Public Program

DiverseWorks is proud to partner with Common Field – the national network of experimental, independent, visual arts organizations and organizers – for its FREE Online Convening from April 23–May 3, 2020. Originally scheduled to take place in Houston in late April, the Convening has been reimagined to take place online in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Common Field Convening is a national, itinerant gathering where 500+ arts organizers share resources, ideas, and methods for artist-led, artist-run and artist-centered spaces, projects, and practices. DiverseWorks has worked closely alongside an extensive network of other Houston-based partners over the past year to shape its goals, program, and commissions.  A full program lineup, complete with registration information for each session, is available at CommonField.org. Registration for this year’s online Convening is open and free, and Common Field is committed to ensuring that its programs are accessible to and inclusive of all. All times listed are Central Daylight Time (CDT) to honor the original Convening site.  About the 2020 Common Field Convening Free online Convening programs explore progressive strategies for racial, economic and environmental justice in the arts, as well as stronger and more accessible infrastructures for community building and creative practice. Participants are […]

Join DiverseWorks staff and 2019 Project Freeway Fellows Matt Manalo and Willow Curry for an online info session about the 2020 Project Freeway Fellowship. Learn what this program is all about and how you too can propose a creative community project for your neighborhood. Matt and Willow will share their experiences as the inaugural Project Freeway Fellows, and DW Program Assistant Maya Nicole White and Executive Director Xandra Eden will provide answers to your questions about the program and the application process. Online Info Session  Thursday, May 21, 3 pm CT Click here to register (the Zoom meeting will also be live-streamed to Facebook, and made available for viewing after the event) 2020 Project Freeway Application Portal Deadline: Monday, June 1, 2020 Click here for guidelines and to apply The Project Freeway Fellowship Program provides support for Houston-area artists and creative individuals to create socially-engaged or community-based artistic practices within their own neighborhoods. The Project Freeway Fellowship was developed in response to the rapid growth and diversification of the city of Houston and DiverseWorks’ desire to support innovative artists’ projects that engage all Houstonians, especially in neighborhoods outside of the city center.

Join DiverseWorks for a live and online artist talk with exhibiting artists Yue Nakayama & Sara Dittrich. This event is free, registration is required for access to the Zoom event. The talk will also be live-streamed on DiverseWorks' Youtube channel. about the artists Yue Nakayama is a Houston-based artist and filmmaker. Screenings and exhibitions of her work have been held at Lawndale Art Center, Houston; Moonmist, Houston; Museum of Fine Arts Houston; ICA Philadelphia; and the Visual Arts Center – University of Texas Austin; among many other venues in the U.S. and abroad. Nakayama is the recipient of awards from the Arch and Anne Giles Kimbrough Fund – Dallas Museum of Art and Houston Arts Alliance Individual Artist Grant. Residencies she has been awarded include the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, the Core Program at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and The Lighthouse Works Fellowship. She holds a BFA from Denison University and MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. Sara Dittrich is an interdisciplinary sculpture artist based in Baltimore, Maryland. She creates introspective environments that spark empathy and connectedness through the use of musical performance, video, and interactive electronic technologies. Dittrich has exhibited her work at notable venues including the […]

Presented by Open Dance Project Register This interactive movement workshop, presented virtually and in-person, is for artists and non-artists alike - dancers, actors, musicians, writers, thinkers, and art appreciators of all kinds! Annie Arnoult, Artistic Director of Open Dance Project, will guide participants in developing ensemble movement, text, and physical narrative. Archival footage, journal entries, letters, weather maps, and environmental recordings will serve as inspiration and inform ODP’s new immersive dance theater performance All the Devils Are Here: A Tempest in the Galapagos (set to premiere in May 2021) and co-produced by DiverseWorks. Together, we will use guided composition exercises to explore our own sense of boundaries and borders, conflicting visions of Paradise, definitions of sexual and moral “rightness,” and colonial instincts, as they relate to a communal examination of basic human rights, social justice, and power structures. Due to mature themes, the workshop is for those 15 years of age and older. Participants should wear comfortable clothing and be prepared to move. This workshop is being offered virtually and in-person at Hunter Dance Center, simultaneously. Registration is limited to 25 participants (virtual) and 10 participants (in-person). In-person participants will be asked to sign a liability release form, wear a […]

REGISTER Amidst a global pandemic and a national reckoning with racism, mental health experts are expecting this year to have a devastating impact on communities of color. Disparities have been illuminated, and Black families are facing an increasing variety of challenges related to income, social injustice and access to quality health care. For this reason, The Black Man Project - filmmaker Brian Ellison, anthropologist Marlon Hall, and sculptor Anthony Suber - is hosting a global conversation focused on the Black male experience in contemporary society. The virtual event aims to reach 3,000 people from around the world to honor the importance of seeking mental health support. Attendees will be connected to Brian, Marlon, and Anthony for a virtual dinner and discussion hosted on the platform Civic Dinners which is designed to create powerful conversations that inspire positive social change. The Black Man Project - L to R: Marlon Hall, Brian Ellison, Anthony Suber. Photo: LeChell Rush Honorat unMASKulinity: A Virtual Salon - Third Ward Edition is made possible by the DiverseWorks Project Freeway Fellowship which provides support for Houston-area artists to create socially-engaged or community-based artistic practices within their own neighborhoods. Support for the Project Freeway Fellowship comes from the Texas Commission on the Arts, City of Houston through […]