Rock on!

Video fun: Midtown night spot gets the CultureMap Social treatment — and everyone comes out a winner

Eddie Akhmetchine on sax and DJ FXBOX on the turntables at CultureMap Social.

Photo by Abdul Khan

It was be there — at the CultureMap Social —or be square when 250 revelers took over the Continental Club for a night of rambunctious fun in the hopping Midtown area. The music-themed mixer featured DJ FXBOX and DJ Mishka and hip saxophonist Eddie Akhmetchine providing the beats that kept the crowd rocking into the night.

There was fun for everyone with beGlammed providing hair and make-up artistry, guests showing off their karaoke talents in the Smilebooth Recording Studio, sponsored by Cadillac, and loads of arcade games with plenty of quarters in supply.

It was a mid-Main Street kinda night with neighboring eateries, including Alley Kat and the Breakfast Klub, providing treats for the partygoers and Sig's Lagoon offering 10 percent discounts and prizes for CultureMappers.

Young professional groups were on the scene signing up new members — the Houston Symphony's Young Professionals Backstage, Houston Grand Opera's Opening Nights, Holocaust Museum Houston's NextGen and the Printing Museum's MISPRINTS.

Catch a glimpse of the fun in the video above.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Beyonce Super Bowl

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”

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