Event Calender
A curated list of the latest cultural happenings in Houston
https://www.houstongrandopera.org/events/a-voice-within#about
Join us for A Voice Within, a new song cycle by HGO Composer-in-Residence Joel Thompson and librettist and Houston poet laureate emeritus Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, presented in partnership with the Emancipation Park Conservancy and the African American History Research Center at the Gregory School.
A Voice Within is comprised of 12 songs that share stories of Black Houstonians, providing a platform for voices that often have been marginalized in the classical music world. The poems are based on interviews with longtime city residents, as well as oral histories from the collections of the Emancipation Park Conservancy and the Gregory School’s African American History Research Center.
The world-premiere performance will feature beloved soprano Nicole Heaston and rising baritone Justin Austin, accompanied by pianist Donald Lee III. Moderating a pre-performance panel discussion about the new song cycle will be Emmy Award-winning Houston broadcast journalist Linda Lorelle
Lineup
Coco Jones
Lady London
TA Thomas
We're meeting to discuss Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing by Joy Degruy!
BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS
When: Tuesday, JUNE 17 @ 7PM CST
Where: Kindred Stories
How: RSVP ONLY to let us know you plan to attend and RSVP WITH BOOK to purchase your book and support Fiction Book Club!
ABOUT POST TRAUMATIC SLAVE SYNDROME
In the 16th century, the beginning of African enslavement in the Americas until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment and emancipation in 1865, Africans were hunted like animals, captured, sold, tortured, and raped. They experienced the worst kind of physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual abuse. Given such history, isn't it likely that many of the enslaved were severely traumatized? And did the trauma and the effects of such horrific abuse end with the abolition of slavery?
Emancipation was followed by one hundred more years of institutionalized subjugation through the enactment of Black Codes and Jim Crow laws, peonage, convict leasing, domestic terrorism and lynching. Today the violations continue, and when combined with the crimes of the past, they result in yet unmeasured injury. What do repeated traumas, endured generation after generation by a people produce? What impact have these ordeals had on African Americans today?
Dr. Joy DeGruy, answers these questions and more. With over thirty years of practical experience as a professional in the mental health field, Dr. DeGruy encourages African Americans to view their attitudes, assumptions, and behaviors through the lens of history and so gain a greater understanding of how centuries of slavery and oppression have impacted people of African descent in America.
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome helps to lay the necessary foundation to ensure the well-being and sustained health of future generations and provides a rare glimpse into the evolution of society's beliefs, feelings, attitudes and behavior concerning race in America.
https://app.obsidi.com/event/790a19c4-3dad-40a1-9661-d875ec0caaa4
Strategic Moves. Lasting Impact.
The Obsidi® BNXT Executive Forum is where high-performing Black and allied tech professionals connect, gain insider insights, and build a powerful network. This Juneteenth, top tech professionals will gather in Houston to exchange ideas and shape the future of business.
What’s in it for you?
✅ Executive-led peer to peer strategy sessions
✅ Exclusive collisions with business and tech executives networking with top decision-makers
✅ Candid discussions on compensation & leadership pathways
Check out more details at www.obsidi.com/bnxt
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/community-artists-collective-juneteenth-en-blanc-tickets-1364596999359
Join us as we celebrate Juneteenth! Lite bites, music, immersive photo experiences, art making and more! White attire encouraged.
In commemoration and celebration of 160 years of emancipation, the Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy presents “Building What We Started”, a series of programming during the month of June focused on resilience and community strength, celebrating the journey of Freedom. The Conservancy will feature educational, community, arts, and cultural programming reflecting the rich and unique cultural heritage of Freedmen’s Town.
The Freedmen’s Town Juneteenth – 160 Fest: Building What We Started is a dynamic celebration honoring 160 years of emancipation celebrating freedom, culture, and communication. This festival is a vibrant fusion of history, art, music, and cuisine designed to honor the significance of Juneteenth. The event will feature an array of arts and cultural programming, including an exhibition and workshops that highlight the rich heritage and essence of Freedmen’s Town. Attendees can enjoy live music, performances, activities, and programs which creates an atmosphere of joy and reflection. The event will showcase a fireside chat with Marc Lamont Hill, author, activist, and television personality and include a moment to highlight the legacy and advocacy of former Mayor and Congressman Sylvester Turner’s commitment to Freedmen’s Town. This year’s celebration will be a powerful tribute to freedom, unity, and the enduring legacy of emancipation.
Exhibition Opening | Terms & Conditions: The Promise vs. Reality
Thursday, June 19, 2025 | University Museum at Texas Southern University
5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Join us for the official launch of Juneteenth @ 160 with the opening of Terms & Conditions: The Promise vs. Reality, a traveling contemporary art exhibition exploring liberation after 1865 highlighting the legacy of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) and General Order No. 3. The exhibition features works that interrogate the enduring “conditions” placed on Black freedom and highlight Black imagination as a vehicle for truth-telling, survival, and liberation.
Enjoy an immersive evening of visual art, dialogue, and cultural celebration featuring original works by Ann "Sole Sister" Johnson, Nathaniel Donnett, David McGee, Alexis Pye, Brian Ellison, Kaneem Smith, Cat Martinez, Lanecia A. Rouse, Tay Butler, Phillip Pyle II, Mo Nikole, Anthony Suber, and Robert Pruitt.
Entrance | Recommend $10-15 donation to University Museum to cover fees for opening on Juneteenth Federal Holiday: Donate HERE
Program
5:15 PM | Museum Doors Open
Enjoy lite bites by ChòpnBlọk and cocktails sponsored by General Order No. 3 Vodka.
7:10 PM | Keynote Address
General Barrye L. Price, Ph.D., U.S. Army (Ret.)
7:35 PM | Panel Discussion
The Promise vs. Reality: Exploring the Legacy of Juneteenth
8:15 PM | Closing & Thank you
Visit the Juneteenth @160 merchandise table and connect with artists and community partners.
See you there on Thursday, June 19 2025 at 5:30 PM!
Special thank you to Kinder Foundation, Universiy Museum at Texas Southern Univerity, AARP, HAA, Humanities Texas, and General Order No. 3 Vodka
Join Late August for a special Juneteenth celebration featuring wines from Black-owned vineyards, curated by GM and Level 3 Sommelier Danny Davis. Guests will enjoy thoughtful pairings with chef-crafted bites.
Free + Open to the Public
Take time for yourself during the Moody's Summer Wellness Series hosted on Fridays at noon. Guests are invited to participate in low-impact mindfulness and yoga sessions guided by staff from Rice University’s Gibbs Recreation Center. Paired with a walk through our galleries and lunch at the Moody Café, these hour-long, free classes are the perfect way to end the week. Walk-ins are welcome.
Registration
https://www.mfah.org/calendar/writers-remix-series-juneteenth/202506201830
June 20, 2025
Experience modern and contemporary works of art through the written word. In addition to celebrating Juneteenth, this session of the Writers Remix Series focuses on the installation Hidden Histories on Level 3 of the Kinder Building. Local writers recognize Juneteenth by performing original works, all within the Museum galleries.
Make an evening of it and start off at Happy Hour Friday. Sip on a drink and soak in the ambience before the performances begin.
Performing Artists
Plan Your Visit
About the Artists
David Landry is the co-owner and founder of CLASS Bookstore, a Black-owned, woman-owned, and family-operated indie bookstore based in Houston’s Third Ward. He is a multi-disciplinary collaborator and strives to bring people together.
Tasiah Iman is a vocalist, writer, arranger, and creative director whose work centers on music, community, and self-expression. Iman has performed at venues such as the Eldorado Ballroom and Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, and serves as an educator with DaCamera, bringing music-based learning to HISD classrooms.
Marie Brown is an author, poet, spoken-word artist, songwriter and former paid spokesperson for Houston Metro-Ride. In 2007, Brown became the first woman to win the National Blue Bonnet Poetry Slam Competition.
C.T. has been on the spoken word scene, believing it to be a great representation of Gulf Coast folklore for 30 years. He founded a forum that, for a decade, combines dramatists, poets, singers, and musicians; sometimes sharing stories or sometimes creating new stories on the spot.
https://houstonfreedmenstown.org/events/our-road-home-exploring-freedom/
Our Road Home will premiere at the Bethel Church Historic Site in the heart of Freedmen’s Town, as part of the Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy’s Juneteenth Celebration. This new work aims to serve as a node of remembrance, exploring the implications of a new free life and the value we can learn from the journey and cultural fertility of this community. The work features dance, music, song, and more, performed by a talented cast of artists from Houston and beyond. Our Road Home celebrates the building of a community, the strength of its people, and freedom as a way of life.
Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy presents “Our Road Home” – an interactive rhythmic performance created and directed by Houston artist, Jakari Sherman.
6:45PM – Transport to Bethel begins
7:00PM – Mixer
7:30PM – Program Begins
8:15PM – Program Ends
8:30PM – Reception at the Freedmen’s Town Visitor Center
Featuring an installation by Nigerian-American artist and Houston native Dozie Kanu and music by Paris-based DJ and multidisciplinary artist Crystallmess, and Houston-based sound selectors HYPERFEMME and Big Ace, part of Eldorado Ballroom, Curated by Solange Knowles for Saint Heron.
This event journeys through the African diaspora and the evolution of music and art, viewed through a futuristic lens with a deep focus on Houston’s musical legacy—especially the enduring influence of Chopped and Screwed. It also pays homage to the vital contributions of Houston’s Nigerian and broader African communities in shaping and expanding this cultural conversation. Our aim is to bridge histories, identities, and creative expressions—and we’d love to invite you to create a set that speaks to and expands on these themes.
The evening celebrates Houston’s vibrant Nigerian community through an immersive exploration of culture, identity, sound, and dance. With more than 30,000 Nigerian-Americans calling the city home—the largest Nigerian population outside of Nigeria—Houston, and specifically Alief, has become a thriving cultural enclave.
Acclaimed Nigerian-American artist and Houston native Dozie Kanu will present a sculptural installation of an interpretive Mothership, inspired by Parliament-Funkadelic’s iconic Mothership Connection—Live from Houston (1986). Paris-based DJ and multidisciplinary artist Crystallmess will curate a mix tracing the evolution of Black southern electronic music, weaving it with both classic and contemporary Houston and West African sounds. Joining her are Houston-based sound selectors HYPERFEMME and Big Ace, whose sets will ground the night in the unmistakable pulse of the city—layered, genre-fluid, and alive.
Free + Open to the Public
At this summer's ArtLab, guests are invited to create a personalized pocket-sized silhouette inspired by the works of Letitia Huckaby, on view in Figurative Histories. While learning about the history of silhouettes as a form of portraiture, visitors will make a one-of-a-kind keepsake and develop a written story to shed light on their unique shadow portrait. All supplies are included; children under 12 years old require adult supervision. Walk-ins are welcome.
Register for Reminder
https://buffalosoldiersmuseum.org/juneteenth160/
The festival will close with a private call to action party for sponsors, community partners, and festival volunteers to blend celebration with impactful and purposeful action, fostering local community goals, education, and collective action throughout the year.
Remarks by Sam Collins, III and line dance instruction for “Boots on the Ground”
https://www.mfah.org/calendar/killer-of-sheep/202506221700
Killer of Sheep examines life in Watts, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, in the mid-1970s through the eyes of Stan (Houston native Henry G. Sanders), a sensitive dreamer who is growing detached from the psychic toll of working at a slaughterhouse. Frustrated by money problems, he finds respite in moments of simple beauty: the warmth of a teacup against his cheek, slow dancing with his wife, holding his daughter. MacArthur Genius Award–winner Charles Burnett’s acclaimed debut—his UCLA thesis film, screening in a stunning new restoration—combines lyrical elements with a starkly neorealist, documentary-style approach that chronicles the unfolding story with depth and riveting simplicity. The film’s outstanding score has never sounded better.
Tickets
Plan Your Visit
"Killer of Sheep" has been digitally restored to 4K and remastered by UCLA Film & Television Archive, Milestone Films, and the Criterion Collection. Picture Restoration: Illuminate Hollywood. Photochemical Film Preservation: Film Technology Company. Sound Mix and Restoration: John Polito of Audio Mechanics and Larry Blake. Audio Transfers: DJ Audio, Endpoint Audio Labs. Music Rights: Chris Robertson, Global ImageWorks, and Milestone Films. Restoration supervised by Ross Lipman and Jillian Borders in consultation with Charles Burnett.
Free + Open to the Public
Take time for yourself during the Moody's Summer Wellness Series hosted on Fridays at noon. Guests are invited to participate in low-impact mindfulness and yoga sessions guided by staff from Rice University’s Gibbs Recreation Center. Paired with a walk through our galleries and lunch at the Moody Café, these hour-long, free classes are the perfect way to end the week. Walk-ins are welcome.
Registration
Written by CHARLES BLACKWELL,
HENRY KRIEGER and ROBERT LORICK
Directed by KATHRYN ERVIN
Musical Direction by PHILLIP HALL
Choreographed by MONICA JOSETTE
The Tap Dance Kid concerns a ten-year-old African-American kid named Willie who doesn’t want to be a lawyer like his well-to-do strict father. Willie dreams of becoming a dancer like his mentor, Uncle Dipsey, who is an aspiring Broadway choreographer. Willie’s imaginations of stardom keep us tapping along!
JUN 27 - JUL 27, 2025
Previews JUNE 21, 22, 25 & 26, 2025
PG-13 MUSICAL
Free + Open to the Public
At this summer's ArtLab, guests are invited to create a personalized pocket-sized silhouette inspired by the works of Letitia Huckaby, on view in Figurative Histories. While learning about the history of silhouettes as a form of portraiture, visitors will make a one-of-a-kind keepsake and develop a written story to shed light on their unique shadow portrait. All supplies are included; children under 12 years old require adult supervision. Walk-ins are welcome.
Register for Reminder
Starting this July, the Ion is proud to bring you NASA Stories at the Ion—a one-of-a-kind series where astronauts and space pioneers share what it's really like to live and lead beyond Earth.
This isn't your average speaker series. These are the voices of those who’ve launched into orbit or helped steer missions from the ground—and they're coming to the Ion. We kick off on Tuesday, July 1 with NASA Astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, who recently returned from a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.
Expect breakfast and networking, behind-the-scenes stories from space and the kind of inspiration that’s truly out of this world!
https://www.prekindle.com/event/84676-mereba-houston
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© MERLEX PICKS 2023. All Rights Reserved.
© MERLEX PICKS 2023. All Rights Reserved.