Spotlight: Vox Technical Specialist!

Introducing Alex Chao, Vox Culture's Technical Specialist! Alex is the one who Vox turns to in order to ensure all event necessities and equipment work properly and that everything runs smoothly... he is also our version of Iron Man :). Be sure to say hi when you see him at upcoming events!

I am best known for being that guy that lifts heavy things. I'm also the guy who makes sure everything works. I have 11 years of experience with live sound mixing. I don't admit this too much, but I am extremely bothered if a sound system is too soft and the people in the back can't hear (ever been at one of those tables at a wedding reception?). Other than that, I am someone who wants to know your story. It doesn't matter who you are, I love sharing stories. It's amazing how much we differ yet have so much in common.

What is your favorite ice cream? Mint Chocolate Chip... I can't explain why I love it so much - it's like eating delicious toothpaste.

What is your favorite musical instrument and what do you like about it the most? My favorite musical instrument is the bass guitar. I've been playing it for over a decade now. My favorite analogy goes like this: a band is like a car, the drums are the engine and the bass is the wheels. You can't go anywhere without the wheels. Just imagine Jackson 5's song "I want you back" without the bass.... *shudder*.

What is one inspiring thing that you find about Houston? The most inspiring thing I find about Houston is this city's resiliency. I'm not talking about economics or politics, I'm talking about our sports teams. We have a team in each of the big three sports (basketball, baseball, and football) and haven't had a championship in 20 years. Yet, the younger the generation, the more loyal I find our fans (I'd love to get a petition going to ban all Dallas sports teams names from being spoken on local radio and news channels). I believe in all of our sports teams (even if they're in last place).   

Spotlight: Vox Events Specialist!

Introducing Pamela Morrison, Vox Culture's Events Specialist! As we seek to continue to provide high quality events, Pamela will be contributing her amazing skills in assisting with the strategy and organization of Vox events. Find out soon about the upcoming events at Vox and keep up with all the ways in which you can help design and participate in creating our events via Pamela!

I moved to Houston in 2001 from the Bay Area in California. I worked in corporate real estate so I could pay for my undergrad at U of H and law school at South Texas. Deciding to take a different route from becoming an attorney, I started my own crafting/art business called La Ubertina Crafts and support my art habit by working with my family business in commercial janitorial/maintenance/construction. I love making things and am always coming up with ideas for how to integrate art and life in almost everything I do. I believe that the world is a canvas of inspiration and this keeps me moving forward for following my passion. 

What is your favorite ice cream? Cherry Garcia by Ben & Jerry's.

What do you love the most about art? My art is my passion and everything I create is a piece of me. I hope to get my artwork, mostly Day of the Dead inspired (Dia de los Muertos), to many people's eyes and hearts so they may see the beauty in celebrating life after death and just the opposite. Life is like art in that it keeps reinventing itself with different colors, lines, applications, mediums, inspirations, doubts, fears, starting over and a huge bag of uncertainty. This is when we create our biggest masterpiece.

How do you see art inspiring Houston? Houston has become much more tolerant and acceptive of urban and renegade art. Though fine art is still very alive and known in Houston, I feel a shift in the type of art that is being accepted as "great and inspiring". From graffiti street art to installation pieces throughout the city, artists are being inspired to take social issues and share them with the city through their art form. The beautiful thing is that the city is embracing it and taking awareness of the social issue and working towards creating their own type of awareness within the smaller communities. When I moved here in 2001 there weren't very many street murals. I see a large growing trend to turn old buildings into beautiful, colorful, and inspiring pieces of art.

What are your thoughts on the art scene in Houston? The Houston art scene is about artists and not so much how much about how much their art sells for. There is a growing appreciation for their techniques, visions and stories. This is the type of art which inspired me to become the renegade artist in the sense that it's a mixed up version of blurring the lines we are meant to color in and sending a message that touches many different types of people.

November Newsletter: Thanksgiving Edition

a. Focus on Causes for 2014 
b. Special Thanks to our 2013 Benefactor Organizations/Partners!
c. Thank you to Core Team and Artists!
d. Join the Core Team!

On this Thanksgiving, we would like to give a special thanks to all the organizations/partners who we worked with as well as our Core Team and Artists who helped make this year truly special!   
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a. FOCUS ON CAUSES FOR 2014
As of 2014, Vox Culture will be moving from a trimester format to a semester format... this means that instead of focusing on three causes per year, we will be focusing on two instead. The reason for this shift is to allow Vox Culture to go into greater depth on the causes around poverty and injustice that we focus on. This is also being done to allow more time to educate both our Core Team/Volunteers and you, our audience, about how different causes are in fact correlated and impact each other, discuss why they matter, and come up with more creative ways of addressing them while using art as a tool. Having said this, we reveal to you the causes we will focus on for 2014:

• Domestic Violence (February 2014-May 2014) 
• Educational Injustice (August 2014-November 2014)

More details will emerge in the coming month. While the winter period (December-January) will be used for internal Core Team purposes, the summer period (June-July) will be used as an educational period for Core Team, artists, regular volunteers, and the general public who are willing to come express their thoughts on both issues being covered throughout the specific year. It will allow for a moment for all of us in the Houston community to come together in a town hall type setting and learn more about the issues that are affecting the city and the world, how they are related, and talk about what creative solutions we could use as a community to address them. Exciting things are happening at Vox, so keep your eyes out for these changes!

b. SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR 2013 BENEFACTOR ORGANIZATIONS/PARTNERS!
2013 has been a significant year for Vox Culture, so we would like to take the moment and thank all of our partners and the organizations that we have worked with together over this past year!

Organizations:

• Directions of Recovery (Drugs & Alcohol Stories Trimester) 
• The Council on Alcohol and Drugs - Houston (Drugs & Alcohol Stories Trimester)
• ​Malawians in Texas Organization (Hunger Stories Trimester)
• SEARCH Homeless Services (Hunger Stories Trimester)
• Urban Harvest (Hunger Stories Trimester)
• Houston Food Bank (Hunger Stories Trimester)
• Houston Arts Alliance (Immigration Stories Trimester)

Partners:

• Houston Food Park (Drugs & Alcohol Stories Trimester)
• Bernie's Burger Bus Food Truck (Drugs & Alcohol Stories Trimester)
• Tamalito's Cafe Food Truck (Drugs & Alcohol Stories Trimester)
• Mom & Eddie's Food Truck (Drugs & Alcohol Stories Trimester)
• Foreign Policy Food Truck (Drugs & Alcohol Stories Trimester)
• 1836 Grill Food Truck (Hunger Stories Trimester)
• Chateaux Crystale (Journeys Collide Fundraiser)
• Urban Leaf Truck (Journeys Collide Fundraiser)
• Cafe Pita + (Journeys Collide Fundraiser)
• The Original Marini's Empanada House (Journeys Collide Fundraiser)

    

    

c. THANK YOU TO CORE TEAM AND ARTISTS!
None of these events would have been possible without our amazing volunteers, Core Team, and talented artists.Thank you all for making this such a wonderful year for Vox Culture! As we will be featuring members of the Core Team in our December issue (to reflect changes and additions to the team) we would like to list all the Artists who have worked with Vox Culture on our events throughout this year.

• Yes Prep - Gulfton
• Potbelly
• Nicky Davis
• Jack Potts
• Laurie Chandler
• Jacob Gavia
• Albanian-American Student Organization - HTX
• Darnell Allen & Ruby Rivera
• PreachBlaq
• Yan Shen

​

​d. JOIN THE CORE TEAM!
Want to be a catalyst? Would you like to leave an imprint on the city and make a difference? Then join the Core Team! The Core Team is made up of dedicated everyday young professionals (ranging from lawyers to engineers, bankers to educators, business owners to yoga instructors, and more) who are seeking to make a difference in this city and the world using creative ideas or talents as their tool. Each member takes on a vital role within the team, and together as a family, help shape and run the organization. Here are our current openings for Core Team positions:

• Development Coordinator
• Research Coordinator
• Media Coordinator
• Financial Coordinator
• Grants Coordinator
• Public Relations Coordinator

For more questions about these openings, please send a message toViktor.Kopic@voxculture.org.


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

October Newsletter: "Rise Above" ends in style!

a. Recap of Rise Above: Engaging Creativity
b. Vox Board of Directors:Welcome Wayne Park!
c. Vox Board of Advisors: Welcome Renia Butler & Laurie Chen!

The Rise Above series ended in spectacular fashion with Rise Above: Engaging Creativity. Check out the recap in this month's newsletter!   
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a. RECAP OF RISE ABOVE: ENGAGING CREATIVITY
 
On Saturday, October 19, Vox Culture hosted, Rise Above: Engaging Creativity. In terms of audience numbers, this was the most successful event to date, with 175+ individuals attending!


Rise Above: Engaging Creativity took place at The Houston Food Park (1504 St. Emanuel Street, Houston, TX).


The event consisted of a live mural painting session by Houston muralist, Nicky Davis. You can see the inspirational and beautiful mural at the front of the Houston Food Park, whenever you drop by there!
      

Fantastic musical performances Houston-based band, Potbelly as well as the kids of Yes Prep – Gulfton added to a fun day while the amazing photography skills of Jack Potts provided for lasting memories, and his unique ride (Megalodon the Land Shark) definetly caught a lot of attention!
       

Food trucks were on-site throughout the event, including Foreign Policy, Mom & Eddie's, and Bernie's Burger Bus! A portion of the proceeds made benefited the staff of Directions of Recovery, a local substance dependence treatment facility.


b. VOX BOARD OF DIRECTORS: WELCOME WAYNE PARK!

Vox Culture welcomes aboard our newest member of the Board of Directors, Wayne Park!


Wayne is constantly thinking about issues of faith, place, race and culture-making in the vast city of Houston, TX. A native of New York City, he grew up in the ethnic immigrant (Korean) community, which deeply shaped his worldviews. In his 20′s he heeded the call west to Montana, Seattle, as well as Vancouver, Canada, where he worked as an organizer for university student groups and traveled with them around the world to far-off places like Mongolia, Central Asia, Western Africa, and Eastern Europe. He finally settled down in Houston in 2010 when he became the lead pastor at Harvest Community Church. He has a Master of Divinity from Regent College (Vancouver), and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design in New York City. He is an ordained minister with the Evangelical Covenant Church. Wayne is nothing without his wife Ashley and his two children Austin & Zoe. He owns a Jack Russell terrier. He blogs here!

c. VOX BOARD OF ADVISORS: WELCOME RENIA BUTLER & LAURIE CHEN!

Vox Culture is pleased to welcome two new additions to our Board of Advisors, Renia Butler and Laurie Chen!
 
Renia Butler

 
Laurie Chen

For those of you who have attended our previous events, you may be familiar with both Renia and Laurie, who have been two fantastic and key members of the Vox Core Team, in the roles of Event Advisor and Financial Coordinator, respectively. We are glad to have both these talents take on an even more pivotal role within Vox, and look forward to seeing what they bring to the table!

Stay tuned for the November Newsletter as we reveal the causes Vox Culture will focus on in 2014!!!

September Newsletter: "Rise Above" moves forward!

a. Recap of Rise Above: Breaking Habits
b. 10/19 Rise Above: Engaging Creativity
c. Welcome Public Policy Specialist, Justin Gillenwater!
 
The Rise Above series has had an inspirational start and is gearing up for a grand event in October, Rise Above: Engaging Creativity. Read further to see more details!   
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a. RECAP OF RISE ABOVE: BREAKING HABITS
 
On Saturday, September 28, Vox Culture hosted its first event for the Drugs & Alcohol Trimester, Rise Above: Breaking Habits, at the Vox Culture Warehouse.
 

The yoga based event was aimed at promoting the work and showing support for The Council on Alcohol and Drugs – Houston, who uses specific yoga techniques as a service/program for both rehabilitation purposes as well as for health awareness classes.


We were pleased to welcome Bruno Ramos who shared his story of recovery with the audience as well. Special thanks go out to our sponsors for the event, LA Fitness and Local Foods!

 
b. 10/19 RISE ABOVE: ENGAGING CREATIVITY
 
Join Vox Culture as we prepare to host, Rise Above: Engaging Creativity! RSVP here!

 
The event will take place at The Houston Food Park (1504 St. Emanuel Street, Houston, TX) from 4:00PM to 6:00PM on Saturday, October 19.
 
Rise Above: Engaging Creativity will consist of a live mural painting session by Houston muralist, Nicky Davis, as well as live musical performances by the children of Yes Prep – Gulfton and Houston-based band, Potbelly. Food trucks will be on-site throughout the event, with a portion of the proceeds made during the period of the event going to benefit the staff of a local substance dependence treatment facility, Directions of Recovery.
 
Connect. Empower. Amplify. See how arts can play a role in the community and raise awareness on causes, such as those related to drugs and alcohol! Be a part of a creative movement to give a voice to those unheard!
 
c. WELCOME PUBLIC POLICY SPECIALIST, JUSTIN GILLENWATER!
 
We are pleased to introduce Justin Gillenwater, Vox Culture's Public Policy Specialist!
 

As we seek to continue to raise awareness about the issues of poverty and injustice that affect Houston, and support the artists/creatives in the city, Justin brings a great amount of expertise to the table. With a passion for politics, he is sure to bring to light what Houston is doing as a city to help promote art while also addressing the social issues that affect the local community. You can see his spotlight here!