Menil Community Arts Festival

The Menil Collection museum and a group of surrounding non-profit arts organizations come together on Saturday, March 13, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. to host a free afternoon of art and entertainment that will extend across the Menil campus from West Alabama to Richmond Avenue.  Highlighting the diversity of the Menil neighborhood arts community, the festival will include films and performances, from chamber music to literary readings, performances and workshops.

Expect programs by area stalwarts like the Aurora Picture Show, Da Camera, Houston Center for Photography and The Rothko Chapel, as well as less-known micro-non-profits like Art Colony Association, Southwest Alternate Media Project and The Watercolor Arts Society.

This is the second installment of the annual event, which began last year as a grassroots initiative, but has erupted onto the cultural scene in 2010 with the aid of the Houston Arts Alliance.  It's a boon for the culturally-saturated neighborhood's city-wide impact." "It just made sense for the myriad organizations to reach out to each other and cross-pollinate," says Rachel Blackney Tepper, associate director at Aurora.

The afternoon caters to an expansive audience.  Guests with families can take part in Writers in the Schools' creative writing tours of the Menil, while adults may indulge in wine tastings at the Art Colony Association and take in the day-long "Punto y Raya" Short Film Festival at Aurora.  Other top draws: live music performances by the UH Saxophone Quartet and food trucks H-Town StrEATS and Oh My! Pocket Pies dispensing tasty morsels on wheels.