News

Hear our Director of Partnerships & Learning Eepi Chaad on Town Square with Ernie Manouse, joining a fruitful conversation about the benefits of arts education! Other guests included local arts teachers and a Grammy Award-winning musician.

Arts Connect Houston is thrilled to share that Jack McBride will join Arts Connect Houston as our Interim Executive Director. Jack brings a wealth of experience to Arts Connect, with over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit community with a focus on equity of arts access for children, strategic planning, LGBTQ+ equality, and advocacy for artists, writers, and teachers.

Jack is a familiar face at Arts Connect, having recently served as the Immediate Past Chair of our Leadership Committee Chair as well as served on the Arts Connect Board for many years. During his tenure chairing the Leadership Committee, Jack executed our transition to Mid-America Arts Alliance as Arts Connect’s new supported organization, helped secure ESSER funding for expanded strategic initiatives, and ensured we supported one another as a collective through the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are excited to see Jack lead Arts Connect into its next chapter as Interim Executive Director.

This month, we collaborated with the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) to share Arts Connect Houston and Houston ISD's investment in arts education with ESSER funds. AEP will be sharing a series of success stories about how different organizations are using funding from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) and the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESER) to support arts education-- and we're the first!

Through this story, we were able to highlight the amazing relationships Arts Connect Houston has developed over the years with all of our partners, from HISD, to our Arts & Culture Partners, to community members, and beyond. HISD dedicated $22 million to their fine arts department, and Arts Connect will receive an initial $735,000 to support our existing efforts, including the Arts Action Fund which provides grants to arts and culture organizations to conduct in-school arts programming and the Creative Schools Institute, which supports school leaders and teachers to achieve campus goals through and with the arts. This funding will also help launch the new RISE Transformation Schools Initiative, designed to bring robust arts education to HISD schools that are the least resourced.