Houston NY Eve

Insider's Guide to big New Year's Eve celebration in downtown Houston: Fireworks and free performances

After a two-year hiatus, a big New Year's Eve celebration, complete with a midnight fireworks display and lots of entertainment, is headed back to downtown Houston — in a new location, with the B-52s and Houston-based Tontons as featured attractions.

Other events — all free — will take place inside the Alley and Wortham Center theaters throughout the evening, beginning at 7 pm. They range from a production of SantaLand Diaries to a Broadway Sing-A-Long, and performances by magician Curt Miller, percussionist and bandleader Pedrito Martinez and smooth jazz Bobby Lyle Trio. (See full schedule below.)

Also on tap is an early New Year’s kid-friendly celebration in the Family Zone on Jones Plaza filled with dancing, games, activities and costumed characters.

Grown-ups can toast the end of the year in the Bubbly Garden with room for dancing and a lounge area. The B-52s, affectionately known as the "world's greatest party band" with such dance hits as "Love Shack" and "Deadbeat Club," perform at 10:35 pm on a special outdoor stage constructed on Smith and Capitol streets in the Theatre District, leading to the midnight fireworks celebration from atop Jones Hall. The Tontons will perform from 9:15-10:15 pm.

Food and beverage booths will sell traditional "good luck" food and hot cocoa, coffee and cider, as well as beer, wine and champagne. Parking is available in garages underneath the Theater District buildings.

New tradition

The event revives a burgeoning New Year's Eve tradition that developed when Gloworama was launched at Discovery Green to welcome in 2010 with neon-decorated art cars and a spectacular light show. The event morphed into an event called New Year's Eve Live and organizers hoped to make it an annual family-style blowout as the Bayou City version of New York's big annual celebration in Times Square.

But in late 2013, the annual event was canceled due to a lack of sponsors. Insiders say that Mayor Annise Parker lobbied for the return of the signature downtown happening as one of her last achievements before leaving office. (Mayor-elect Sylvester Turner will be inaugurated on January 4 in Jones Hall). Houston First stepped in to sponsor the celebration.

Other sponsors include the city of Houston, the Houston Downtown Management District, the Houston Theater District and the Houston Chronicle. The event is produced by the Mayor’s Office of Special Events.

“Houston has lots to celebrate and what an extraordinary way to begin a new chapter for this tradition," Parker said in a statement.

Online contest

In conjuction with the big event, sponsors are conducting an online contest, with a chance to win a Theater District experience, which includes overnight accommodations at The Lancaster Hotel, a $100 gift card to the Hard Rock Cafe and four tickets to the Theater Under The Stars production of Mary Poppins.

Entries, which can be made online at www.houstontxgov.nye/contest.html, must be received by Wednesday (December 30) at 5 pm. The drawing will be held on Thursday (December 31) after the 7:45 pm performance of the Curt Miller Magic Show at Wortham Center. The winner must be present at the drawing.

Live options

Because there is so much construction work around Discovery Green, with a giant new Marriott Marquis hotel aiming to open before the 2017 Super Bowl, as well as renovations to the George R. Brown Convention Center, organizers decided to move the celebration to the Theater District and take advantage of the facilities to present live performances in some of the buildings throughout the evening. They include:

7 - 7:45 pm
Cullen Theater, Wortham Center
Curt Miller Magic Show

7 – 9 pm
Hard Rock Café
Kristal Cherelle & Will Makar
Strolling Entertainment
New Orleans Hustlers Brass Band & Glow Go Dancers

7 - 9 pm
Kids Plaza, Jones Plaza
DJ Johnny J, Arcade, Face Painters, Fortune Teller, Red Door Productions Dancers, LunchBox Dance Crew, Balloon Artist
*Special Kids Countdown – 9 p.m.

7:30 - 8:30 pm
Alley, Neuhaus Theatre
SantaLand Diaries (Mature Audiences Only)

Brown Theater, Wortham Center
Broadway Sing-A-Long I

8 - 9:30 pm
Alley, Hubbard Theatre
Pedrito Martinez

9 – 10:15 pm
Cullen Theater, Wortham Center
Bobby Lyle Trio

9:15 - 10:15 pm
Main Stage, corner of Smith and Texas
The Tontons

9:30 – 10:30 p.m.
Brown Theater, Wortham Center
Broadway Sing-A-Long II

10:35 - 11:58 pm
Main Stage, corner of Smith and Texas
The B-52s

New Year's Eve Houston will take place in the downtown Theater District.

Courtesy photo

New Year's Eve Houston will take place in the downtown Theater District.

concerts festivals

a beautiful mind

Houston Health Museum's new exhibit shines a light on dyslexia

Sarah Sudhoff created "The Reading Brain" in honor of her son.

Photo by Rose Tylinski

"The Reading Brain" replicates neuron activity in a dyslexic brian while reading

No, "The Reading Brain" isn't the title of a B-horror film from the 1960s. It's a brand new installation at the Houston Health Museum that explores dyslexia.

The piece was created by Houston-based artist Sarah Sudhoff, in partnership with Dr. Guinevere Eden, Director of the Center for the Study of Learning at Georgetown University. Hanging from the ceiling of the Health Museum, it uses light-up colored circles to represent the frontal lobe activity of a dyslexic person while reading. MRI scans of dyslexic brains formed the foundation of the light activity. Sudhoff's own son has dyslexia, and she had to adapt her homeschooling of him to account for his neurodivergence. As much as 20 percent of the American population is dyslexic.

"The Reading Brain" grew out of a similar exhibit at the DoSeum in San Antonio. "Beautiful Minds: Dyslexia and the Creative Advantage" challenged visitors to see dyslexia not as a learning disability but as simply a different way some human brains work. The exhibit featured videos, stories, and art work by dyslexic individuals that show how they succeed and create, as well as a selection of brain puzzles used to teach dyslexic people.

“Even though your brain works differently, it still lights up and is beautiful to watch, a wonderful machine you have. It just means you have to navigate and pivot a little differently,” Sudhoff said.

Sudhoff's innovative bridge between science and art is a permanent part of the Health Museum's MindWorks exhibit. Like "The Reading Brain," MindWorks maps out thinking processes through light and hands-on activities. The exhibit will close on January 5, meaning visitors have a very short time to see Sudhoff's piece.

The Health Museum is a hidden gem in Museum District located a block away from the Children's Museum. It houses a variety of exhibits about the human body, such as a giant plastic colon that kids love to run through. Since opening in 1969, the museum has helped Houstonians and visitors from around the world learn about the way the body works as well well as public health protocols. As the only Smithsonian Affiliate Museum in the Houston Museum District, it has a high educational pedigree despite it's colorful and often whimsical offerings.

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