The Rose That Grew from the Concrete
Film Screening from AIR Starling Thomas
Doors Open: 6:30 PM
Program Begins: 7:00 PM
The evening will include:
• Film Screening (Black Butterflies – work in progress)
• Installation Preview (Born Captive)
• Artist Conversation & Community Dialogue
Space is limited. RSVP is required.
The Rose That Grew from the Concrete is an evening of film, installation, and conversation with filmmaker and artist in residence Starling Thomas, presented by The Anderson Center for the Arts. This special event invites the community to witness stories that systems have long tried to silence.
The evening will feature a 25-minute work-in-progress screening from her documentary Black Butterflies, a film exploring the lives of Black women navigating incarceration, survival, and transformation. Through personal storytelling and intimate reflection, the film reveals how systems of punishment shape the lives of women, mothers, and families.
Guests will also be introduced to Born Captive, an immersive art installation examining the history and ongoing reality of women giving birth while incarcerated. As part of the preview, attendees will experience elements from the installation—including visual storytelling, symbolic objects, and sound, designed to invite reflection on motherhood, resilience, and the body under surveillance.
Following the screening, Starling Thomas will host a conversation with justice-impacted storytellers and community voices, exploring the intersection of incarceration, motherhood, and healing through art.
This evening is both a preview of work in progress and a gathering for the community, an opportunity to witness powerful stories, engage in dialogue, and honor the resilience of women whose voices continue to bloom despite the concrete.
Houston Holy Weekend
HOUSTON HOLY WEEKEND 2026
Theme: The Art of Suffering
April 3rd–4th • Easter Weekend
The Art of Suffering is a two-day creative and spiritual experience designed to teach that we do not suffer alone—we suffer with Christ. The Christian walk is not without struggle, but there is a holy, purposeful way to endure suffering well. This weekend explores how God transforms pressure into purpose, pain into testimony, and suffering into sacred art.
DAY ONE — Friday, April 3rd
VSZN Film Screening + Kingdom Networking + Panel + Soundtrack Release
We open the weekend with the premiere of VSZN, a powerful story about a young woman who receives a vision from God. He shows her the end, but not the middle—and everything she experiences looks nothing like what she saw. Her journey exposes the tension between calling and process, obedience and confusion, and the faith it takes to trust God when your life doesn’t look like the vision.
Night One features:
• VSZN Film Screening
• Kingdom Networking with Christian creatives & leaders
• Panel Discussion unpacking calling, suffering, purpose, and faith
• Soundtrack Release featuring The Art of Suffering album and music recorded with GNF artists
It’s a space for believers, creatives, and storytellers to gather, connect, and explore the beauty and burden of divine calling.
DAY TWO — Saturday, April 4th
Paint & Praise Experience + Live Christian R&B + Spoken Word + Painting Workshop
The second day brings a vibrant, hands-on creative worship encounter designed to showcase suffering as a form of art and worship.
Day Two includes:
• Paint n’ Praise Workshop — a guided painting experience expressing themes of suffering, hope, and resurrection
• Live Christian R&B — soul-stirring music that blends worship and artistry
• Spoken Word & Poetry highlighting endurance, faith, and healing
• Community Gathering & Food
This session demonstrates that even in hardship, God invites us to create, express, and heal.
Why “The Art of Suffering”?
Because suffering is not a detour in the Christian life—it is discipleship.
We suffer with Christ, and we learn to suffer well through Him.
This weekend will help attendees understand:
• What it means to endure hardship with hope
• How God shapes identity and destiny through trials
• How creativity becomes a tool for healing, expression, and worship
• Why resurrection power always follows a cross
The Art of Suffering is not about pain for pain’s sake—it’s about discovering God’s glory in the middle of the process.
Intermediate Contemporary Dance Workshop
Presented by
The Kingdom Creatives
in collaboration with
Enhaus Contemporary Dance Theater
Join us for an energizing and skill-building intermediate contemporary dance workshop designed for dancers ready to deepen their technique and expand their performance quality.
This session will focus on refining jazz and ballet foundations, developing movement dynamics, and strengthening theatrical performance skills through guided drills and creative exploration.
Participants will engage in a structured yet expressive environment that encourages artistic growth, technical precision, and confident stage presence.
Workshop Focus Includes:
• Jazz & Ballet Technique
• Movement Quality & Dynamics
• Theater Performance Drills
Date & Time: April 4 at 10:00 AM
Cost: $15 per participant
Registration: To reserve your spot, please email info.alaysiabriana@gmail.com
About the Instructor
Alaysia Newhouse is a Houston-based choreographer, producer, and creative director with more than 13 years of training in hip hop, jazz, and contemporary dance. She has performed alongside artists including Tobe Nwigwe, Pleasure P, CeCe Peniston, and Christian hip hop artist Anike. Her training with renowned choreographers such as Kiki Ely, Galen Hooks, and Jeremy Green has shaped her distinctive performance quality and leadership in the field.
Now focused on producing her own faith-inspired works, Alaysia’s practice blends contemporary dance theater with themes of spirituality, storytelling, and creative expression.
A.I.R. Open Studios
Open Studios are back 🎨
Join us Saturday, April 11 from 11AM–1PM for an open studio experience with our current Artists in Residence.
Meet the artists, see works in progress, and get a behind-the-scenes look at what’s being created inside the Anderson Center for the Arts.
Free and open to the community.
Roots & Routes Exhibition
Roots & Routes: A Visual Exploration of Black Southern Legacy
A group exhibition on view April 24–May 31, 2026. Curated by Allison Retina Stewart-Creeks, the exhibition brings together Ayo Scott, Jordan Lumpkins, Kevin B. Jones, and Felicita “Felli” Maynard in a meditation on memory, migration, and the enduring pulse of Black cultural life in the American South.
Drawing from the traditions of New Orleans and the broader American South, Roots & Routes asks a simple but enduring question: What does where you’ve been say about where you’re going? Across painting, photography, craft, and storytelling, the featured artists explore how heritage travels through people, neighborhoods, and generations—reminding us that culture is not something we inherit fully formed, but something we shape, remix, protect, and pass forward.
About the Exhibition
At the center of the exhibition is the work of Ayo Scott, whose canvases hum with motion. Figures blur, drip, and vibrate with color, echoing the rhythms of second lines, masking traditions, and everyday street rituals that define New Orleans’ cultural identity. Scott’s work flows through the main halls and foyer as a visual through-line, creating a sense of movement throughout the building. In the foyer gift shop gallery, Scott transforms the space into a working maker environment inspired by his father, the renowned artist John T. Scott—featuring works made from stretched denim, embroidered fabric, aluminum castings, and handmade paper.
Photographer and poet Kevin B. Jones contributes photographic and poetic works that serve as moments of reflection—exploring how language, image, and memory shape identity. Jordan Lumpkins and Felicita “Felli” Maynard extend the dialogue through storytelling and process-based practice in the film room, inviting visitors to consider how personal histories and material traditions become pathways to understanding cultural identity. Together, these four artists form something like a gumbo: distinct ingredients, inseparable result.
Good Company: An Intimate Cultural Dinner & Exhibition Experience
If you love art, good food, meaningful music, and thoughtful conversation; this evening was created for you!
Good Company is a cultural dinner and exhibition series designed to bring people together in a refined, intimate setting where art is not only viewed, but experienced. Each gathering centers a contemporary artist whose work explores memory, place, and legacy, paired with a thoughtfully curated culinary experience and live cultural elements that extend the themes of the exhibition into shared community space.
This inaugural edition of the series features Roots & Routes, a visual exploration of Black Southern legacy by featured artist Ayo Scott. Through layered storytelling rooted in memory, migration, and generational experience, Scott’s work reflects the cultural rhythms and lived histories that shape the American South.
This immersive evening includes:
• A private viewing of the Roots & Routes exhibition
• Live jazz elements woven throughout the experience
• A chef-curated Southern gourmet dinner by Chef Haelee Taylor Bibbs
• Guided conversation and connection among collectors, creatives, and community leaders
With intentionally limited seating and two curated dinner experiences at 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM, Good Company is designed to feel personal, meaningful, and unforgettable.
Because the right art, the right table, and the right people can transform an evening into something lasting.
Apollo HTX Auditions
The Stage Is Set. The Lights Are On. The Talent Is NEXT LEVEL.
Welcome to Apollo HTX! Where raw talent meets real opportunity.
From powerful musical performances to unforgettable dance moments, this is more than a show… it’s a movement. A platform. A celebration of culture, creativity, and community.
If you’ve got the gift, this is the stage.
If you love great talent, this is the event.
Houston, are you ready?
Click to Register: https://forms.gle/vbjhweYkMHP1jcJv7
Through Their Eyes: Stories of Family, Separation, and Resilience
The evening features filmmaker and advocate Autumn Mason, alongside a screening of Black Butterflies by Artist-in-Residence Starling Thomas. Together, these films explore family separation, motherhood, resilience, and healing.
A.I.R Open Studios
Get a behind-the-scenes look at what’s being created at the Anderson Center for the Arts. During Open Studios, visitors are invited to meet our Artists in Residence, tour their studios, and experience works in progress in an intimate, welcoming setting.
HOMEcoming: The Fire We Inherit Exhibition
This February, we invite you to gather with us for Homecoming: The Fire We Inherit, a powerful, immersive group exhibition featuring works by Former Artists In Residence: Wyn X’ion, Will North, Randy Wrosiv Palmer, and Melissa Aytenfisu.
Exploring memory, lineage, and the emotional architecture of home, the exhibition brings together portraiture, abstraction, fashion, and object-based works to reflect on what we inherit, what we preserve, and what we carry forward. Through intimate, lived-in spaces and multi-disciplinary storytelling, Homecoming offers a return—to self, to ancestry, and to belonging.
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 5 | 6 – 9PM
Exhibition Dates: February 1st – 28th
Gospel Comedy Entertainment Presents Saved & Silly Comedy Show
Kick off the new year with an evening designed to uplift and entertain. This live stand-up comedy experience features some of the best clean comedians in the industry, delivering laugh-out-loud moments that everyone can enjoy. Whether you’re planning a date night, a girls’ night out, or attending with your church family—Pastors, Senior Saints, usher boards, and all—this is a show built for community and connection through laughter.
Evening of Elegance 2025
Evening of Elegance, a magical evening that immerses guests in a dazzling holiday showcase of music, sights, and sounds. This year’s theme, “A Few of My Favorite Things,” is ACA’s love letter to the East Side in song- moving seamlessly from Gospel to Jazz, Classical to Choral, and R&B, as we celebrate the beauty and spirit of Christmas.
ACA X AfroTech:
A soul-infused Thursday evening mixer at Lawndale Art Center featuring live jazz, light bites, and local art — setting a warm, collaborative tone for AfroTech week. Attendees will mingle, engage, and connect with creatives and technologists across futures, design, and culture in a vibrant, interactive setting.
Curated by Allison Retina Stewart (Artistic Director, Anderson Center for the Arts), the evening blends conversation, film, and mindful moments to cultivate culturally intelligent dialogue and empower Black creatives, entrepreneurs, and community leaders.
Carla Sue Jazz & Journaling Workshop
Join us September 27 | 10AM–1PM and immerse yourself in a journaling & creative expression workshop led by @carlasuehtx , complete with curated prompts, live jazz, and your own custom journal to take home.
And while you’re here, come visit our Artists-in-Residence Open Studios: meet the artists, ask questions, and experience their work up close and personal.
Meet The Artists: AIR Open Studios
At the Anderson Center for the Arts, Open Studios invite the community to step inside the creative spaces of our resident artists. Guests have the opportunity to see works in progress, learn about the artistic process, and engage in meaningful conversations with the artists who shape our cultural landscape.
These events highlight the Center’s mission to connect people through creativity—bridging the gap between artists and audiences while fostering greater understanding of the role the arts play in community life. By opening the doors of the studio, we welcome neighbors, friends, and visitors to experience art not just as a finished product, but as a living process that inspires dialogue, reflection, and connection. See you there!
Labor Day Block Party
We’re shutting it DOWN this Labor Day Weekend with our Labor Day Block Party & Open Artists Studios at the Anderson Center for the Arts!
Join us Saturday, August 30 from 10AM–2PM for a jam-packed day of:
Art Exhibitions
Hands-on Workshops
Film Screenings
Food Trucks
Giveaways
…and so much more!
Bring your people and come ready to celebrate Black creativity, community, and culture.
13334 Wallisville Rd, Houston, TX 77049
More exciting details coming soon. Stay tuned!
FIYAH Show Live
Experience the FIYAH Show LIVE — a vibrant live recording packed with truth, laughter, and inspiration! Be part of our studio audience and witness the energy that’s igniting hearts everywhere. 🎤
Join us for a memorable session of heartfelt conversations, surprise guests, and high-energy moments—and you could be part of the live audience that makes it all come together.
The Rise of the Storyteller Conference
The Rise of the Filmmaker Conference is the ultimate immersive event for aspiring filmmakers, actors, screenwriters, producers and all creatives! The conference will also include private workshops where you will get one on one insight with our workshop coaches, 4 SHORT FILMS including a TYLER PERRY STUDIOS FILM SPOTLIGHT SHORT FILM followed by Talk Backs + Q/A. Don't miss our NETWORKING MIXER powered by MPAC, access to our VENDORS & FOOD TRUCKS and a movie wouldn't be fun without DRINKS & CONCESSIONS. BAR FOR THE 21+ CROWD!
Join us on Sat July 12th, 2025 at 13334 Wallisville Road, Houston, Tx 77049 for a day filled with creativity and inspiration. Doors open at 11:30 am!
Live Reading of New Play, "Revival," with award winning playwright Viktor Le Givens
Join us for an evening of theater and dialogue as artist Viktor le. Givens hosts an intimate table reading of his ancestral ethnographic stage production Revival. More than entertainment theater - Revival is written with intentions of stirring inquiry and engagement from the audience on topics pertaining to heirs property, legacy keeping and succession plans subject areas greatly impacting African American preservation practices. The work wi l be aimed at engaging its audience in what author Toni Morrison coins as “rememories.” Morrison defines rememory as the act of remembering a memory and the continued presence of that which has disappeared or been forgotten. Revival is rooted in Givens' extensive ethnographic and folkloric research over the past decade both in the American South and among multiple nodes of the Black Atlantic. It is born from an extended archival excavation project investigating the material culture and folk customs of the artist's own ancestors and his ancestral lands in rural East Texas.
SENSATIONAL SUMMERS SUMMER CAMP
Our Visual & Performing Arts Summer Camps continue the Anderson Center's proud tradition of providing young people with an opportunity to discover their creativity in a nurturing environment that encourages self-expression and connection.
Under the guidance of professional teaching artists, campers will explore singing, acting, movement, costume creation, visual storytelling, and set design — while building lifelong friendships and unforgettable memories.
Students will not only rehearse scenes and songs from Broadway shows, but also create original visual art, improvise new characters, and explore the joy of performing together.
The camp will culminate in a Glow Up Broadway Showcase, featuring a vibrant mix of musical numbers, short skits, movement pieces, and student-designed visual displays.
MORE DETAILS TO BE CONFIRMED SOON!
HARRIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF ELECTIONS
ACA IS PROUD TO PARTNER WITH HARRIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF ELECTIONS FOR ELECTION DAY VOTING!
MOMMY & ME MOTHER'S DAY PHOTOSHOOT FUNDRAISER (second session)
THE AMAZING DARNALD JR PHOTOGRAGHY WILL BE HOSTING A MOTHERS DAY PHOTOSHOOT FUNDRAISER BENEFITTING ANDERSON CENTER FOR THE ARTS!
CHOOSE FROM 3 INCREDIBLE PACKAGES!
BOOK YOUR MOTHER'S DAY PHOTOS WITH HIM TODAY!
MOMMY & ME MOTHER'S DAY PHOTOSHOOT FUNDRAISER
THE AMAZING DARNALD JR PHOTOGRAGHY WILL BE HOSTING A MOTHERS DAY PHOTOSHOOT FUNDRAISER BENEFITTING ANDERSON CENTER FOR THE ARTS!
CHOOSE FROM 3 INCREDIBLE PACKAGES!
BOOK YOUR MOTHER'S DAY PHOTOS WITH HIM TODAY!
WOODFOREST CIA EASTER EGG HUNT ON THE NORTH LAWN
ANNUAL WOODFOREST CIA EASTER EGGSTRAVAGANZA
The Free Black Women's Library Presents: Convos w/ Ashley Featuring Olaronke Akinmowo
Convos with Ashley are in-person discussions led by Ashley Hoskins, Creative Director of The Free Black Women’s Library HTX and Anderson Center For The Arts Artist In Resident. They feature three phenomenal women who have contributed to the canon of Black women's literary expression by archiving books and/or writing. These events will be held at the Anderson Center for the Arts during February, March, and April 2025. They are free to attend with registration. Following the conversations, there will be a social hour so that attendees can engage with the featured guests.
“I’m Gonna Sing”
Join us for the HBCU Arts™ 'I'm Gonna Sing!' Spring Concert 2025, a celebration of artistic brilliance from Texas Southern University and Prarieview A&M University. Experience a showcase of exceptional vocal talent.