On April 13, students from 26 HISD campuses participated in the 37th Annual Art Car Parade. The parade is a treasured community tradition and the culmination of months of hard, creative work each year. Students at participating schools collaborated during their art classes and after-school time to construct their unique Art Cars. The morning of the parade, students gathered to showcase their creations alongside vehicles designed and built by scores of other artists from across the city. Crowds came out to marvel at the fantastic works of art on wheels along a route that followed Allen Parkway ..read more

HISD art students and their instructors gathered at the Asia Society Texas gallery for a unique art showcase on Wednesday, Oct. 28. Students created artwork using the color gold, signifying childhood cancer awareness. The art show is HISD’s third annual collaboration with the Faris Foundation and Asia Society Texas as part of an educational campaign called Let There Be Gold. The showcase, Threads of Gold, was designed to empower student creatives to raise awareness around childhood cancer and utilize art to enact community engagement and social change. According to the American Childhood Canc ..read more

One of the most beloved and well-known events in the city of Houston is the annual Houston Art Car Parade. Started by a commune of local artists in the 1980s, the Art Car Parade has evolved into a city-wide project representative of the creativity and joie de vivre of the Bayou City and has drawn in participants from all walks of life and of all ages. The 36th Annual Art Car Parade will take place on Saturday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. The largest celebration of its kind, the parade will feature more than 250 vehicle works of art constructed by HISD students and staff, professional org ..read more

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is a yearly staple of Houston culture, as highly anticipated to adults and children as Christmas or Halloween. The event boasts a carnival, cook-offs, signature fair food, concerts, and, of course, the titular livestock show. An annual event for Texas pride and merriment, it is important to highlight the educational impacts that the rodeo has for HISD students. Rodeo Houston sponsors more than $14 million a year in awarded scholarships for Texas high schoolers, including FFA scholarships, military scholarships, and the Rodeo Houston School Art Contest. Of t ..read more

To honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Foley & Lardner LLP hosted the 27th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Oratory Competition at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church on Friday, Jan. 13. Each year, HISD students present original speeches inspired by the civil rights leader before a panel of judges consisting of community leaders, civil right activists, and entertainers. This year’s theme was “What would Dr. King say to us today about hope for tomorrow?” “This event kicks off MLK weekend in such a great way that reminds us why we even have the weekend,” said Foley & Lardner Atto ..read more

The holiday season kicked off in earnest as student artists and district leaders gathered at HISD’s Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center on Monday, Nov. 14, to celebrate the 2022 HISD holiday greeting card competition winners. HISD students of all ages created holiday-themed artwork for submission in the 31st annual competition. Of 142 participants and 14 finalists, four winners were chosen and announced by Superintendent Millard House II. Winning Artists Yeimi Pavon Crespo Elementary School, 5th grade “Winter Wonderland” Mia Nguyen Meyerland PVA Middle School, 7th grade “Happy Holiday ..read more

In a virtual ceremony with participants, HISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan on Wednesday unveiled the winners of its annual holiday greeting card student art competition from nearly 100 entries across the district. “This event presents a special opportunity for the district to share our students’ artwork with the greater community,” Lathan said. “It is my pleasure to help showcase the work of our student artists and the fantastic work our fine arts teachers are doing to cultivate these talents across the district.” The winners for 2020 – fifth-grader Ediel Chávez of Crespo Elementary ..read more

The Houston Independent School District on Monday, Nov. 16, will unveil the winners of the district’s 2020 holiday greeting card student art competition. This year, 18 students from HISD elementary, middle, and high schools were named finalists from a total of 99 entries. The 18 finalists were chosen by the district’s area superintendents. Those 18 entries then went to HISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan for judging. She then chose one elementary, one middle school and one high school to represent the district as winners. During a virtual ceremony beginning at 12:30 p.m. at Hattie ..read more

An alum of the Houston Independent School District was recently presented with a college scholarship from Houston’s prestigious Orange Show Center for Visionary Art. Mary Onwumere, a 2020 graduate from Lamar High School, received the $500 scholarship for her work in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s #StrongerThanCovid photography series. Mary’s work, along with 18 other HISD students, make up a virtual exhibition curated by the MFAH and can be viewed here. “I am so happy to have received this,” she said. “It is the first time that I have been recognized for my work.”  Onwumere’s winning ..read more

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston recently released an online photography exhibition featuring works from HISD Class of 2020 graduating seniors created during the COVID-19 pandemic. The virtual exhibition, Stronger than COVID-19: Empowering the Seniors of Houston Independent School District to Reclaim the Narrative of Their Senior Year, was inspired by Booker T. Washington High School art teacher Maya Imani Watson, who, as the mother of a class of 2020 senior, wanted to give students from 12 HISD high schools the opportunity to take back the story of their senior year, which had been sideli ..read more