Bright ideas

Cutting-edge art city: Four Houston projects given Idea Fund grants

The "Transgender Umbrella" is a visual that dynamically captures the complexityof the gender spectrum and offers succinct vocabulary words to provoke questionsand encourage dialogue.
Nohegan East 2010 participants at the Brazos Bend State Park campsite posebefore closing up camp with a group hug.
Lisa Marie Godfrey photographing Elaine Bradford’s sculptures in nature duringNohegan 2008 activities
“Make & Mail a Post Card” workshop with Josh Rios and Deanna Renee Ledezmaworkshop during Nohegan 2009
The purpose of "the GENDER book(let)" is to radically transform the dialogaround gender in our local communities.

Houston, make room for some cool artsy unconventional projects. The idea-ed ones have been selected in the annual Idea Fund, funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, administered by DiverseWorks, Aurora Picture Show and Project Row Houses.

Each year, the program awards Texas artists and art collectives $3,500, plus an additional $500 toward their next project, to create new work that falls outside traditional boundaries. Panelists culled through over 200 applications to select the 10 winners. Four are from the Houston. Here they are with their winning descriptions of the artwork they have planned:

ArtScouts Houston (Elaine Bradford, Emily Link, Dennis Nance, JoAnn Park) — Nohegan East: An art-making weekend retreat with a focus on community.

Nathaniel Donnett — What's the New News? A project that will challenge, respond to and juxtapose the way we read the news and how rap and poetry interprets it, the differences in generations when seeking information regarding issues and current events specifically in Houston's Third Ward.

David Feil, Amye McCarther — Andrus Studio Archives: An artist-volunteer run archive of a collection of audio reels from Andrus Studios, an independent, progressive and artist-directed recording studio owned and operated in Houston by Walt Andrus from 1964-1971.

GENDER book creators (Boston Bostian; Mel Reiff Hill; Jay Mays) — The GENDER book(let): A colorful highly-illustrative resource, short in length and with detailed real-life experiences, the GENDER book serves as a starter manual that presents the beautiful diversity of gender.

The selection team included Contemporary Art Museum Houston director Bill Arning; Kate Lorenz, executive director, Hyde Park Art Space, Chicago; and Andrea Mellard, assistant curator, Austin Museum of Art.

“I cherished my role as an Idea Fund panelist for many reasons, but one stands out,” Arning said in a statement. “As a new Texan, having moved to Houston in 2009, I feared that the work being made here might be more conservative than what I enjoyed in New York and Boston.

"After seeing so many wonderful proposals of non-traditional artwork, I am happy to say that the artists we funded produce the edgiest art being made anywhere. As a lifelong advocate of avant-gardist practices that does my heart and soul good to see.”

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Concert News

Classic rockers Styx will sail away to Houston on summer 2025 tour

Photo courtesy of Styx

Styx will tour in summer 2025.

Legendary rockers Styx and Kevin Cronin, lead singer of REO Speedwagon, will team up to co-headline the “Brotherhood of Rock” tour in 2025, which will include a stop at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands on Friday, June 6.

The large, 40-city tour will take place over three months, starting in Greenville, South Carolina on May 28, and wrapping up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 24.

In addition to Houston, the tour will go to Austin on June 4 and Dallas on August 1. It will include special guest Don Felder, former lead guitarist for the Eagles, at all dates.

Fans can expect some of the greatest rock anthems of all time, including “Renegade,” “Keep On Loving You,” “Come Sail Away,” “Can't Fight This Feeling,” and “Hotel California.”

Styx and Cronin (as part of REO Speedwagon) first toured together in 2000 and in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks, coming together to form the Rock to the Rescue 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. This will mark their sixth time joining forces on the road.

2022 was the 50th anniversary of Styx's self-titled debut album, but they have yet to slow down. The band released their 17th album, Crash of the Crown, in 2021. Of course, not everyone is a fan, as this classic clip from The Simpsons illustrates.

REO Speedwagon's recording days appear to be done, with their last album coming out in 2009, but the main group of five has been together since 1989. On this tour, Cronin will be joined by REO's lead guitarist Dave Amato and drummer Bryan Hitt.

General tickets for the tour will go on sale starting on Friday, December 13 at 10 am at LiveNation.com.

Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets in the U.S. beginning on December 9 at 10 am through the Citi Entertainment program.

Styx and Kevin Cronin will be offering VIP packages via their own exclusive pre-sales beginning on Tuesday, December 10 at 10 am, as well as at LiveNation.com.

“Brotherhood of Rock” tour dates

Wed 5/28 Greenville, SC Bon Secours Wellness Arena
Sat 5/31 Tampa, FL MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
Mon 6/2 Jacksonville, FL Daily's Place
Wed 6/4 Austin, TX Germania Insurance Amphitheater
Fri 6/6 The Woodlands, TX The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman
Sat 6/7 Ridgedale, MO Thunder Ridge Nature Arena
Mon 6/9 Denver, CO Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre
Wed 6/11 Salt Lake City, UT Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
Fri 6/13 Concord, CA Toyota Pavilion at Concord
Sat 6/14 Bend, OR Hayden Homes Amphitheater
Sun 6/15 Ridgefield, WA RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater
Sat 6/28 Albuquerque, NM Isleta Amphitheater
Mon 6/30 Colorado Springs, CO Ford Amphitheatre
Wed 7/2 Kansas City, MO Starlight Theatre
Sat 7/5 Birmingham, AL Coca-Cola Amphitheater
Sun 7/6 Alpharetta, GA Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
Tue 7/8 Charlotte, NC PNC Music Pavilion
Wed 7/9 Raleigh, NC Coastal Credit Union Music Park
Fri 7/11 Virginia Beach, VA Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater
Sat 7/12 Bristow, VA Jiffy Lube Live
Mon 7/14 Syracuse, NY Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview
Tue 7/15 Bridgeport, CT Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater
Fri 7/18 Gilford, NH BankNH Pavilion
Sat 7/19 Mansfield, MA Xfinity Center
Sun 7/20 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
Fri 8/1 Dallas, TX Dos Equis Pavilion
Sat 8/2 Brandon, MS Brandon Amphitheater
Mon 8/4 Franklin, TN FirstBank Amphitheater
Wed 8/6 Richmond, VA Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront
Fri 8/8 Camden, NJ Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
Sun 8/10 Burgettstown, PA The Pavilion at Star Lake
Tue 8/12 Saratoga Springs, NY Broadview Stage at SPAC
Wed 8/13 Toronto, ON Budweiser Stage
Fri 8/15 Noblesville, IN Ruoff Music Center
Sat 8/16 Clarkston, MI Pine Knob Music Theatre
Tue 8/19 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
Wed 8/20 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
Fri 8/22 St. Louis, MO Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
Sat 8/23 Tinley Park, IL Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
Sun 8/24 Milwaukee, WI American Family Insurance Amphitheater

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