Better Than Times Square

Gloworama promises to rock your plans for New Year's Eve

If you thought the city's Gloworama was big last year, just wait for the NewYear's Eve version on Dec. 31.
Photo by Bruce Bennett
Vanessa Riley played "Mrs. Santa" in the inaugural Gloworama last November. Apromise of things to come this New Year's Eve.
Photo by Bill Olive
Imaginative light plays across the George R. Brown Convention Center will bepart of the fun.
Photo by Bruce Bennett
Creativity will know no limits at the New Year's Eve Gloworama.
Photo by Bruce Bennett
Santa and his reindeer are expected to return this New Year's Eve.
Bill Olive
Gloworama 2009 was a warm-up for the New Year's Eve version 2010.
Photo by Bruce Bennett
A lighted peacock joined the parade of more than 50 vehicles.
Photo by Bruce Bennett
An example of what to expect this New Year's Eve.
Photo by Bruce Bennett

Make room New York City. Move over Paris. Houston is poised to launch a New Year's Eve celebration certain to put this city on the map of year-end countdowns. At least that's the plan of the city's Downtown District.

Gloworama, the inaugural illuminated Art Car parade that lit up the George R. Brown Convention Center and Avenidas de las Americas last November, has morfed into a major New Year's Eve celebration of light, blazing art cars, music and sophisticated outdoor partying that will spread across Discovery Green.

Highlight will be the midnight countdown with the "Big Glow" beginning at 11:30 p.m. The Downtown District and the Convention & Entertainment Facilities Department have planned a stunning 3D light show and a fireworks display at the convention center that will escort Houstonians into 2011.

The party action will begin at 7 p.m. with ice skating demonstrations on the ICE at Discovery Green, live music on the Anheuser Busch Stage, performances by America's Got Talent's ArcAttack and more. At 9:30, the art cars, light up like Christmas, and the accompanying illuminated bicycles, uncycles, buses, at least one hearse, a few incarnations of Santa and whatever else the zany art car artists can fathom start rolling.

If viewing it all from Discovery Green or along the street isn't your thing, a limited number of VIP tickets are available for the pre-Glow party at the George R. Brown. The tariff is $150 per person for access to some of the best views available for watching the parade and the light show, plus food and drink.

Insiders have already begun booking rooms at the Hilton Americas-Houston for a front-row view of the festivities. Those living in One Park Place, the luxury high-rise overlooking Discovery Green, will also have premium sight lines.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

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

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.”