Performing Arts Houston (SPA)

Performing Arts Houston offers culturally diverse programming ranging from world-renowed music, dance, theater, speakers and a variety of of other performance-based events that engage a wide range of audience demographics. Programming is partially underwritten by foundations, corporations, and individual donors to achieve the goal of making these world-class performances affordable for all audiences. Our 2021-2022 season marked our return to live performances after the covid pandemic shuttered our theaters and halted all domestic and international touring activity. As we welcomed our audiences back with a dynamic but slightly smaller season of 21 diverse artists, we were joyfully reminded of one of our core beliefs that there is no substitute for the shared experience of live Performing Arts.

Performing Arts Houston's education and community programs leverage the diverse talents of the remarkable artists we present on stage to curate programs for schools and our community to access, discover, and create in the Performing Arts. Throughout the year, we offered a free, virtual series of conversations between our visiting artists and local creators and scholars. Our in-person extended programming with our artists featured master classes, a student matinee, and unique performance opportunities for students. School programs included our signature in-school residency program, the collaborative Arts project, in six dance & visual art classrooms and our long-running student art contest which featured over 600 submissions and a celebratory awards presentation highlighting the talents of area students. New/now: the Houston artist commissioning project supported six local artists and collaborations in the creation of new artisitc work that premiered at jones hall in festival format in october and november. At the end of the season, a new cohort of live commission awardees was selected to continue this program which amplifies the voices of local artists through the opportunity to create and perform new works on our Houston stages in our 22/23 season.