art car week is back

Houston's iconic Art Car Parade revs up with a week of sneak peeks, over-the-top parties, and more

As locals know, springtime in Houston means it's once again time for the Art Car Parade.

For the 36th year, 250 rolling masterpieces will take over the city’s streets as thousands of fans cheer them on from the sidelines. But before that happens, some other Art Car-related events will be going down.

Festivities will start off on Tuesday, April 11, as the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art and the Art Car Museum (6 pm-8 pm; 140 Heights Blvd.) will host an intriguing discussion with automotive artists Henry Chang and Randy Grubb, whose spectacular pieces of automotive ingenuity will be on display at the parade.

Parade to the people

On Thursday, April 13, the Main Street Drag will be going on all over Houston. Designed to “bring the parade to the people,” this events finds Art Cars and their artists visiting schools, hospitals, nursing homes, developmental facilities and other locations where residents may not be able to participate on their own on parade day.

More 100 cars will create a series of “mini parades” that will make their way to designated locations, as the artists spend time showing off their rolling masterpieces.

A free sneak peak

Later that evening, Discovery Green will host the Art Car Sneak Peek, a free, family-friendly evening featuring entertainment, food & drinks, and the opportunity to see 100+ art cars and meet their artists throughout the park and along Avenida Houston.

Art Car Ballin'

The Art Car Ball will be on Friday, April 14, at Orange Show World Headquarters (2401 Munger St.). Along with wild costumes, interactive/performance art, food, drinks, and a huge selection of illuminated art cars, there will also be performances from New Orleans avant-garde “rap cabaret” sensation Boyfriend, Austin’s lauded electro-pop performer Caleb de Casper, Houston’s DJ Amarji, the high-energy Free Rads 2nd Line, and more.

Rollin' out

Saturday, April 15 is parade day, but several events will go down beforehand. At 11 am, Splice Records and Saint Arnold will present the Lineup Party, just west of the I-45 overpass. This is your chance to peruse the more than 250 art cars as they get ready for the parade.

At the same time, the H-E-B Kids Creative Zone, which will feature an array of creative activities for both kids and adults alike, will be over at Sam Houston Park. Over at Hermann Square at City Hall, the VIPit Experience will pop off at noon. The event features complimentary bites from over a dozen local chefs and restaurants, cocktails, pre-parade entertainment, kids’ art activities, swag bags, live parade commentating from notable Houston personalities, and nearby reserved parking.

At 2 pm, the parade will start rolling. Orange Show founder Marilyn Oshman will lead the parade as the 2023 Grand Marshal. The parade officially begins at the intersection of Dallas and Bagby Streets (on Allen Parkway) heading into downtown before circling City Hall and heading outbound onto Allen Parkway out of downtown, dispersing at Waugh Drive.

Art Car Awards

Things will close on Sunday, April 16 with the Art Car Awards Ceremony at Orange Show World Headquarters. Over $15,000 will be distributed to Art Car artists and groups in various categories through a judging process that rates entries based on their creativity, artistic techniques and inspiration. The public is invited to come celebrate the winners and get a final chance to see this year’s Art Car entries and meet the artists.

Photo courtesy of The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art

Houston's most colorful rides are back.

For schedules and more information, visit the official website.

let's go to the movies

18th annual Cinema Arts Festival promises to be the most Houston yet

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother film still

Courtesy of Houston Cinema Arts Festival

Mahershala Ali's Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is set in Houston.

Is it safe to say that, out of all the years the Houston Cinema Arts Festival has been up and running, this year’s fest is – the most Houston ever?

Courtesy of Houston Cinema Arts Festival

Mahershala Ali's Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is set in Houston.

The 18th-annual film festival — running from this Thursday, October 1, until Sunday, October 11 — will showcase several Houston-centric films and filmmakers in their “Spotlight on Texas” and “Texas Icons” programs. Pakistani-born, Clutch City-bred filmmaker Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli) directed the opening-night film, the Mahershala Ali action drama Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, which is also set in Houston.

Vicky Wight, another H-Town filmmaker, will screen two films: the narrative drama The Body Is Water and Zina, a documentary short on Houston tennis great Zina Garrison. DJ Screw, Brittney Griner, the Fourth Ward, and the Billie Jean King-Bobby Riggs “Battle of the Sexes” match that went down at the Astrodome will also get screen time this year. And don’t forget about the 30th anniversary screening of Bottle Rocket, written and directed by hometown hero Wes Anderson.

“Houston was such a major source of inspiration for the festival,” says lead HCAF programmer Michael D. Robinson. “We have that idea of reflecting Houston back to itself, but also, for me, it was reflecting Houston to the world and the world back to Houston.”

Now in its 18th year, the HCAF (created and programmed by the Houston Cinema Arts Society) continues to look for cinematic art both regionally and internationally. The fest will screen the latest from acclaimed international filmmakers, including Possible Love, from South Korean dramatist Lee Chang-dong (Burning); and Fatherland, from Oscar-nominated Pole Paweł Pawlikowski (Cold War). A wide array of features and shorts will also be shown, ranging from films directed by female filmmakers to films centered on African American and LGBTQ+ themes.

“My Eyes Are Playing Tricks on Me” is a themed program dealing with the complicated relationship between image and truth, particularly in this increasingly-troublesome age of AI. Robinson gives props to HCAS for giving him more room to expand the lineup.

“There are 10 more features than last year, and I'm very happy that they let me do that,” he says. “But I definitely was more ambitious and, just looking at this year in film, there are so many great options. And it kind of became a moment of being like, if we can, let's just try to give audiences as many of these great films from international festivals — but also from [South by Southwest].”

The 11-day fest will be a sprawling affair, with screenings happening at various venues (including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Rice Cinema, River Oaks Theatre, and the DeLUXE Theater) along with parties, panels, and other events going on in other spots. Just as the festival wants to salute Houston on-screen, the organizers also want Houstonians to experience the spaces where you can see these films.

“Houston is not like [former Sundance Film Festival home] Park City, Utah, where everything is a mile away from each other, and you have 100 different theaters that you can walk to,” says HCAS executive director Katie Creeggan-Rios. “We are a big, sprawling, metropolitan area with a lot of different neighborhoods and a lot of our cultural identities. And it's been important to Michael and me from the beginning to make sure that we are programming site-specific, that we're thinking about what is important to an audience at the DeLUXE Theater, and what kind of movies feel at home at the River Oaks. And it's one of the things that makes our audience so special, and makes our festival so exciting.”

For more information on the Houston Cinema Arts Festival, go to the festival website.

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