Acid Test is a rebellion and coming-of-age movie fueled by Riot Grrrl music, dysfunctional family, and LSD. The film follows Jenny as she turns 18 and grapples with what it means to be an adult in the early 90’s. Along the way, she discovers a new aggressively feminist perspective inspired by the Riot Grrrl – girls in punk – movement, experiments with LSD, and begins to question all of the rules and truths she’s lived by her whole life. Set against the backdrop of the 1992 Presidential Election and themes of civic engagement, Jenny launches a rebellion against her family, against the patriarchy her father represents, and tumbles into a new sense of self. https://www.acidtestfilm.com/
Texas German, a unique dialect developed in Central Texas, was once a thriving language with over 110,000 dominant speakers during its peak in the early 20th century. Today it’s on the verge of extinction. All Güt Things tells the story by looking at the past, present and future. www.germantexas.com
America’s Changing Face is a four-part (30:00 min.) television series to air on PBS. Each episode takes a unique look into our nation’s growing mixed-race population by focusing on key regions with pronounced cultural diversity and population. In-depth stories of mixed race couples and families will reveal what this diversity means to the future of our nation.
Art Uniti Team Nicola Parente and Tami Moschioni (Merrick) were recipients of the Support for Artists and Creative Individuals grant from Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) and the City of Houston. The grant was for creating a permanent sculpture, titled Snapshot, in the Near Northside. Snapshot is a steel sculpture forming a sky frame capturing a view of Houston’s downtown skyline and creates a selfie photo op moment for visitors of the White Oak Bayou trail and the BakerRipley Leonel Castillo Community Center. The sculpture site is located adjacent to the Castillo Community Center’s back parking lot near the bike trail entrance. For more information visit: ArtUniti.com
Collegia: Houston is an after-school orchestra program designed to serve Houston Independent School District schools whose students do not benefit from an in-school orchestra program.
For more information, visit: gracelewisbass.com/collegia-
houston 
Our Mission: Positively impact as many lives as possible through the power of music. Since we began our journey as Deux Voix in 2014, we have been working towards the goal of spreading music to people around the country and doing what we love to do, which is to expand the reach of trumpet and organ music, and to positively impact as many lives as possible through the power of music. We truly cannot thank you enough or tell you how much your support has meant to us. Your generous gifts have allowed us to accomplish some amazing goals such as building a website, purchasing a professional level flugelhorn, commissioning trumpet/organ compositions by renowned composers such as Mark Hayes and Craig Courtney, and our first international tour to Scandinavia! www.deuxvoixmusic.com
This project promoted creative endeavors from artists of diverse backgrounds in Houston venues. Performances and readings included writers, multimedia artists, and visual and performance artists who do not always fit within the mainstream artistic community, including artists of color and/or those who identify as queer/gender-fluid, who live with different abilities, or are self-taught. The events were curated over themes relevant to the Houston community, in all its diverse splendor and gritty drive.
Houston Contemporary Dance Company’s primary focus is to provide Houstonians with opportunities to view world class contemporary concert dance and engage with all artists involved, including dancers, choreographers, designers, etc. HCDC supplements its concert offerings with professional dance intensives, master classes, and workshops designed to enhance the practice of professional artists, and educational/community outreach performances and workshops designed to ignite passion for contemporary dance and promote dance education and wellness. For more information: www.houstoncontemporary.org
Impractical Spaces: Houston places our city and art community in the context of a nationally-distributed series of publications (and eventual anthology) examining the significance of historic alternative art spaces in cities outside the glare of New York and Los Angeles. Through a collection of interviews, photographs and ephemera, and descriptive entries, the history of Houston’s alternative art scene is documented, preserved, celebrated, and shared. https://www.impracticalspaces.org/
la speranza is a group of string and wind players that bring chamber music performances on period instruments of repertoire spanning from the Baroque to early Romantic eras. Named after the Italian word for “hope”, la speranza seeks to promote physical and emotional healing through their historically informed performances in Houston communities. la speranza was founded by Yvonne Smith in 2016. Each of our musicians have made historically informed performance practice (HIPP) a focus of their careers and are active performers in the United States and Europe. We present 3-4 formal concerts a year, as well as several free concerts in local hospitals and community centers. More info here: https://la-speranza.com/
Lionwoman Productions brought community together by celebrating the stories of diverse artists and audiences, focusing on social justice issues to offer understanding and facilitate healing using a grassroots approach. Their programs included commissioning new works by local playwrights and the Dragonslayer Theatre Project for underserved youth.
The Little Edelweiss; or, An Immigrant’s Fairytale chronicles Manfred, playwright Josh Inocéncio’s bisexual Great-Uncle, from his upbringing in war-torn Austria to his mercurial life in the United States, and the imprint he left on the gay nephew he never met. True to the fairy tale form, this Eugene O’Neil semi-finalist captures both men in their pursuits of unapologetic pleasure, punctuated by a pantheon of ancestors as Fairies, immigration officials as Trolls, and FBI agents as Giants. http://www.joshinocencio.com/#/splintered-in-three/
Next Iteration Ensemble is a company steeped in thought-provoking work, questioning of the status quo, and imagining beyond the known. We are committed to thoughtful investigation in our devised work, through character, movement, and stories. With our ensemble of actors, our commitment to our professional development and the development of the Houston theater scene, our mission to bring underrepresented voices to the stage, and our practice of collaborating with others, Next Iteration Ensemble still has dreams. And we are committed to pursing them. With you. https://www.nextiterationensemble.com/
An extraordinary story about a once-traditional family in Sugar Land, Texas navigating trans issues and challenging the idea of what modern love looks like. For more information, please visit www.OurdadDanielle.com
Pulsate: A Vampire Musical, is an immersive, electronic synth-pop theatrical experience following the story of present day vampires, witches, and werewolves, performed outside the traditional musical theatre formula. The show features live and recorded music, with dramatic stylized movement, fight scenes, trapeze, and silks. For more information: https://www.pulsatemusical.com/
Our mission is to create accessible theatrical experiences that represent the diverse population of our city. We aim to tell stories to which all Houstonians can relate. We also strive to support the artistic economy of Houston by offering competitive compensation for the artists we employ.
Sculpture Month Houston (SMH) is a citywide biennial event that showcases sculpture throughout over 40 venues in the City of Houston, directing attention to the diverse creative energies of sculptors. It joins a succession of existing art celebrations and adds to Houston’s reputation as an art-enthusiastic city. For more info: http://sculpturemonthhouston.org/
The mission of Segundo Barrio Children’s Chorus is to offer bi-lingual music education and mentoring as a means of community building for the children and residents of Houston’s Second Ward and East End. Our out-of-school time children’s chorus includes instruction in vocal training, music theory, sight singing, and group piano classes. Opportunities to perform, both in Second Ward and Greater Houston, foster pride in the historic Second Ward community while also providing much-needed mediums for creative expression in this neighborhood. https://www.segundobarriocc.org/
Sojourns on the Silk Road: From the Orient to the Occident is a musical journey of French and Spanish art song on themes of the “Orient” featuring mezzo-soprano Jessica Blau, pianist Katherine Ciscon, guitarist Marc Rosenberg, and flamenco dancer Fanny Ara.
Terra Nostra Ensemble is Houston’s innovative ensemble dedicated to the performance, promotion, and preservation of music by Latin-American and Iberian composers. The music we play pays homage to our heritage and fills a void in the traditional classical chamber music repertoire. For more information, visit our website at http://terranostraensemble.com
The Women Have Something to Say told the stories of female musicians through songs, texts, and monologues written by the musicians themselves, with music composed by Madeline Styskal. The stories were told by a diverse set of women, representing different ethnicities, sexual orientations, ages, religions, and relationship statuses, and illuminated by projected photography and text of female writers. The production aimed to stand with women (and the men who support them) in the audience who are struggling to find their own voice.
past fiscally sponsored projects
