can find it some time that week at the MATCH.

    The Light Up the Night Block Party begins at 8 pm, Friday, January 15 at the MATCH. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. The free Family Fun Day is Sunday, January 17 at 1:00.

    The MATCH officially opens.

    The MATCH in Houston
      
    Photo courtesy of Jud Haggard Photography
    The MATCH officially opens.
    theateropeningsdancegalleriesliterature
    news/arts
    CULTUREMAP EMAILS ARE AWESOME
    Get Houston intel delivered daily.

    A Roman Holiday (Season)

    All roads lead to Houston museum's blockbuster exhibit of Imperial Rome

    Tarra Gaines
    Jun 11, 2025 | 3:15 pm
    ​The Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times"
    Photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
    The Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times" ("Statue of Trajan" Minturno, Italy, 2nd century, marble, National Archaeological Museum, Naples)

    Houston's holiday season will have a distinctly Roman feeling this year, as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is bringing the glory of the Gladiator era to Texas. On November 2, 2025 through January 25, 2026 the MFAH presents the monumental new exhibition “Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times.”

    Featuring 160 objects of antiquity, including marble sculptures, frescoes, mosaics, delicate glass vessels, and exquisite bronze artifacts, the exhibition will transport visitors back in time to the Roman Empire during a flowering of art and architecture. The MFAH partnered with the Saint Louis Art Museum to organize the exhibition, which will showcase many pieces that have never been on view in the U.S.

    While Emperor Trajan might not be the most famous — or in some cases, most infamous — of the Roman emperors, he ruled between 98 and 117 C.E. during the empire’s height and was the second of the so-called “Five Good Emperors” of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty. He was also the first emperor born outside of present-day Italy, in what is now Andalusia, Spain. During his reign, he granted citizenship and rights to some peoples from conquered lands. The exhibition will explore how this time period expanded what it meant to be a Roman and how art reflected Rome’s power and promoted the empire’s values and ideals.

    \u200bThe Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times"
      

    Photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

    The Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times" ("Statue of Trajan" Minturno, Italy, 2nd century, marble, National Archaeological Museum, Naples)

    From statues of prominent men and women of the era, including Trajan, to vivid frescoes and furnishing from the villas of Pompeii, the objects in the exhibition will tell fascinating cultural and political stories of life in imperial Rome. To add context to the artworks and objects of antiquity, the MFAH will recreate a section of Trajan’s Column, which was a towering pillar with a spiraling narrative frieze, one of the few monumental sculptures to have survived the fall of Rome.

    “Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times” brings such a wealth of objects to Houston thanks to unprecedented loans from the renowned antiquities collections of Italian museums including Museo Nazionale Romano, the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, the Parco Archeologico di Ostia, and the Musei Vaticani. It would would likely take months of travel across Italy to see this much art.

    “This is truly a rare opportunity for U.S. audiences to experience spectacular objects from this glorious era of the Roman Empire,” said Gary Tinterow, director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair of the MFAH, in a statement. “We are enormously grateful to our colleagues in Rome, Naples, and Vatican City for lending these treasures to us and broadening the appreciation of Italy’s cultural heritage.”

    museumsmuseum of fine arts houstonopenings
    news/arts
    Loading...