Our heartfelt thanks to all of you for contributing
to the Once Upon the Door festival
(an offshoot of the Open the Door project)
presented by the Texan-French Alliance for the Arts and Little Wonders Learning Center
How you feel during or after an event speaks volumes for the way you evaluate this experience. I think you will all agree that we felt joy, creativity, freedom, imagination, playful and transported during our Once Upon A Door Festival this week-end. The positive energy was palpable and contagious throughout the three days, most of us bringing it back home to our families and friends who missed out on being there. None of it would have been possible without the thoughtful, committed help, trust and support we received from all of you, our sponsors, artists, friends, volunteers and staff.
The vision for Once Upon A Door was a year in the making before we finally realized it this week-end.
Karine Parker, Executive, artistic and Program director of the Texan-French Alliance for the Arts, and Marjon Aucoin, Art director at the Little Wonders School, conceived of this project after the kids from the Little Wonders School created their own miniature “Doors” that illustrated issues, beliefs or stories that had significant impact in their lives. Why not create an event that allowed the kids to show adults how to see through the eyes of a child again, and encourage adults to slow down and truly appreciate the beauty in their lives? When you push that “Pause” button, you allow yourself to listen, love, and pay attention. Then you can tap into your creativity to positively transform the world around you. Isn’t this worth doing more often? We found out that it certainly is and we have every intention of carrying this program into more communities, giving more people the opportunity to explore like a child again, enjoy a sense of “Letting Go”, a sense of abandon and pure joy and creativity. What we saw in our transformed space is a testament to this, and we all know that little ones always express an authentic truth.
Watch a video of Once Upon a Door
More videos and the official video of Once Upon A Door soon!
Our heartfelt thanks go to so many people:
Our two partner organizations, the Texan-French Alliance for the Arts and the Little Wonders and their staff and board members who supported Once Upon A Door including Marjon Aucoin, Karine Parker-Lemoyne, Hadia Mawlawi, Maryam Fatemizadeh Lumpkin, Mickey Henry, Sujiro Seam, Yvonamor Palix, Isabelle Kieffer, Chris Williams, Chris Brown, Geoffroy Petit, Jean-Francois Poupeau…
The sponsors and their leaders who believe in TFAA and support us: Air France, Axens, Eyeful Art, French Consulate in Houston, Gdf Suez, Liquitex, Maisons Marques et Domaines, Schlumberger, Technip, and Total.
The artists who joined the team and inspired us: Marjon Aucoin, Linda Befeld, Vonetta Berry, Luther Black, Sebastien Mr. D Boileau, Marie-Helene Chatelain, Chieko Cook, Kara Dale, Florence Decaester, Dorothee De Ribet, Justin de Vos, Malika Galleron, Paolina Gonzales, Ramdane Hamadi, Maxine Lennon, Hadia Mawlawi, Karine Parker, Sarah Perkins, Cicily Smith, Roy Schoppe, Anders Southerland, Dandee Warhol…
The organizations that partnered with us: Eyeful Art that gave us a home, Et Voila Theatre (the French Theater troupe in Houston, EFGH (Education Française Greater Houston),
The volunteers who contributed countless hours of their time to assist the kids, take photographs, sign our guests in, remind visitors to breathe and slow down, and most importantly, to have fun!
Lina Corinth, our volunteer coordinator, Lynda Amari, Nambawani Aradu, Margaret Ayot, Isabelle Bourgogne, Liza Carlos, Kara Dale, Florence Decaestecker, Roxana Garcia, Bessie Gillespie, Mika Gette, Blake Hutchins, German Ibanez, Ashley Jamison, Stephane Leveque, Sonia Lelarge, Mila, Floriane Manzano, Jahina Ntozake, Martina Nerrant, Dominique Nguyen, Jay Marroquin, Sarah Perkins, Alix Stafford, Meredith Ugarte, Alejandra Vento, Sophie Winter…
And the many, many kids, parents and individuals who came and responded so beautifully to our Open the Door and Once Upon A Door concept.
“Thank you for opening up my mind and passion again, I found myself in each of these children’s stories”
“This was amazing. You have a wonderful imagination, you inspired me to dream big”
“What a magical place for children and adults”
“Thank you for helping us play today”
“Very well done ! Good idea to make people interact with each other”
We look forward to continuing on this journey of opening new doors with you all. Stay tuned for our future events. We will be using this philosophy in a series of educational and art workshops including the ones in
collaboration with the Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH), schools in Houston and veterans in Texas. The project with TCH will culminate in a highly visible mural jointly produced by a team of educators, therapists, artists and patients at TCH.
Interested in supporting us to make a difference community-wise?
Contact us at info@texanfrenchalliance.org or donate at https://texanfrenchalliance.org/donate/ where your generosity will allow us to continue to improve the quality of life in communities of Texas and France.
We got here by imagining it first and encouraging a spirit of fearlessness and curiosity, but we ended up with so much more than we could have ever imagined: A network of like-minded, fearless adventurers who are helping us grow our “Open the Door” movement, one door at a time.
We all need to hit that “Pause” button and remember what is possible.
We need to stop hurrying so much. We need to be here. Now.
Once again many thanks to our sponsors and partners (2013-2015) for helping us impact our communities
and make a positive change in our countries!
SPONSORS
OUR ONCE UPON A DOOR PARTNERS
OUR OPEN THE DOOR PARTNERS
ArtBridge Houston, Altharetta Yeargin Art Museum, Art League Houston, The Academy of Choice, Avenue CDC/Go Neighborhoods, Awty International School, City ArtWorks, The City of Houston, Dialogue des Francophones, DiverseWorks, East Downtown Management District, Et Voila Theatre, Eyeful Art, Fotofest, The French Consulate of Houston, Friends of Emancipation Park, Glassel School of Art, Hermann Park Conservancy, Heights Association, High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, The Houston Parks and Recreation Department, Houston Public Library, Houston Storytellers Guild, Houston Sister Cities, Houston-Nice Sister City Association, Inprint, Little Wonders Learning Center, Lone Star College, Memorial Park Conservancy, Memorial City Mall, Meta-Four Houston, Neighborhood Centers Inc., Project Row Houses, Rice University, The Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers, Urban Souls, University of Houston, University of Houston-Downtown, Writers in the Schools, Virtuosi of Houston, Westchester Academy for International Studies, the Rothko Chapel, The Society of Performing Arts, Mercury – The Orchestra Redefined, Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre, Franco-American Vocal Academy, MFAH, Ars Lyrica, Museum of Printing History, Blaffer Art Museum, Aga Kahn Foundation, Houston Fine Art Fair, Carthage Construction, …