State Of The Arts

Born and raised in El Paso, Roberto Cortez has been a Private Chef for 18 years. He’s had the honor of being the Personal Chef to Microsoft’s Paul Allen, Antonio Banderas, Melanie Griffith and Eddie Murphy, just to name a few. He was also chosen to design and make Lady Gaga’s birthday cake.

Currently his attention is focused on his new book that will be out later this year and creating creative food events that explore new dining experiences for El Pasoans. Here to talk food and El Paso, is chef Roberto Cortez.

It’s time for another season of magnificent music by El Paso Pro-Musica.  This year’s season kicks-off with a performance by the Grammy Award Winning Ying String Quartet with Zuill Bailey in celebration of their newest CD release, "Re-Imagined: Schumann/Beethoven."

Here to tell us about the upcoming season is El Paso Pro Musica’s Executive Director, Felipa Solis.

Luis Safa is an illustrator, artist and muralist who is known for his prolific and sometimes dark illustrations and animations that touch on themes of northern Mexican history and politics from the Revolution to the underbelly of the drug wars.  

His latest exhibition, Wake me When I’m Dead, curated by the Rubin Center, features Safa’s latest body of work in which he departs from his tight graphic style to create loose, frantic and far-reaching drawings and multi-media installations.

The works will be accompanied by sound and media installations featuring the work of Mexico City-based artist Javier Sanchez, and El Paso’s own Jim Ward.

Las Artesanas is a cultural event that will take place at Café Mayapan on Saturday, September 24, 2016.  The event will feature Chef Macolina Salvador Hidalgo, recipient of the 2016 Expo Puebla Artesanal Gastronomia  “#1 Mole” Award.

The Las Artesanas event will also feature local music, mole de Puebla and ancestral food, exhibits and demos. Here to tell us more about the Las Artesanas event are Carolina Franco and Lorena Andrade.

Chopin is credited with originating the modern piano style, and the music of this fine romantic composer is featured in the 22nd season of the El Paso Chopin Festival to provide an opportunity for residents and  visitors to to hear the piano played with unsurpassed elegance, power, and expression.

The twenty-second season of El Paso’s Chopin Festival promises to be another year of musical excellence, returning once again with several free performances. Here to talk about it are Dr. Lucy Scarborough and Joyce Whiteside.

Get Out The Vote is a civic engagement initiative that encourages designers to use their unique voice to educate the public, and excite them about participating in the electoral process.

In the past month, AIGA El Paso has received some very engaging posters that create a dialogue about the importance of voting for our community. You are invited to join them at Proper Printshop on Tuesday, September 13 and see these wonderful submissions along with one poster pre-selected to be screen printed live at the show.

Meet the vecinos of calle Mango through the eyes of twelve-year-old Esperanza. Her story tracks the ups and downs we all face during the tricky times of adolescence. We are invited to join the UTEP Department of Theater and Dance as they bring the stories of Sandra Cisneros’ critically acclaimed novel The House on Mango Street to life on stage. 

El Paso High School is 100 years old and the fourth installment of their Legacy Series program focuses on “100 Years of Excellence in the Arts”. The program takes place on Thursday, September 8, 2016 with Felipa Solis as the featured speaker. 

The Let There Be Rock school is a brand new music school that looks to provide young musicians with a path toward improving their skill set.

As a performance-based school, kids come and take private lessons, are then paired up with a band, once they're in a band, they name their band and have rehearsals every week, just like the pros do. Here to tell us about Let There Be Rock is Pepe Clarke.

A 'Giant' Story explores the film’s main themes along with its ties to El Paso.

The exhibit at the El Paso Museum of History includes authentic costumes worn by Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean and Rock Hudson, photos, production art and documents as well as memorabilia from the collections of El Pasoan Wally Cech, who worked as a waitress on the Marfa shoot, and Nancy Hamilton, who covered the movie’s El Paso premiere at the Plaza Theatre on November 8, 1956 for the El Paso Times.

Ben Fyffe details the exhibit.

El Late Nite con Badia is a Television show that takes us back to the Dick Cavvett Days of TV—loads of fun, self-aware to a point of self-mockery, and more than anything—it feels new because it’s so old.

The highlight of the show? Our beautiful border and the people that make it happen. Here to tell us all about it, is the crew that puts it together—Antonio Badia, Gabe Ruiz and Eduardo Espinosa.

Remember Me: Children of the Holocaust is the harrowing story of the Holocaust as told through the eyes of its youngest victims and survivors.  Using diaries and survivor testimonies the story unfolds of lives forever changed by bigotry and prejudice.  

This exhibit is the El Paso Holocaust Museum's first exhibit designed and curated entirely in-house. This is also EPHM’s first exhibit created entirely about children and for children.  Remember Me: Children of the Holocaust will run through October 9 and admission is free.

Here to tell us all about it is Jamie Flores, Programming and Education Director for the El Paso Holocaust Museum.

We are invited to pay homage to some of the greatest musicians from our community with The Barrio Soul Mural created by artist Cimi Alvarado.

The mural that features bands such as The Birdland Combo, The Rythmairs, The Nite-Dreamers, The El Paso Drifters, Little Mike , Charlie Miller and the Jives and of course, the man that shared all the music with us, the legendary Steve Crosno is located at 523 S. Campbell in Segundo Barrio between thrid and fourth streets.

Here to tell us all about it, are artist Jesus “Cimi” Alvarado and Kathleen Decker.

Area families are invited to the El Paso Museum of Archaeology for a fun-filled day of Archaeology crafts and activities at the museum’s first ever Family Day.

Families are welcome to participate in a mock excavation, archery lessons, and atl-atl demonstrations as well as puppet-making, face painting and other crafts with an Archaeological twist.

Here to tell us about the days activities is Brittany Hutchinson, community engagement coordinator for the Museum of Archaeology. 

Storyteller, poet and musician, Jaime Rivera aka Zyme One talks about the release of his 4th album on CD titled Memories of My Melancholy Cholas – a tribute to the women of the barrio.

Jimmy B. Vigo, PhD, discusses the upcoming publication of his book titled Reckless Speculations & Twisted Thoughts: Exposing the False Conflict between Science & Religion – an exploration of the nature of human consciousness. 

Saturday July 23, 2016, you are invited to honor the life and legacy of one of Latin America’s most influential artists - Frida Kahlo.  July was the month of Frida's birth and death, and to pay tribute to this cultural and feminist icon, Frida Kahlo inspired art by local artists will be auctioned with proceeds to benefit the Hispanic Women's Network of Texas El Paso Scholarship Fund. 

The Artspace El Paso Lofts in downtown El Paso are almost finished, and in the interest of recruiting artist tenants, Artspace has been holding a series of informational sessions througout the city. Here to tell us more about the building and project timeline, life in the lofts and how you can become a tenant are Sarah White and Joe Butler from Artspace. 

The Barbed Wire Open Mic will feature Donna Snyder in its monthly reading series on Saturday, July 30, 2016 at 8:00 pm. At the Rock House Café and Gallery. Snyder will read from her new book, The Tongue Has Its Secrets, a collection of poetry recently published by NeoPoiesis Press.  Donna Snyder tells us about her book and the upcoming reading.

Artist Zeke Pena is working on Bravo/Grande, an interdisciplinary project that examines the relationship between regional communities and the river with creative practice and site-responsive art projects. Through community engagement and collaboration the project studies generational and binational trends in access, use and perception by documenting oral and written stories from the community. Bravo/Grande also explores the effect of immigration policy, increased militarization and U.S./MX relations on these trends. 

Board Vice-President, Mary Jo Melby; Board Member and Historian, Prince McKenzie; and artist, Dorian Clouser discuss the past, present and future of the El Paso International Museum of Art. 

Part 2 of our interview with Board Vice-President, Mary Jo Melby; Board Member and Historian, Prince McKenzie; and artist, Dorian Clouser from the El Paso International Museum of Art. 

Marie Losier, born in France, is a filmmaker and curator whose films are regularly shown at prestigious film festivals and museums. She’s in El Paso and Juarez because she received a Guggenheim Award to work on a film called Cassandro, The Exotico, a portrait of the beloved and celebrated Mexican wrestler. When it’s done, this film will be featured in her retrospective at the MOMA in New York City in October 2017.

This summer the El Paso Museum of Art will offer two exciting exhibitions that provide new insights into the life, relationships, art, and self-marketing of the most celebrated artist of the last century: Celebrating Picasso: Photographs by David Douglas Duncan, touring from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri; and Posting Picasso, organized in-house and featuring works from the Museum of Art’s own outstanding collection. 

El Paso’s EME Design Studio, is marking their fifth anniversary by bringing home national awards and recognition for work done for El Paso businesses. EME Design Studio just won their second national Silver ADDY at the National American Advertising Awards. Here to talk design is Joel Martinez of EME Design Studio.

The Museums & Cultural Affairs Department is building a public collection of artwork created by El Paso Area artists that recognizes the artistic talent and cultural diversity in El Paso.  The artwork becomes a part of the City of El Paso Art Collection and is placed in City buildings for the benefit and enjoyment of the general public.  Pat Dalbin of the City of El Paso’s Public Art Program talks about how local artists can become involved.

If you like Country-Western bars you’ll want to check out Boots.  This play features a more or less friendly bunch of characters the likes of which you’re no doubt familiar.  Sure, there’s drinkin’, after all, it’s a bar, but by and large things are fine until greed steps in and threatens to break up our happy patrons and wipe out the bar.   If you enjoy a puzzle you’ll like the twists and turns of this story.  Here to give us the lowdown on Boots, are playwrights Stephanie Karr and Mark Watts.

The Film Salon is a monthly screening series devoted to the celebration of classic and important films. The Film Salon has found a new home at the Alamo Drafthouse. Charles Horak has cultivated a discerning audience of cinephiles and those looking to expand their awareness of cinema history.  Horak will continue to curate The Film Salon’s programs and provide commentary before and after each film.  Here to tell us about the move and how you can get tickets to the next show is Charles Horak.