Houston Arts Partners to Host Inaugural ARTS ALL AROUND Festival This Fall

On Saturday October 21, 2017, Houston Arts Partners (HAP) will host the inaugural free Arts All Around Festival in partnership with Talento Bilingüe de Houston from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The Arts All Around Festival is the newest component of the annual HAP Conference and will welcome participants of all ages with opportunities to experience the transformative power of creativity as artists and audience members, completely free of charge. Mayor Sylvester Turner will attend and give remarks.

The event will take place at Talento Bilingüe de Houston Cultural Arts & Education Center, 333 S. Jensen Drive, Houston, TX 77003. For more information on the HAP Conference and the Arts All Around Festival, visit www.HAPConference.org.

The Arts All Around Festival will host 25 arts organizations, individual artists, and school performing groups presenting performances and hands-on artsactivities for families. Groups scheduled to participate include Baby Sonic Boom from the Rhodes School of Performing Arts, Dance of Asian America, FotoFest International, Express Children's Theatre, Houston Grand Opera's Storybook Opera, Gregory Lincoln Education Center's dance and musical theatre program, Main Street Theater, the Ortiz Middle School Drum Line, Sonkiss'd Dance Theater, Talento Bilingüe's EducaTeatro, and more! Attendees will receive a map to local events and evening activities, as well as an upcoming family schedule for Houston visitors and tourists made publicly available for free.

The event is supported by HAP leaders, well known for the annual conference they have put on since 2011. The HAP collaboration was created in 2009 in response to a specific request from Houston-area education administrators for a more efficient and effective method to access arts and educational resources in the region. Today, the HAP Conference hosts over 1,000 attendees from across the state annually, with direct membership and instructional sessions from 51 regional school districts and numerous Houston-based artists and arts organizations. Both the HAP Conference and the Arts AllAround Festival were previously scheduled for September 2017 but were postponed due to the effects of Hurricane Harvey on Houston and surrounding areas. Additional Houston Arts Partners events for educators will take place on Nov. 4, 2017, and Jan. 27 and Feb. 19, 2018.

This year's theme for HAP events is "Better Together: Building Community Through the Arts." The Arts All Around Festival will extend these resources and opportunities beyond the school system to reach families, children, artsorganizations, and individual artists directly.

Houston's Mayor, Sylvester Turner, has been crucial to our region's recovery efforts following Hurricane Harvey. As a crucial supporter of arts and culture and education, Mayor Turner will join festival attendees to celebrate both! Visitors will experience hands-on activities, performances by local school groups and professional arts organizations. This event is free and open to everyone and provides a time for us to begin to heal and celebrate our region and the families and community we all serve.

"Access to the arts," Mayor Sylvester Turner writes, "will help to provide our students with greater resources and information that promotes creative learning, critical thinking, and collaboration, drawing on the power of the artsto inspire and equip ALL of Houston's children to become life-long learners and the creative global citizens of tomorrow."

While talking about the Arts All Around Festival, HAP Co-chair Jonathan Gonzalez said, "When we chose the HAP Conference theme 'Better Together', we knew we needed to expand the event to include kids and families. This festival allow Houstonians of all ages and backgrounds to explore and create with the guidance and expertise of our exceptional community of artists."

Arts Organization Partners: A.D. Players Theater, AFA, Alley Theatre, Apollo Chamber Players, Art League Houston, Artist Boat, Asia Society Texas Center, Aurora Picture Show, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, DA CAMERA chamber music & jazz, The Ensemble Theatre, Fotofest International, The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Holocaust Museum Houston, House of Blues Music Forward Foundation, Houston Ballet, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston Grand Opera, Houston Symphony, Houston Youth Symphony, iWrite, Main Street Theater, MECA, Mercury, METdance Center and Company, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Musiqa, Society for the Performing Arts, The Texan French Alliance for the Arts, Theatre Under the Stars, Writers in the Schools, Young Audiences of Houston.

District Partners: Aldine ISD, Alief ISD, Alvin ISD, Beaumont ISD, Brazosport ISD, Clear Creek ISD, Conroe ISD, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, Deer Park ISD, Fort Bend ISD, Galena Park ISD, Houston ISD, Humble ISD, Katy ISD, Klein ISD, LaPorte ISD, Lamar Consolidated ISD, New Caney ISD, Pasadena ISD, Spring Branch ISD, Spring ISD, Tomball ISD.

Higher Education Partners: The Glassell School of Art, Lone Star College- Tomball, SAN JACINTO College, Sam Houston State University, Texas Southern University, University of Houston.

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