Abstract 5pm: Reception on the Plaza 5:30pm: Ceremony welcoming the return of Barnett Newman’s Broken Obelisk 6pm: Reception continues 7pm: The Fierce Urgency of Now, a lecture by Leonard Pitts, Jr.In honor of the life and work of the Rev. Dr. King, our Annual Celebration began with a ceremony on the plaza to welcome the return of the Broken Obelisk by Barnett Newman after a year away for conservation. The event included words by Rev. Dr. Marcus Cosby, Wheeler Baptist Church Senior...

Abstract Art and Incarceration: Poetry, Theatre and Music in and about Captivity Concert, Ensemble PiFor this interdisciplinary performance, Ensemble Pi presented music, text, and theater works that focus on the rise of mass incarceration, the racial disparities it reveals, and the emotional toll it takes on inmates and their families. The evening started with the world premiere of Rikers Island by New York composer Eleanor Cory, inspired by the anthology These Are Hard Times for...

Scope and Contents From the Series:

Contains materials related to public programs during the time period, except for Awards and Colloquia which have separate series.

Abstract

The University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts presented an evening of readings, performances, and conversation. This program was inspired by the themes and ideas of Blaffer Gallery’s recent exhibition: “Damaged Romanticism: A Mirror of Modern Emotions,” Sarah Rothenburg, pianist and Adam Zagajewski, poet

Abstract One of several local events on the occasion of the publishing of Double Vision: The Unerring Eye of Art World Avatars Dominique and John de Menil. Presented with the Menil Collection and supported by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States.Double Vision: The Unerring Eye of Art World Avatars Dominique and John de Menil Lecture and Book Signing with William MiddletonA book signing and reception at the Menil Collection's Byzantine Fresco Chapel...

Abstract Author and journalist Eric Weiner launches the Rothko Chapel’s 2012-2013 season of public programs by sharing personal thoughts that compelled him to write his most recent book, Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine. His spiritual journey began in a hospital bed, where a nurse asked him if he had “found his God yet.” Facing his own mortality and spurred by the question, Weiner travels the world, sampling religion and spirituality and hoping to come to a personal understanding of the...

Abstract

Marcel Khalife and the Al Mayadine Ensemble, sponsored by the Arab-American Education Foundation and Society for the Performing Arts, offsite

Abstract In a Moss Garden: The Sounds of Japan Performances by John Lane, Marty Regan, and Yoko Reikano Kimura Pay What You Can, suggested value $20This program juxtaposed aspects of traditional Japanese musical aesthetics through the medium of newly composed works for Japanese instruments and percussion. The works on the program reflected several elements of Japanese culture including Zen Buddhism, haiku and tanka poetry, and the annual celebration of cherry blossoms. Hanami is the word...

Abstract with Carolyn ForchéCarolyn Forché, poet, human rights activist, and granddaughter of a Czech immigrant whose family included a woman resistance fighter imprisoned during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, will read original poetry and talk about poetry of witness. Her first poetry collection, Gathering the Tribes, won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition. Her second book, The Country between Us, was published with the help of Margaret Atwood. Forché is director of...

Abstract Usha Akella, poet and Steve Gorn, flutePoet Usha Akella will read from her most recent book of poems accompanied by the internationally-renowned musician Steve Gorn. The poetry celebrates the Sufi spirit with poems of devotion, love, and yearning for the divine. The work resonates with the sanctity and dignity of the Rothko Chapel’s mission and is universal in its spiritual message of love and harmony.Usha Akella moved to the United States from India in 1993. She...