| Art League Houston |
Press Release |
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Art League Houston Announces Closing Events for
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Panel presentation -- "The Healing Power of Stories" -- from 4:30 - 6 p.m.
Closing Celebration featuring
noted Creole musician and Rita survivor Ed Poullard, from 6 - 8:00 p.m.
Surviving Katrina and Rita: Who We Are, an installation of photographs and  audiostories featuring Houston-based evacuees and survivors of the hurricanes, with photographs by Alice McNamara, closes on June 16, 2007. As part of its closing activities, Art League Houston, Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston: A Survivor-centerd Storytelling and Documentation Project, and the Houston Institute for Culture will host a panel presentation at the Art League Houston followed by closing celebration.
Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston is a survivor-centered storytelling and documentation project which that has been training Katrina and Rita survivors to collect and record the stories of their fellow survivors. The project's goal is to voice, as intimately as possible, the experiences and reflections of those displaced to Houston by the two major hurricanes that pounded the Gulf Coast in August and September of 2005. The stories will ultimately be housed at The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and the University of Houston.
 Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston: WHO WE ARE features eighteen large format photographs of survivors taken by Alice McNamara and weds them with interview excerpts from each of the individual survivors portrayed in the installation. The exhibition explores the diversity, the dreams, the disappointments and the very real day-to-day lives of the survivor community.
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The panel presentation begins at 4:30 p.m. with an informal session on The Healing Power of Stories. Storm survivors participating in the panel include Phylicia Bradley, Henry Armstrong and Vincent Trotter. The panel will be moderated by project founder and folklorist Carl Lindahl. The Healing Power of Stories will consider the manner in which survivor-to-survivor storytelling creates an empathetic connection between interviewer and interviewee and encourages survivors to tell their story on their own terms. By dispensing with an authorial, academic or journalist agenda, the storytelling may serve the storyteller in various ways-- as testimony, witness, therapeutic expression and/or empowerment. Panel participants will share aspects of their stories and reflect on the restorative and constructive nature of narrative.
 At 6 p.m., there will be a closing celebration featuring refreshments, as well as music by noted Creole musician and Rita survivor Ed Poullard. Accordionist and fiddler Ed Poullard is the single most important link to the legendary generation of Creole musicians such as Canray Fontenot and Bois Sec Ardoin. Starting out in the family band, Ed went on perform alongside all of the noted players in this style over many decades. However, unlike many Creole accordionists, he did not migrate to the more popular and readily-accessible bluesiness of zydeco - instead he built his Creole credentials by diversifying from accordion into fiddle and playing with such noted groups as the Ardoin Family Band, Beausoleil and with his late brother Danny in an ensemble known as Poullard, Poullard and Garnier. Ed will be joined by guitarist J.B. Adams. As a co-host of a popular Houston radio show, "Zydeco Pas Sale," he has become a mentor to several young Creole musicians, passing down his knowledge of the musical repertoire and encouraging younger players to pursue their interest and greater involvement in the music.
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About Art League Houston
Art League Houston (ALH) is one of Houston's longest operating non-profit visual arts organizations and was the first alternative art space in Texas. Founded in 1948 and incorporated as a non-profit in 1953, ALH was created to promote the public appreciation of and interest in the visual arts. During the past 59 years, ALH has presented over 762 exhibitions, showcased the work of nearly 22,000 artists, and taught over 30,000 students at the Art League School.
The mission of Art League Houston is to cultivate awareness, appreciation and accessibility of contemporary visual art within the community for its cultural enrichment. Art League Houston provides an opportunity for almembers of the community to experience the contemprary visual arts. We achieve our omission through exhibition, education, and community outreach programs.
Art League Houston programming is made possible through the estate of William G. Daugherty, The Houston Endowment, Inc., City of Houston through the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County, Joan Hohlt & J. Roger Wich, Kevin & Laurie Foxx, John P. McGovern Foundation, Art Colony Association/ Bayou City Art Festivals, The American-Scandinavian Foundation, Drew Baird, Becker Family Foundation, the Ann Bengtson Memorial Fund, Norman & Kelly Bering, Jack & Annis Bowen Foundation, Brad & Leslie Bucher, Marv & Billie Chasen, Moriah & Rod Crosby, Darrell & Peggy Delahoussaye, Ray C. Fish Foundation, Hugh & Berthica Fitzsimons, Kat Gallagher, Alice C. Boyd Gano, Courtney Glasscock, Oliver & Nancy Goldesberry, Nick & Candice Goodwin, Rob Greenstein, James & Ann Harithas, International Bank of Commerce, Kinder Foundation, Susan Magnani Apple, Mark & Gretchen Mazziotti, McCoy Workplace Solutions, Betty Moody & Bill Steffy, National MS Society Lone Star Chapter, Mark Nitcholas, Don & Crystal Owens, Allan & Peggy Port, Royal Norwegian Consulate General, Mike Rudelson, Louisa Stude Sarofim, Fred & Wendy Schiller, Tahamia Spain, Steve & Susie Streller, Texas Art Supply, Texas Commission on the Arts, Top Drawer Lingerie, Jim & Beth Wiggins, our sponsors, members and volunteers. |
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Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston is a survivor-centered storytelling and documentation project which that has been training Katrina and Rita survivors to collect and record the stories of their fellow survivors. The project's goal is to voice, as intimately as possible, the experiences and reflections of those displaced to Houston by the two major hurricanes that pounded the Gulf Coast in August and September of 2005. The stories will ultimately be housed at The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and the University of Houston.
Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston: WHO WE ARE is funded by the Houston Endowment, Inc. the National Endowment for the Arts, the Houston Arts Alliance, and United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast.
Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston has been produced in partnership with the University of Houston, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, and the American Folklore Society. |
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| Art League Houston
1953 Montrose
Houston, Texas 77006
713-523-9530
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Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston
Contact: Pat Jasper
(512) 459-3495
Cell (512) 484-1180
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