great news for the BCAF

Anonymous donor gifts $450,000 to beloved Houston arts festival canceled due to COVID-19

An anonymous donor has gifted $450,000 to assist artists involved in the Bayou City Arts Festival.

Photo courtesy of Bayou City Arts Festival

Springtime in Houston sees myriad festivals, few as popular as the beloved annual Bayou City Arts Festival. Each year, thousands of locals descend upon Memorial Park to meet artists, view original works, purchase one-of-a-kind art, prints, jewelry, sculptures, functional art, and more. Sadly, the festival, like so many others, was canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In some bright news, The Art Colony Association, Inc., the producer of Bayou City Art Festival, announced that an anonymous donor has donated $450,000 to the festival. The funds will provide all 300 of the 2020 Bayou City Art Festival Memorial Park artists with a cash grant for $1500 each, according to organizers.

The gift is personal, given in memory of the donor’s mother, a watercolor artist from Arlington, Texas. "My Mom died in August of 2019 and I was waiting for the right time and organization to honor her memory," the donor tells CultureMap. "I read an article about the artists that were affected by the cancellation of the Bayou City Art festival and decided that this was something that my Mom would have wanted to do. When I was young, my Mom was a working single mom and often struggled to make ends meet, so I can appreciate the hardships of artist."

Additionally, all artists confirmed for the canceled Memorial Park festival have been invited to exhibit in the Bayou City Art Festival Downtown, now slated for Saturday-Sunday, October 10-11.

The donation was made as a contribution to Artists for Artists, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides Emergency Recovery Grants and free medical programming to Houston-based artists.

For those who are looking forward to the fall festival: The Bayou City Art Festival Downtown will feature two music stages, a culinary arts stage with chef demonstrations, strolling live entertainment, food trucks, and a craft beer and wine garden. In the Children’s Creative Zone, sponsored by Texas Children’s Hospital Specialty Care, the festival’s nonprofit partners will host art activities for all ages and include an interactive area for all attendees to enjoy

McKenzie Fisk, a painter who hails from Los Angeles, will be the featured artist for Bayou City Art Festival Downtown. All tickets purchased in advance for the Memorial Park 2020 Festival will be honored at the Downtown Festival in October 2020.

charity-guide festivals

Get inspired

Noted Houston street artist paints vibrant new mural at downtown venue

Photo courtesy of Hobby Center for the Performing Arts

GONZO247 poses in front of his new mural, "Houston is Inspired" inside Hobby Center

Visitors to the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts can now see an incredible new mural by one of Houston's most iconic street artists.Mario Enrique Figueroa, Jr., known as Gonzo247, debuted his piece, "Houston is Inspired" on Friday, December 12.

“This piece is all about capturing the energy that makes Houston, Houston," said the artist in a statement. "It’s that raw, vibrant hustle — the music, the culture, the stories we’ve been telling for generations. I wanted to create something that pulls people in, gets them hyped for what they’re about to experience. Every color, every shape, every detail is telling a story, a vibe. This ain’t just a mural or a piece of art — it’s a journey. It's about the grind, the growth, and the inspiration we pass on to each other, on and off the stage.”

The piece is called "Houston is Inspired," after the program at Hobby meant to showcase local performers by offering them week-long residencies on a prestigious stage. This season includes CJ Emmons's one-man comedy musical show I'm Freaking Talented; a rhythmic interactive storytelling experience called Our Road Home by Jakari Sherman; and Lavanya Rajagopalan's combination of music, dance and verse, Kāvya: Poetry in Motion. Information about all three shows, including ticket prices and availability, can be found at TheHobbyCenter.org.

The last show (debuting May 1) was a particular inspiration to Gonzo247. Viewers may notice a pair of hands in a traditional Indian dance pose, a direct reference to Rajagopalan's show.

The Houston is Inspired program was launched launched in the 2023-2024 season. In addition to the residency in Zilkha Hall, artists are given a $20,000 stipend for production and marketing costs. It is now a permanent fixture of the Hobby season. Applicants for future seasons can submit here.

Known for his original "Houston is Inspired" mural in downtown's Market Square, Gonzo247 has been an active force in Houston art for 30 years, including producing the video series Aerosol Warfare about the street art scene in the 1990s and 2000s as well as founding the Graffiti and Street Art Museum. He also served as the artist liaison for Meow Wolf's Houston installation. If anyone's visual vision is perfect to welcome audience members to shows highlighting homegrown talent, it's him.

“Art’s all about telling stories, but it ain’t just what you see — it’s what you feel," he said. "This piece speaks to the heart of everything we’re about: culture, rhythm, struggle, and triumph. When you walk into the space, you gotta feel the anticipation, the energy building up. That’s what I wanted to capture — the vibe of the whole city, the passion in the work, and that next-level hunger to rise up and create something fresh. It’s like the beat drops, and everything just connects.”

visual-art downtown mural gonzo247