THE ART OF BROWNSVILLE - COMMENTS

Hey! The ArtsReach program is coming along and the logistics are getting set little by little. I will be in Brownsville this Friday to talk to the Sunrise Mall administration so wish me luck.

Sometime in mid-Feb we will have a call for entries at all 7 Brownsville High Schools, that including the 5 public schools, St. Joe and Valley Christian. The exhibition theme will be "Brownsville history and cultural identity" which will require to artist to address social or cultural themes about Brownsville in their work. We will encourage the participants to research their material by visiting local resources like museums, galleries, libraries, groups and individuals. About the call for entries, our sponsor will have us cut our artist demographic. At first, Frank and I had our minds set to let anyone contribute to the exhibtion, but after we spoke about the logistics of this program over with our advisor, it makes sense to make a clear and simple criteria for this show. First of all, we don't want to have more than twenty artists or else the show will be overwhelmed and second if we keep the show to a certain criteria (that being the high school demographic and maybe college) then there are less chances for hurt feelings.

It kinda sucks to be setting up red tape, but for one, this program is being funded on a $2,000 budget (which is incredibly tight in terms of setting up this program as well as a reception and exhibition) and we have to work with our sponsors as well as reach out to a community to help in the creation of agency. But with a big name like UT sponsoring us it is very easy for someone from Brownsville to believe that we are there to colonialize "big city" or "elitist" ways upon them which is not our goal at all.

We choose the theme "Fronteras Cruzadas" for this exhibtion because we want Brownsville to be the star of this show. Our goal is that through this exhibition, people can reflect upon themselves and the Brownsville community, to better appreciate the special culture of Brownsville and to support the resources that promote and preserve it. Under these circumstances, criteria is such an important facet in the coordination of this exhibtion so that we will have a clear message for our audiences to understand and for the curation of a successful show.