More than beer money

Bayou City Art Festival gives back to Houston, helps keep arts education alive

Non-profits partners received generous donations from the Bayou City ArtFestival for helping mobilize volunteers.
Kim Stoilis (L), Bayou City Art Festival executive director, and AnnelleMetoyer, Capital One Bank market president, presented the festival's non-profitpartners with a $135,000 check.

The 2011 Capital One Bank Bayou City Art Festival at Memorial Park may be a distant memory for art lovers, families and presenting artists. The community awaits the next carnival where a juried arsenal of creatives showcase original, imaginative works.

But for the art bacchanal's non-profit partners, the festivities are far from over. Their respective budgets just got a sizeable cash boost thanks to the festival's emphasis on collaborating with and supporting the local economy.

"It is a pleasure to be a part of the community, to give back to our community and to invest for good in our city," Annella Metoyer, Capital One Bank market president, said.

During a happy hour at Saint Arnold's Brewery co-hosted by Capital One Bank and the Art Colony Association, the festival's 501(c)(3) parent, the organizers bestowed a total of $135,000 in donations to organizations that played a sizable role in mobilizing volunteers as well as those that performed critical functions, ensuring the event's success.

"We have given $2.6 million back to local non-profits in our 40-year history," Michael Piana, Art Colony board president, said. "From its inception, the festival was meant to beautify the city and support the local economy through grass roots efforts."

Among the recipients were Art League of Houston, Bering Omega Community Services, Buffalo Bayou Partnership, City ArtWorks, Downtown YMCA, Heritage Society Houston, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston Center for Photography, Lawndale Art Center, MECA, Memorial Park Conservancy, MFAH, Opera in the Heights, Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, Several Dancers Core, SNAP and SPARK.

The funds came from concession sales, entry fees, tickets to socials and the Capital One Bank title sponsorship. Festival artists retain 100 percent of their sales.

FotoFest and the Museum of Cultural Arts Houston (MOCAH) were recognized as Most Outstanding Non-profit Partners for recruiting the largest number of active volunteers through the festival's new online system, receiving an additional $2,000 award.

"These funds will go directly to our education programs," Kristin Skarbovig, FotoFest education program manager, said. "It will enable FotoFest to subsidize teacher training programs, especially important at a time when art programs budgets are being reduced."

The recognition took on personal meaning for MOCAH's marketing and administrative director, Stacy Robinson-Newton, who met her husband of 10 years while volunteering at the festival.

"The additional award is essential for MOCAH," Robinson-Newton explained. "It will allow us to grant scholarships to students who wish to participate in our summer programs."

Bayou City Art Festival executive director Kim Stoilis couldn't stop beaming. Everyone was smiling. It's impossible to frown with cash on hand, tasty pub grub and a mug filled to the brim with Saint Arnold Summer Pils. Salut!

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Movie Review

An all-star cast delivers clever laughs in new comedy The Invite

Photo courtesy of A24

Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, and Edward Norton in The Invite.

Once upon a time, well before scandal embroiled him, Woody Allen made great comedies aimed at adults. That type of film — which is different from the raunchy, R-rated comedies of the 21st century — has fallen out of favor in Hollywood, but as the new film The Invite proves, when done well it can be as funny as anything else out there.

Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Olivia Wilde) are an unhappily married couple living in San Francisco. As we meet them, Joe has arrived home to Angela preparing for a visit from their upstairs neighbors, Hawk (Edward Norton) and Piña (Penélope Cruz), who have moved in relatively recently. Their impending arrival starts a new round of arguing between Joe and Angela, something they can barely contain once the other couple comes to their door.

What proceeds is a getting-to-know-you process that is mostly awkward as Joe and Angela continue sniping at each other while Hawk and Piña put in their two cents in a much calmer manner. A sticking point between the two couples — the loud sex Hawk and Piña have on an almost nightly basis — turns the film on its head with an unexpected invitation.

Directed by Wilde and written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, the film is a fast-paced chamber piece that takes place almost entirely in Joe and Angela’s apartment. Wilde, the writers, and the actors speed the story along not with action but through almost non-stop dialogue that often has the characters overlapping each other’s lines. The rapidity of the speech fuels the humor of the situation and establishes the differing personalities of each person.

Sex is very much top of mind for each of the characters for most of the film, but the filmmakers approach the topic in such a way that it never feels salacious. Each of the characters is a rational adult who can talk about sex in a mature manner while also acknowledging their unique feelings on the matter. And it’s the discoveries each of them makes along the way that brings about the most comedy.

But, like any comedy for adults, the film also has a dramatic tilt to it, and Wilde edges the story back-and-forth between the two tones extremely well. Joe and Angela fighting is played for laughs at times, but the sadness of their relationship comes through loud and clear. Hawk and Piña are much more intimate with each other, but the funniness of their openness is juxtaposed with a depth that arises through their conversations.

In the 2020s, Rogen has managed to make the transition from goofy stoner to stoner with real acting chops. In a stacked cast, he is the one who sells every moment the best. That’s not to say that Wilde, Norton, and Cruz don’t measure up, though; each of them inhabits their respective roles magnificently. The four actors play off each other as if they had been working together for years.

While The Invite will likely play better to those who have experience with long term relationships, its insights — and occasional bawdiness — make it a comedy that can be appreciated universally. With four actors at the top of their games and a razor-sharp script made even better by some well-done improv, it proves that you don’t need to go low to get great laughs.

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The Invite is now playing in theaters.

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