The Stats Are In!

After processing 142 entries for Make Space for Art - here is the breakdown:

37 from Texas
67 from across North America including Alaska and Canada
29 from Europe
5 from Asia
2 from Australia
1 from Africa
1 from South America
0 from Antarctica.

Interesting facts: architects mostly write the same. A collage might be in the works of the words "La Reunion TX" written over and over by architects. Folks from Asia and Europe consistently use slightly longer paper than others. Our one lone cash registration fee came from Japan. Go figure. Entries are due January 31.

La Reunion TX – Call for Artists – Tree Carving!

The Challenge: We challenge you as an artist to do a site-specific installation as part of the ecological thinning of dead, dying, and non-native trees located on the lush, dynamic landscape of La Reunion Texas.

You're an artist: Your only requirements besides letting your creative juices flow, are to "band" the tree and leave it as safe as possible for viewers. You can view the selected trees for this event by visiting the La Reunion web site.

The Art Part: Each tree has its own environment with limbs, grass, dirt, neighboring shrubs. What can you, the artist create in that space to invoke curiosity? How will you translate the natural elements into an art form, and how will the natural elements translate your art?

The Caveat: There is no electricity available at La Reunion TX so you must use hand tools or self powered tools ie: Axes, Chisels, Chainsaws or Gas powered generators. The addition of decorative elements from the surrounding area such as rocks, twigs, and branches are encouraged. You may also bring your own raw materials but we are strongly encouraging a green/environmental consciousness.

What will you do? Send La Reunion TX a sketch and a short description of your project. Please note that unless a SASE is included, all material will become the property of La Reunion TX. Mail to: 4848 Lemmon Avenue #100-117, Dallas 75219. Or email to Sarah@LaReunionTX.org

The Facts: Submissions due by January 5, 2008. Entries will be judged by the La Reunion TX artist selection committee. Artists will be notified of acceptance by January 10, 2008. The Tree Carving / Open House event will be Feb. 2, 2008 at the La Reunion TX land. Please enclose application fee of $10.00. If selected, you will be a part of a truly unique art experience in a long-term decomposing exhibit that will be visited for years to come. Your tree will be documented and displayed prominently in our newsletter, website, and on LRTX materials. Please consider this opportunity as a chance to do a great service to un-healthy land and challenge yourself as an artist!

Artists : Check this out.

CONTACT: ZELDA ALPERN, GRANTS & PUBLICITY

(802) 635-2727

The Vermont Studio Center Announces the Brown Foundation Awards for Texas Artists & Writers

The Vermont Studio Center, the international creative community located in the heart of the Green Mountains in Johnson, Vermont, USA, announces the Brown Foundation Awards to fund four-week Residencies for three outstanding Visual Artists and Writers from Texas.

The Fellowship will provide 3 outstanding Texas artists and writers with 4-week VSC Residencies in 2008/09, including ample studio space, comfortable housing, 3 meals daily, as well as access to the 6 distinguished Visiting Painters, Sculptors and Writers who are in residence each month.

A Vermont Studio Center Residency is an ideal opportunity for fruitful interaction with American and international professional peers in a non-competitive, supportive environment. The Brown Foundation awards continue a well-established tradition at VSC of offering cultural exchange opportunities for national and international artists. VSC has other ongoing national Residency programs for artists and writers from New England, Indiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as Residency Fellowships for Native American artists and writers. In addition, VSC has international Residency Programs for artists from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, Cuba, Latin America, and Mexico.

The Brown Foundation, in Houston, Texas, was established in 1951 by Margarett and Herman Brown and Alice and George R. Brown as a nonprofit charitable foundation. All funds donated to the foundation and income generated from these funds is used for public charitable purposes, principally for support, encouragement, and assistance to the arts and education. Since its inception, the Brown Foundation has awarded grants in excess of $185 million to artistic, educational, medical, and other charitable organizations.

The deadline for all applications is February 15, 2008. Please call Kate Westcott, VSC Receptionist, for more information (802) 635-2727, or visit our Web site (www.vermontstudiocenter.org) for detailed application process.

Make Space for Art

Every time I check the mail, there's a treat from some distant land. Today? Australia and Portugal. Not that the avalanche of stateside entries aren't interesting too. They are! I've been keeping all the envelopes because it's cool to see "La Reunion TX" in so many different handwritten fonts. A widely known fact I'd like to confirm after a decidedly unscientific survey: architects have the most amazing handwriting. Especially local architect and juror to La Reunion TX's Make Space for Art - Max Levy. Breathtaking and poetic script.

Registration deadline is Dec 17. Keep it coming ya'll.

For Immediate Release : 'Make Space for Art' Jury Announced

La Reunion TX, a not for profit artist residency, launched a call for entries for ‘Make Space for Art’ on Monday, September 17, 2007. Thus far, La Reunion TX has entires from Egypt, Sweden, Hong Kong, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, The Slovak Republic, Finland, UK, among others.

The purpose of ‘Make Space for Art’ is to generate ideas for a future artist studio and short-term housing space in Oak Cliff. The registration deadline for ‘Make Space for Art’ is December 17, 2007 and entries will be due January 31, 2008. Architects, students, and artists are welcome to register and submit entries.

Jury Facilitator for ‘Make Space for Art’ is Mark Gunderson, AIA of Fort Worth. Other jurors include: Rick Brettell of UTD, Rick Lowe of Project Row House in Houston, Louise Harpman of UT-Austin, and Max Levy, FAIA of Dallas. These jurors will honor the most creative entries with cash prizes and a chance to be a part of a 2008 touring exhibition in North Texas. Details of the tour will be announced later.

Facilitator: Mark Gunderson, AIA – Gunderson is a practicing architect in Fort Worth, Texas and is past president of the Dallas Architecture Foundation. He currently serves on the board for Dallas Architecture Forum and writes and lectures frequently on architecture. In 2006, his alma mater, Texas Tech University, presented Gunderson with Distinguished Alumnus Award from its College of Architecture. He has been a visiting critic at both Texas Tech and the UTA School of Architecture. Currently at work as a co-author to Buildings of Texas, a new 1,000-page double volume in the series “Buildings of the United States,” published by the University of Virginia Press for the Society of Architectural Historians.

Richard Brettell, PhD. – Dr. Brettell is founding president of the Dallas Architecture Forum, former Director of the Dallas Museum of Art and holds three degrees from Yale University. He has taught at the University of Texas, Northwestern University, The University of Chicago, Yale University, and Harvard University and is currently Margaret McDermott Distinguished Professor in the Interdisciplinary School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas. He has begun to publish architectural criticism, including “Beyond the Golden Age: Three New Art Museums for Texas” in Southwest Review and “Lost in Translation: Ando’s Building for The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth” for CITE. Brettell established and curated the “Five Modern Architects” exhibit for University of Texas at Dallas in 2002.

Rick Lowe – Lowe is the founder of Project Row Houses, an arts and cultural community located in a historically significant and culturally charged neighborhood in Houston, Texas. As an artist, Rick has participated in exhibitions and programs nationally and internationally. From 1996 to the present, he has exhibited at the Phoenix Art Museum, the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston and several other art museums around the world. In 1997, Rick and Project Row Houses were awarded a silver medal by the Rudy Bruner Awards in Urban Excellence. He was the year 2000 recipient of the American Institute of Architecture Keystone Award. In 2002, he was awarded by Theresa Heinz the Heinz Award in the arts and humanities. Rick was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University from September 2001-June 2002. In 2006, Rick received the Brandywine Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2007, he has been an Osher Fellow at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and received the Houston Spirit Award given by the Mayor of Houston.

Max Levy, FAIA – Fort Worth native Max Levy is a Dallas-based principal, adjunct associate professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, and fellow with the American Institute of Architects. He has lectured across Texas, written for Texas Architect, and authored Chasing the Modernist Rainbow (2000). Recent honors include a 2007 Best in Show award from the Dallas AIA; a 2006 National Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects; a 2002 AIA Dallas House of the Year Award fromD Magazine and a 2001 AIA National Honor Award. His design capacities and poetic sensibility have caused his office to receive more design awards from the Texas Society of Architects than any other small practice in the history of the TSA Awards program.

Louise Harpman – Louise Harpman is a partner at Specht Harpman. Before founding Specht Harpman, she worked as a designer at Eisenman Architects and Buttrick White & Burtis Architects. She is currently serving as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs at the University of Texas at Austin, where she is also the Harwell Hamilton Professor of Architecture. Before joining the UT faculty, she taught for eight years at the Yale School of Architecture and for four years at the University of Pennsylvania. Louise Harpman received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University where she concentrated in East Asian Studies. She holds a Master of Philosophy degree from Cambridge University and received her Master of Architecture degree from Yale University, where she was awarded the AIA Henry Adams Certificate and the Janet Cain Sielaff Prize. Louise Harpman is the co-editor of Perspecta 30:Settlement Patterns (1999). She is the author of the Brooklyn Public Library Design Guidelines (1996) and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Design Trust for Public Space.

Art Chicas Unidas

Art Chicas Unidas, a four way-collaboration between La Reunion TX, Dallas Art Dealers Association, Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, and CityGallery was held on on Saturday, November 10, 2007.

The day began at 8AM with La Reunion TX artist set-up at CityGallery. Artists chosen earlier in the summer by the La Reunion TX artist selection committee included Erica Felicella, Ivonne Acero, Loretta Gonzales, Linka Behn, Johanna Hulsey, Catalyna Mendez, VET, and Lizzy Wetzel. High school girls from select Dallas area high schools started arriving at 8:30AM. What happened next was magical.

The girls were divided up among the selected artists and an all-day workshop began. Each group started on a project and began a day-long process in a variety of media. From digital photography to felt-making, each group fully explored process, design, materials, camaraderie. At lunch, DADA made a presentation in different careers in art as well as how to get started in a gallery by presenting a comprehensive portfolio.

After the workshop was complete, all the art created over the course of the day was installed in the gallery and the general public started arriving at 7PM. All the art sold by silent auction and proceeds were re-invested in the Art Chicas Unidas program. Pending funding, we will replicate this program at a Girl Scout camping facility in a "Total Art Immersion" experience in late April 2008. Stay tuned.

Shout outs and thank yous are in order to the following generous souls:
Lara Arp, Mattie Jenkins, Teri Walker, Rebel Calhoun, Lenita Davis, Clare Dempsy, Kevin Nash, Allison Graham, Catherine Cuellar, Andrea Roberts, Leah Shafer, Cathey Miller, Lisa Zimmerman, Lisa Taylor, Laura and Fred Fregin, Caroline Finlay, Maloree Banks, Dallas Women's Foundation, Kroger, and Central Market. Last - all the girls and the LRTX artists.

La Reunion TX Workshop

Last Spring, David Hopkins lead a very cool workshop about comics and graphic novels at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary. Above is an excerpt. Enjoy!

SMU kids clean-up La Reunion TX

The SMU kids have come through for us again in 2007, thanks to the amazing Bob Curry with the City of Dallas! Back in January, a team of fraternity brothers cleaned up what we called "Tire City" - where literally hundreds of tires had been illegally dumped just off the road on the La Reunion TX land. This time we weren't dealing with tires, but brush! Lots of it!

We made a huge pile of organic debris that the good folks at Preservation Tree later chipped for us. We had mostly juniors and seniors - male and female - this time. After the clean-up effort, I had the best time talking with some of the group about the project. As their eyes grew wider, I grew more and more happy to share. I hope they left inspired, invigorated, and happy too. Thanks ya'll!

ART CHICAS UNIDAS!

Come celebrate the launching of our new mentoring program, Art Chicas Unidas, on Saturday, Nov. 10 from 7 to 9 p.m. at CityGallery, 3601 Routh St. This free evening will feature Girl Scout cookies, live music and ART- what else does one need?

La Reunion TX collaborated with Dallas Art Dealers Association, Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas and CityGallery to create Art Chicas Unidas, which pairs high school girls with Dallas visual artists.

The girls will spend November 10 with Dallas artists creating the artwork that will be on display and for sale for the evening event. At lunch that day, DADA members will discuss artist portfolios and careers available in the visual arts.

Art Chicas Unidas targets high school girls from North Dallas High School, Adamson High School, Hillcrest High School, and Jasper High School. The mission of Art Chicas Unidas is to provide high school girls in the targeted DISD schools the opportunity to develop art-related leadership skills by 1) enabling these girls to work with and learn from professional artists; 2) providing a vision for a future profession in the arts and/or media; 3) teaching girls how their skills in art can be used to facilitate a college education; and 4) allowing girls to produce art in new and traditional media that portrays a contemporary image of Girl Scouts in the community.

The Dallas artists selected for this event include Erica Felicella, Johanna Hulsey, Catalyna Mendez, Lizzy Wetzel, Linka Behn, VET, Ivonne Acero, and Loretta Gonzalez.

There will be another opportunity for artists and high-schoolers to be involved in Art Chicas Unidas in April 2008 (if funding becomes available). How do you help that happen? You can sponsor a girl! Visit our site for a form. Email sarah@lareuniontx.org if you would like to volunteer for the Nov. 10 event.

Art Chicas Unidas is currently funded by Dallas Women's Foundation and supported by Central Market and Kroger.

Why are we doing this again?

Name's Sarah Jane and I'm the director of this organization. I had a wonderful conversation the other day with a brilliant gal who asked me why I was doing La Reunion. Hmmmm. Thought I'd speak to that publicly. My personal answer's simple: because I'm passionate about cultivating and sustaining artists and culture in my community. La Reunion isn't my first go with such an idea. After producing independent art shows for a few years, there was this gallery I formed in 2004 where emerging artists had space to present their ideas in all media. Then there was the community arts project I steered and managed for a couple of years that connected local artists and businesses through a concept gallery with satellite locations all over Dallas. Most recently, there's the annual underground art event I co-founded that brings all walks of life - expected and unexpected - to reinvest in the local arts economy. La Reunion is the fourth verse of a song I've been singing for years. What started as a kernel of an idea with my pal Catherine has quickly become larger than either one of us had imagined independent of one another.

As a serial social entrepreneur, I can speak about the failures as well as the successes. I know this for certain : An eye toward long-term sustainability is in the fore-front of my mind and it's what keeps me up at night - sustainability with the building, with the programs, with the staff, with the finances. How can La Reunion be an innovative and yet well-oiled machine with a solid business plan and a means to sustain itself long term? It's an invigorating conversation with lots going on in meetings, continuing education, miscellaneous websites and development behind the scenes. Having an idea and doing a little planning is one thing. Execution is another. Stay tuned folks.

Make Space for Art Updates!

WOW. We interest and/or registrations from Korea, Vietnam, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Canada, Harvard, California, New York, Slovak Republic, Egypt, and of course LOTS of local inquiries. Keep it coming folks. Deadline to register is December 17, 2007. Deadline for submissions is January 31, 2008. Contact Jessica Stewart at jessica@LaReunionTX.org if you have questions about Make Space for Art. Many exciting annoucements to come in the next few weeks - including the jury!

Inspiration

A couple days ago, La Reunion TX board member Jessica Stewart and I (Sarah Jane) met with the Erika Huddleston - Marketing Coordinator for The Trinity Trust at Murray Street Coffee (one of our favorite places to meet). We began sharing about our organizations and what they mean to Dallas as a whole and the timelines we are both working with. Although La Reunion TX isn't involved in any part of the Trinity River Project, we wanted to know more about this proposed parks and roads system as residents in a part of town that will be profoundly impacted by the vote on November 6, 2007. Please check out their website to read about all of their exciting developments. And either way - if you are local, go vote!

Connections

Today was a great day of making connections for La Reunion! First up was a presentation to the Uptown/Oak Lawn MLS group. Realtors are always great fun to interact with because by nature they are all about people and all about selling the community. They had insightful and thoughtful commentary on the slide show, the presentation, and really 'got it'. Their questions were great and I made wonderful new acquaintances on behalf of La Reunion.

Next up, Catherine and I had lunch at Rick Brettell's house with Charissa Terranova - they are the leadership team behind Central Track - the residency being formed around the University of Texas at Dallas community. Great conversation + delicious lunch = open dialogue for the future. We are forming very different programs in Dallas and yet have an opportunity for natural collaborations as we both move forward.

After lunch, it was down to the La Reunion land to meet 60-some-odd University of Texas at Arlington architecture students. They are taking on MAKE SPACE FOR ART as a class project this semester. Wonderful, I say! The students were anxious to explore so after a few brief words - they were off! We look forward to some interesting entries in January 2008 from these students.

tree carving

Yesterday I met with a couple of local artists named Kevin Obregon and Brad Ford Smith who are going to spearhead the tree carving at the La Reunion TX land later this winter. That's where unhealthy and non-native trees have been tagged by Preservation Tree and approved by the City of Dallas for banding - a technique where the bark is hacked off one handswidth around the trunk of the tree, thus inhibiting growth and slowly killing the tree from the inside out. The dying tree becomes a feast for insects and birds and restores a more balanced ecosystem.

We trekked around a bit and talked about various artistic visions. The most final version we have will most likely be altered somewhat before we execute the idea in January, but I'm already really, really excited. It's going to take a couple of clean-up days in advance to get the site ready, but once artists are lined up and we pick a date - wow-oh-wow. you'll want to be there to check it out.

Call for artists!!

Who: La Reunion TX teams up with Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, Dallas Art Dealers Association, and City Gallery to launch Art Chicas Unidas, a totally new program to engage artists in the Dallas area to become involved in the artistic development of low income high school girls. This call for entries is for Phase I. Women artists, minority artists and artists working in all media are encouraged to apply. Dallas Women’s Foundation has partially funded this project.

What: Phase I will feature 10 artists who will lead teams of 4 girls in a day long project with the goal that the girls co-host an exhibition showing the art they have created. During lunch, members of DADA will lead a demonstration of the real-life essentials of how to create an artist portfolio as well as a talk on various arts-related careers. An evening reception will be open to their families and the public at the end of the day-long workshop at Uptown’s City Gallery located at 3506 Routh Street in Dallas. Proceeds from the sale of art will go towards these same girls’ tuition at a weekend-long retreat in Spring 2008. A separate call for artists will go out for Phase II of the program. The La Reunion artist selection committee is made up of Dallas area arts professionals who will choose artists for this program.

When: Artists interested must complete the attached application, provide adigital portfolio with a $20 processing/background check fee and return to La Reunion by Sept 15, 2007.

Mail proposals to:
La Reunion TX
4848 Lemmon Avenue, #100-117
Dallas, Texas 75219

Important dates:
Sept. 15: application deadline
Sept. 29: interviews for selected artists and proposal review
Oct. 3: artists notified of acceptance (or not)
Oct. 10: materials list due
Nov. 10: workshop date

Stipend: Chosen artists will each be paid a $250 stipend for their time and planning of the day-long Phase I workshop. A materials budget of $100 is available for each chosen program.

Detailed Program Description: This new program, entitled “Art Chicas Unidas”, is for girls from urban and inner city high schools and consists of two phases coinciding with the girls’ school year.

Phase I will be a one-day working session (Saturday, November 10, 2007) for up to 40 high school girls with 10 local area artists, concluding with an evening art exhibit at City Gallery in Dallas. All artwork produced by participants will be for sale. Proceeds from this sale will be applied to the costs of the weekend retreat in Phase II.

Phase II will be a weekend retreat at Whispering Cedars Girl Scout Camping Facility (date TBA) in the Spring 2008 for these same girls who participated in the Nov 10 workshop and open to other girls at the targeted high schools. As a part of the weekend retreat, 100% of girls will be filling out a Dallas County Community College application. The girls will learn how community college credits transfer to major four year colleges in pursuit of a sustaining art career. Cedar Valley College is our partner for this portion of the program. Sales from Phase II will go towards replicating the project in the Fall of 2008. In the coming years, we will be expanding the Art Chicas Unidas program throughout DISD inner-city, urban high schools.

With the collaboration of the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, La Reunion TX, City Gallery and Dallas Art Dealers Association, this new program will impact the girls and their respective urban, inner city communities in these ways:

o Demonstrate and teach a new set of ideas and skills to girls;
o Sustain local artists by paying them for their time;
o Bring awareness of the contemporary vision of Girl Scouts;
o Expand the girls’ artistic and cultural awareness by introducing them to DADA members and artists actually generating income from their art business;
o Increase public and student awareness of La Reunion TX and artists affiliated with the non-profit; and
o Expose La Reunion TX artists to a larger audience.

This program impacts local artists in these ways:

o Connects local artists with La Reunion TX and DADA in mutually beneficial relationships;
o Artists earn a stipend for a day-long workshop to sustain professional artistic development;
o Artists are able to make a direct impact on at-risk youth.

For more information, please contact La Reunion TX executive director Sarah Jane Semrad.
sarah@LaReunionTX.org
www.LaReunionTX.org

La Reunion was recently pledged $4800 by 8 generous donors. Please consider making a gift to this worthwhile project. Click here for a pdf of our Frequently Asked Questions to check out the amazing programming we have coming up the Fall.

Donations can be made via paypal to donate@LaReunionTX.org and checks can be mailed to La Reunion, 4848 Lemmon Avenue #100-117, Dallas 75219. Remember all donations are tax deductable.

Upcoming Event: Biological Livelihood of Mechanical Creatures Explored!

When we heard about the exhibit U-Ram Choe : New Media from Seoul opening in June at the fabulous Crow Collection of Asian Art, we knew this was a great opportunity to have some fun! Join us as we explore U-Ram Choe’s fanciful metal and plastic sculptures that pull us into conversation about aesthetics, machinery, and biological transformation. La Reunion supporters and newsletter subscribers are invited to a complimentary champagne tour of the new exhibit led by Crow Collection Director Amy Hofland. Sweet!

THURSDAY, June 14, 6pm – 7pm.
Complimentary champagne will be served.
RSVP to sarah@LaReunionTX.org

Model Students

Originally uploaded by Dominick Mastrangelo.

Feast your eyes on these photographs by Dominick Mastrangelo featuring the work of first year architecture students at University of Texas at Arlington. Big thanks to UTA professor and Oak Cliff dweller Danielle Langston for giving her students time to work on our project. More images and narratives by the students about their work will be on our website as soon as they're available.

What a month!

Everyone who has celebrated La Reunion month was amazed by something. It's been our most ambitious programming effort, but also most representative of all that La Reunion TX is and will continue to be. Truly something for everyone. And we're not finished! Today you can learn about the history of the original La Reunion colonists who were so influential on Texas and Dallas in general and Oak Cliff in particular at the DMA. Tomorrow local architecture students will present their semester final projects – ideas for studios and artist housing at our site. Also tomorrow we find out if we've received funds from the Dallas Women's Foundation for Art Chicas Unidas.

Our first birthday celebration last night was far and away the most inclusive event we've hosted - from the ages of those in attendance (newborn infants through retirees) to the type of arts we featured – salsa performance and dance instruction; culinary; improv; breakdancing; and do-it-yourself shrinky-dinks. The historic Sons of Hermann Hall was once again our venue thanks to its lovely president Jo Nicodemus. A wonderful time was had by all because of help from outstanding volunteers – event coordinator Michael Hogenmiller; doormen Paul Semrad, Alvaro Garza, and Vance Wingate; door prize wrangler Leah Shafer; shrinky-dink activity leader Jessica Stewart; photographer Dominick Mastrangelo; set up aide Brad Ford Smith; and midnight tour guide Susan Cuellar (aka my mom)! Thanks again to sponsors Viking, Petropolitan, MAKE, From The Ends of the Earth, Green Living, Pandemonium, Crosby Catering and Coffee, and the Ballen family (founders of the LaFonda Hotel in Santa Fe, NM).

Extra special love to everyone who attended our events all month long, and we look forward to continuing our growth and positive impact on Dallas for years to come!

Free workshop helps fund films

Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund Workshop: Dallas Filmmaker Grants
Wednesday April 25, 2007
7PM to 8:30 PM
Magnolia Lounge
1121 First Ave
Dallas, Texas 75226
(in Fair Park next to the African Museum and the Music Hall)
Workshop is FREE!
Call 214 428 8700 for more info.

The Austin Film Society's Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund (TFPF) has a ten-year history of supporting Texas filmmakers with cash, goods and services - $675,000 for 222 film and video projects at last count. TFPF recipients have shown their films at festivals like Sundance, Cannes and Toronto and have been nominated for Independent Spirit Awards. This year, TFPF will award $150,000 to Texas filmmakers working in all genres of film and video.

The Austin Film Society's Director of Artist Services Bryan Poyser will be joined by Dallas filmmaker David Lowery (whose short film THE OUTLAW SON received a TFPF grant in 2005), to take you through the application process step-by-step.

Presented in partnership with the Video Association of Dallas.

For more information about TFPF, please visit
www.austinfilm.org/for_filmmakers/texas-filmmakers-production-fund

VOTE FOR US ON REZOOM.COM!

We have a great opportunity to win two awards totaling $105,000 for La Reunion, but it will require everyone's help for the next thirty days. We are enlisting your support in an exciting awards program presented by ReZoom.com, entitled A Better World. In total, ReZoom.com is awarding over $200,000 to more than 20 charitable organizations. We are already nominated for the Regional Awards. Regional award winners will each receive a $5,000, and then we will qualify for the $100,000 National Award!Please go to http://www.rezoom.com/ every day between March 1 and March 31 and cast a vote for us.Your participation is easy!

With just a few clicks, you can help us create a better world. Go to http://www.rezoom.com/
Click on the "A Better World" symbol on the right hand side of the website.
Click on the big orange "VOTE BUTTON"
Find us on the charity search map
Follow the instructions to register and enter your vote

You can cast a vote for us every day and ask your friends to vote too!
With your help we have a great chance to win a regional award. If this happens, we will notify you and let you know when the National period begins.We can show the country just how active our supporters are! Please forward this letter to your email lists of friends and family. Just think, for every 100 of you that send this message to 10 friends, who then send it to 10 friends - we will receive 10,000 votes...a day!! With your help - we can do it.

april calendar of events. something for everyone.

April 3, 6:30PM-8:00PM – Kick-off dinner at Tin Star. 20% of dinner sales benefit La Reunion.
Uptown Tin Star
2626 Howell Street, #100
Dallas, Texas 75204
214-999-0059

April 14, 11AM-5PM – Scriptwriting for Graphic Novels at the MAC. Ever want to know the finer points of writing a comic book? How to deal with that script once it’s turned over to an illustrator? How do these same collaborative issues affect playwrights and screen writers? $20 in advance or $25 at the door – includes lunch. Email sarah@LaReunionTX.org

McKinney Avenue Contemporary
3120 McKinney Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75204
214-953-1212

April 21, 10:30AM-2:30PM – How Important Are We: Dallas Fort Worth: the next New York City? DADA presents two panel discussions for the public on how curators, directors and art critics answer this question. La Reunion is a community partner is this presentation. Admission will be $30 for two panels or $20 for one panel. (Students with IDs may enter at $10 per panel). Proceeds will benefit the Edith Baker Art Scholarship Fund. Lunch will be available for sale at the site. Call 214-943-1099 to register and reserve a lunch.

Latino Cultural Center
2600 Live Oak (at Good-Latimer)
Dallas, Texas 75204

April 22, 11AM-5PM – Oak Cliff Earth Day in Lake Cliff Park. Join state and local environmental, conservation, and wildlife groups, garden clubs, "green" businesses, city departments, state agencies, cycling, running, and hiking clubs, schools, and arts groups. Help make Oak Cliff's celebration of Earth Day (April 22nd) one of the largest in the State of Texas. www.oakcliffearthday.com FREE

Lake Cliff Park
Zang at Colorado Boulevards
Dallas, Texas 75203

April 28, 6PM-11PM – La Reunion Birthday Party at Sons of Hermann Hall.
Confirmations thus far include organic fair trade coffee and chips & salsa from Crosby Café & Catering, door prizes from MAKE, Pandemonium, Green Living, and From the Ends of the Earth, Paul Slavens' Texclectic Unsemble (a rock/improv hybrid), jazz by the John Holiday Band, and the Booker T. Washington Latin Jazz Ensemble. Break dancers, mariachis, and dance lessons in the works. More details coming! $10 admission. For $15 more, shuttle to the DMA for a special late-night tour... keep reading!

Sons of Hermann Hall
3414 Elm Street
Dallas, Texas 75226
214-747-4422

April 29, 12AM-1:30AM – After the Sons party, shuttle over for a late-night tour of Fast Forward (backwards) at the DMA, led by Susan Cuellar, a longtime docent and mom to president of the LRTX board, Catherine Cuellar. $15 (includes museum admission for the DMA Late-Night regular activities. payable at the Sons event.)

April 29, 1PM – La Reunion lecture at the DMA in the Orientation Theatre. Rose-Mary Rumbley leads a discussion of the lasting cultural impact this French colony has had on the formation of Dallas. Free with regular museum admission.

Dallas Museum of Art
1717 North Harwood Street
Dallas, Texas 75201
214-954-0234

The original La Reunion colonists arrived in Dallas from Europe in 1855 on April 22, which is now celebrated as Earth Day. This April the newly-formed La Reunion TX celebrates its first anniversary in Oak Cliff. Thanks for making it a great year - hopefully the first of many!

Is it the end of January already?

It is. Wow. Thanks to a chance meeting at a winter cocktail party with the delightful code enforcement officer Bob Curry, the next thing we know, 30 SMU frat boys are cleaning up the right-of-way out in Oak Cliff in front of the La Reunion stretch of land. Pictures on flickr. In anticipation of you asking... I don't think they were busted for a kegger or anything exciting. Instead, I think they were participating in some sort of required Greek community service. Either way, we are truly grateful that a mass of tires, trash, and other assorted items have been removed. Thanks boys!

In other news, the Belmont show was wall-to-wall people, from what I hear. I was, of course, waving from a jet on my way to France on a long-planned vacation, so I had to miss the Belmont festivities. Thank you to everyone who showed up and checked out the juried exhibit, Art With a View : La Reunion in the OC. A special thanks to Jesus Chairez and Carissa Byers for shooting some pictures and to those who purchased art. Thanks to the uber hip Belmont Hotel for hosting. A portion of sales goes to La Reunion and the show is up until March 13.