What: The 13th Annual HSPVA Friends Encore Luncheon
Where: Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
The scoop: HSPVA Friends’ 13th Annual Encore Luncheon, The Downtown Debut, brought together more than 400 guests to celebrate Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts’ (Kinder HSPVA) new state-of-the-art campus and to raise funds to support its programs and students. This year’s luncheon, chaired by Kimberly Hickson and David Spaw, also celebrated HSPVA Friends’ 2019 Community Honoree, Bob Eury, president of Central Houston.
Upon arrival, guests were greeted by the musical stylings of Mariachi Los Pasajeros. As they noshed on passed hors d’oeuvres, attendees perused through the new campus and enjoyed performances from Kinder HSPVA students. In the Art Galleries, senior visual arts students showcased their senior works, while in the recital hall, vocalists and pianists presented a selection of classical music. The Studio Theatre was transformed into a jazz club, while the Black Box Theatre hosted music from a wind ensemble and technical theatre students’ design portfolios.
Guests made their way to the Denney Theatre where they were treated to a musical theatre spectacular with original lyrics paying tribute to Kinder HSPVA and the school’s journey from the original campus on Austin Street, to the Montrose campus, to the new downtown campus, back on Austin Street. The performance featured a cameo by this year’s honoree, Eury.
Following remarks by HSPVA Friends executive director Alene Coggin, Kinder HSPVA principal Dr. R. Scott Allen, and Bob Eury, the orchestra and performers sang happy birthday to Mary Martha Lappe, founding executive director of HSPVA Friends and one of the school’s founding faculty members, who celebrated a very special birthday. Guests then enjoyed a lunch of chilled salmon salad and decadent desserts catered by Café Natalie.
The 2019 Encore Luncheon raised over $250,000 for art area supplies, state-of-the-art technology, specialized teachers, and other essential building blocks required by Kinder HSPVA’s rigorous arts curriculum.
Who: Rich and Nancy Kinder, Robert Gallegos, Roxann Neumann, Jim and Jo Furr, Susie and Sanford Criner, CeCe Fowler, Mariquita Masterson, Kurt Nondorf, Brad and Anna Eastman, Minnette and Peter Boesel, and Marita and J.B. Fairbanks.
