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Your weekly guide to Houston: Five (plus) don't-miss events

This MFAH Mixed Media Designed by IKEA party is the inaugural event of whatofficials promise is a monthly dance party with adult liquids, DJs and lawlesslive music. The space will be designed by IKEA. Electronic twosome Soft Metalswill bang out an experimental melange of steel synth-pop, electronica and dancegrooves.
Houston Symphony's collaboration with Duncan Copp is an exhilarating musicallaunch into trajectory around Earth with footage from manned and unmanned NASAspace missions.
The minds of Lisa Chow and Y. E. Torres meet in this Afternoon Tea Party atFresh Arts.

On tap this week: A convergence of two organizations that each does its part to keep the city beautiful, the beginnings of a new party series, a farewell for a popular musical meetup, a space odyssey, the meeting of two minds and a healthy dose of film, dance and music.

Be sure to click on the links below each event. There you'll find more information, a helpful feature to add details to your own calendar and suggested restaurants, shopping and watering holes to get the most out of your excursion.

Trees For Houston's RedBuds Summer Happy Hour

If I had a dime for every person I've overheard kvetch about the ceaseless rains, I would have enough green to replenish the millions of trees that perished across Texas last year because of that bitch of a drought and those accompanying forest fires — the irony.

The RedBuds young professionals, a group of twenty and thirtysomethings that advocate for Trees For Houston, host a social that supports keeping Houston verdant. As Friday happens to be the Opening Ceremonies of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, this happy hour's drink specials, light bites and themed trivia focus on the ancient sporty tradition.

The deets: Thursday, 6 p.m.; The Eighteenth Bar; tickets are $10, free for members.

MFAH Mixed Media Designed by IKEA

As a testament that time flies when one's painting the town and amusing oneself with the finer things in life, this Museum of Fine Arts, Houston wassail arrives a year after the last time the museum morphed into the hautest see-and-be-seen spot at "Hot Night Helmut Newton." The lines wrapped around the Audrey Jones Beck Building, and some had to wait an hour to gain entry into the fashionable affair.

I predict that the inaugural MFAH Mixed Media Designed by IKEA (a monthly dance party with adult liquids, DJs and lawless live music) will be just as in vogue. Take my advice: Don't wait until the last minute to secure your tickets to the chi-chi bash. They are likely to sell out at the door — and they cost less when purchased in advance.

The party space will be designed by IKEA. Electronic twosome Soft Metals will bang out an experimental melange of steel synth-pop, electronica and dance grooves. Also behind the turntable are DJ Ceeplus Bad Knives, Bobby DJ (from //TENSE//) and Dave Wrangler.

Social media junkies out in the Twitterverse: Use #mixedmedia. But please, no douchey photos of your cocktails — that's so 2011. You can do better than that.

The deets: Friday, 8 to midnight; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; tickets are $6-14.

The Caroline Sessions "Finale"

The curtains will fall on this amicable monthly music gathering where locals mingle and hang, sometimes spontaneously grill burgers and hot dogs and crack open a few dozen brews — or maybe more.

About those brews: The Caroline Sessions "Finale" moves from Caroline Collective to Saint Arnold Brewing Company, where this tuneful fundraiser will finance the recording and production of a live album. Music by Andrew Karnavas, Chase Hamblin, Clory Martin, Corey Power, Frank Freeman, Matt Harlan, Melissa Savcic and special friends will leave a legacy of what can happen on an informal weekend get-together in Houston.

The deets: Saturday, 6 p.m.; Saint Arnold Brewing Company; tickets are $15.

Houston Symphony presents "Orbit — An HD Odyssey plus Star Wars & More!"

I still have butterflies in my stomach from the last blast off of Orbit — An HD Odyssey. Houston Symphony's collaboration with Duncan Copp is an exhilarating musical launch into trajectory around Earth, with footage from manned and unmanned NASA space missions that portray the planet in all its glory, at times a surreal work of art.

I've never been much of a fan of what's labeled as symphony "pops," which are typically easy listening tunes and excerpts from movies. I am more of a John Adams and Richard Strauss kind of dude.

Here's the one exception: Anything John Williams penned is hardcore enough to tickle anyone's musical fancy, serious listeners and occasional symphony goers alike.

The deets: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Jones Hall; tickets start at $20.

Afternoon Tea Party Joint Reception: Once there was, once there wasn't: Two Tales from the Minds of Lisa Chow & Y. E. Torres

Confession: I have no idea what to make of this collaboration.

The works I've previewed from Lisa Chow are cute, whimsical, innocent with a hint of kitty anime surrealism — though I do hear she crosses over to the dark side now and then. Y. E. Torres "arts" at you, blowing your mind with her alien-esque "Oddities," slithery avant-garde belly dancing and slap-you-in-the-face unicorns.

Somewhere, their minds and works meet. That's worth a cup of tea, mimosas and sweet nibbles while playing games, dressing up, posing for a photo booth and enjoying a live performance.

The deets: Sunday, 2 to 5 p.m.; Spacetaker Gallery at Fresh Arts, free.

Staff writer and fabulous Houston explorer Whitney Radley's pick: Cirque du Soleil's Kooza

Whitney says: "Kooza, Cirque du Soleil's latest performance to visit Houston, takes the renowned contemporary circus performers out of suspended reality and back into the big top ring, complete with clowns and contortionists, trapeze-swinging and slapstick humor. And it looks to be just as incredible as ever."

The deets: Thursday through Sept. 9; Sam Houston Race Park; tickets start at $43.50.

Arts smarty pants and in-the-loop dance maven Nancy Wozny's pick: Julydoscope

Nancy says: "It's time to 'Ease on Down the Road' folks. Yep, it's The Wiz time at Discovery Green as part of Houston Cinema Arts Society's Julydoscope, also presented in cahoots with QFest and Theatre Under the Stars.

"Before Michael Jackson and Diana Ross take the stage, several Houston dance companies also do some easin' down the road, including Suchu Dance, Avantica: Academy of Odissi Dance, Rednerrus Feil Dance Company, City Dance Company and MECA Ballet Folklorico. The live dance show starts at 6 p.m. and the film at 8:30. Costumes are encouraged."

The deets: Saturday, 6 p.m.; Discovery Green; free.

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Houston's iconic Rothko Chapel receives new grant to restore Beryl damage

Courtesy of the Rothko Chapel

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Houston's beloved Rothko Chapel is one step closer to recovery after Hurricane Beryl in 2024. A substantial new grant from Bank of America will fund the restoration of Mark Rothko pieces damaged by the storm.

“This grant comes at a pivotal moment – not only for the Rothko Chapel, but in the broader context of our changing climate and growing vulnerability to extreme weather events,” said David Leslie, executive director of the Chapel. “The conservation process will require extensive time, specialized materials, and expert technical support to stabilize and restore these works, ensuring they can once again inspire visitors within this sacred space. Bank of America’s support underscores the urgent need to preserve culturally significant artworks like these, especially as we face new environmental challenges that threaten our artistic legacy.”

The Bank of America Art Conservation Project has been used to fund the preservation and restoration of culturally significant artworks since 2010. In 2021, the project also funded the restoration of an 13th Century Incan textile housed at Houston's Menil Collection. This year's other recipients include the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Museo Nacional de San Carlos in Mexico City, Sir John Soane's Museum in London, and the Sydney Opera House.

Since 1971, Rothko Chapel has been one of the best meditative spaces in Houston. Commissioned by John and Dominique de Menil in 1964, Rothko designed the space and painted its famous black panels. Rothko himself did not live to see the completion, dying by suicide in New York in 1970. Now, the chapel stands as a non-denominational spiritual center, hosting concerts, mindfulness clinics, and other events designed to promote mental healing in visitors.

When Hurricane Beryl hit Houston on July 8, high winds and torrential hammered the chapel's roof. Water leakage damaged the walls and one of Rothko's black triptychs on the east side of the building. It took seven months of work before the chapel was reopened to the public in December, but the damaged art was still housed off site for restoration. Bank of America's grant should hopefully speed up the process of returning the iconic pieces back to public view.

“It is devastating to see the domino effects of an event like Hurricane Beryl, jeopardizing the storied institutions and culturally significant works that provide so much context into the Houston identity,” said Hong Ogle, President, Bank of America Houston. “I am very proud that Bank of America’s Art Conservation Project allows us to support the arts in a unique and impactful way and preserve the works that mean the most to our community.”

In addition to the restoration, Rothko Chapel recently broke ground on a $42 million campus expansion. Two new buildings to the north with house administrative services and an archive, and a meditation garden dedicated to Kathleen and Chuck Mullenweg. A new program center will follow after.