In our very structured world, wouldn’t it be great to create a life that is filled with more creativity and wonder, a life that resembles who we really are? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see the world through the eyes of a kid again? Once Upon A Door is a festival that will create a sensory environment where children and adults can explore their creativity using art to transform their perception of the world around them. Led by kids through music, visual imagery, theatre, video, lights games and creative doors, you will discover a sensory 360-degree environment highlighting art and the bridges it builds between us. Join us on this creative adventure on Saturday, February 28 and Sunday, March 1! You can now Sign Up for Once Upon A Door… But Shhh!!…. the location, situated in a midtown artist studio, is a secret, to be revealed soon. FREE for ALL ages.
More about Once Upon A Door…
In 2013, Karine Parker-Lemoyne, TFAA’s Program Director developed and curated the bi-cultural citywide public art project called Open the Door. French and Texan artists, students, community, cultural and educational leaders had the opportunity to work together to create artworks that were displayed in over 19 locations around Houston’s diverse neighborhoods.
The same year, Open the Door inspired Marjon Aucoin, the art professor of a local school, Little Wonders, to create educational programs based on the metaphor of opening a door. This themed art project helped these children to cope with and reflect on their own personal life challenges. When Karine Parker-Lemoyne, the program director of the Texan-French Alliance heard about the project, she decided to visit with Marjon and her school. It inspired her to continue the educational momentum of what was originally an urban revitalization project, THE OPEN THE DOOR PROJECT. Karine and Marjon, conceived of Once Upon a Door, a festival that will create a sensory environment where children and adults can explore their creativity and power to innovate by using art to transform the world around them. They have invited established French and Texan organizations and artists to join the team: Malika Barriquault and Marie-Helene Chatelain d’Et Voila Theatre , Education Francaise Greater Houston, Sebastien Boileau, Vonetta Barry, Maxine Lennon, Linda Befeld, Justin De Vos, Dorothee de Ribet, Florence Decaestecker…. and many more to be announced.
For the first phase, Once Upon a Door will run from March 1st 2015 to December 2015, and will consist of a number of events (educational and art workshops, a festival, and a prominent mural to be located on a Texas Children’s Hospital publicly exposed exterior wall). The program will create a sensory environment where children along with adults can explore their creativity and ability to innovate by using art to break down barriers and open avenues to greater tolerance, understanding and empowerment.
Through a series of workshops, in collaboration with the Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH), the project will culminate in a highly visible mural jointly produced by a team of educators, therapists, artists and patients at TCH. Concurrently, a French children’s hospital, Fondation Lenval, located in Nice, France, Houston’s sister city will participate in the project here in Houston. Patients in both institutions will communicate via skype to share their experiences in a cross-cultural exchange that will enable them to comprehend what it means to be part of a community beyond the walls of their room.
Once Upon a Door will encourage attendees to use art as a sensory language to express themselves and encourage participants to find creative solutions to their lives’ daily challenges.
In addition to the launching event, scheduled to take place on February28-March1st 2015, Once Upon a Door will have educational and art workshops at the Texas Children’s Hospital, Camp for All in Brenham and other venues.
Once Upon a Door is partly based on the belief that creativity and innovation are important skills that can be applied in our everyday life and allow us to connect more authentically as a community regardless of socio-economics, race or religion. Considering their ubiquitous importance, the Texan-French Alliance believes Once Upon a Door is a vital project because it will develop skills that will allow the explorers to realize their underlying creative abilities and how to apply them to their full potential. Once Upon a Door will provide a safe and stimulating environment that will encourage explorers to express themselves (including through storytelling, drama, visuals arts, music, and technology…) to interact with others, to engage with the world around them, and to appreciate the infinite possibilities available to them in their lives.
Once Upon a Door will extend the idea, first conceived in Open the Door, that every new experience we encounter can be represented by the image of a door, leading us across the threshold to discover new opportunities for growth and renewal. And what better way to see this come full circle than in the mural project at the Texas Children Hospital: A true grand finale that will showcase the works of patients from a variety of cultures, finely tuned by two meticulous professional local artists, Sebastien Boileau (founder of Eyeful Art), Marjon Aucoin (Art director at the Little Wonders School) as well as Karine Parker-Lemoyne (Open the Door curator and Texan-French Alliance for the Arts Executive and Program director).
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