TFAA’s Fall Programming

Partnerships Launching in 2014 – Happening in 2015

Virtuosi of Houston/Conservatoire de Paris Exchange

 

In March of 2015, the Virtuosi of Houston, a Houston-based, non-profit organization that provides semi-professional performance opportunities for youth musicians, will travel to Paris to rehearse and perform with students at the Conservatorie de Paris, the premiere youth music school in France. This exchange will provide an unforgettable cultural experience, as students will stay with French families and tour Paris, as well as an invaluable educational experience: Students will rehearse in the French style, rehearsals that will culminate in a performance at one of Paris’s most famed venues. Stay tuned, if you want to support this amazing project.

The Children Hospital Workshops and Mural

TFAA is proud to partner with the Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston and the Fondation Lenval in Nice, to create therapeutic creative workshops for patients, the fruits of which will inspire a mural created by respected Houston graffiti artists. These workshops will provide stress relief as well as teach the patients how to use creativity to problem-solve and as a constructive emotional outlet.

TFAA Goes to Summer Camp

This week the Texan-French Alliance for the Arts (TFAA) team had the amazing opportunity to volunteer at the AIDS Foundation Houston’s Camp Hope, a summer camp for children who are HIV-positive, hosted at the Camp For All campus. Seeing the children in this joyous environment, playing without care, was a profound experience. Although we were there to teach them arts and crafts activities, we found ourselves learning from their strength and courageous attitude. We worked together with them to create precious keepsakes of the camp experience, treating them to traditional French crepes with jam at the end of the day.

To see children who are not only seriously ill, but ill with a tremendously stigmatized disease, playing, being sassy, running, jumping, and forgetting their worries gave us faith in the strength of the human spirit. Sharing with them the idea that there are no mistakes in art, and that a “mistake” only creates a new opportunity to explore was an amazing chance for us to inspire them as they inspired us. We feel incredibly grateful to the generous staff and volunteers of AIDS Foundation Houston, Camp Hope, Camp For All and the campers for allowing us to share our love and teach them how to express love through art and creativity.

A purse made from trash bags and duct tape, decorated by a camper, and the TFAA team.purseDSCN0716

French Circus to Perform at Discovery Green

Barolosolo Cirkus Company from Carcasonne will perform July 3 and 4 at Discovery Green with Houston’s own Cirque La Vie and FrenetiCore Dance Company. Barolosolo will perform their show “ile O” for the first time in Texas, a mix of comic physical theater, aquatic poetry, and music. The event is free, and attendees are encouraged to bring their own blankets, lawn chairs, pets, and picnics.

The event is from 7-10 p.m. The schedule is as follows:

7 p.m. FrenetiCore Dance Company

7:40 p.m. Barolosolo’s performance of ”ile O”

8:30 p.m. Cirque La Vie

9:30 p.m. Barolosolo’s performance of “ile O”

More information can be found here.

Meet the Dallas/Dijon Chapter of the Texan-French Alliance for the Arts

On June 17th, the Texan-French Alliance for the Arts would like to introduce you to the leaders of its new Dallas/Dijon chapters and to meet French artist/photographer Sebastien Godret. Hailing from Dijon originally, Godret will be in Dallas to shoot footage for his upcoming project, a series on American cities called La Ville Américaine.
Tuesday June 17th, 2014
5:00 to 7:00PM
CentralTRAK Artist Residency
800 Exposition Boulevard Dallas, TX 75248
RSVP: Pierrette Lacour
pierrette@utdallas.edu

Feature of the Month: The Biggest Mural in Houston, Preservons la Creation

FBchronadAt over 8,000 square feet of surface area, Preservons la Creation (Let’s Preserve Creation) is the largest mural produced in the history of the metro area of Houston. This work of art carries with it a mission of public art awareness and community centered art projects that connect the business and creative sectors. A portion of the proceeds from the project will benefit a children’s hospital mural project, which will begin production in Houston and in France in 2014-2015. Texan-French Alliance for the Arts (TFAA) joined with Sebastien “Mr. D” to bring to life a conversation about the importance of street art, and other urban art forms, to the culture of a city, and to have and preserve creativity in daily life. In doing so, we act on one of the main principles of TFAA, which is cognizance of the link between art, society, and the human condition – with all its trials and triumphs.

Keeping this point in mind, we see Preservons la Creation as a stepping stone to our upcoming mural project, collaboration between TFAA, Sebastien “Mr. D” Boileau, and children’s hospitals in Houston and France, with the participation of Foundation Lenval. The program, which will last several months, will comprise of therapeutic artistic programs for the children and a mural to celebrate the creations they make. Our hope is that the project will boost the children’s moral, allow them the opportunity to experience and learn about new cultures, and empower them with the knowledge of their creative capabilities.

If you want to support these projects, you can donate through Power2Give, where every dollar will be matched by 50 cents thanks to the generosity of the Houston Alliance for the Arts. To celebrate the opening, we are having a festival June 7. Tickets can be brought here.

Open the Door Documentary Screening

A screening of the Open the Door Documentary was held May 22nd in Paris. The documentary examines the installation process and effects of the Texan-French Alliance for the Art’s Open the Door project, which installed doors painted by Texan and French artists in public spaces across Houston.