reader, 

If you're new here, well howdy! Welcome to my weekly blog about Houston arts and culture, plus whatever else I wish to share from my brain. Scroll to the very bottom for more about it.

A special note if you're a parent or caregiver: be sure to follow my GISH PICKS page for my CAMP PICKS (holiday day camps) and EXPLORE PICKS (school year enrichment programs; my latest blog is here). I've also created weekly "Monday Night Live" videos at 9pm on my Facebook page about family fun and I'll be doing one more next Monday, September 7. And then the school year kicks off -- good luck!

As you read, please note that all the words in purple are linked to websites.

WHAT'S ON MY MIND THIS WEEK? My blog has been about live arts & culture events since 2004 -- and the COVID pandemic has hit all of us very hard. My heart aches on a daily basis for that. As stated in this article, "The live event industry as a whole went to zero income on March 13” and “Unlike some of the other struggling businesses, we sit at a moment where we can do absolutely nothing. You’ve got 10 million people that literally are making no income.”

This week I'm asking for your help. I'm a gal who likes to find the positive in things, and also to dig around and figure out how to take action. Thankfully, the people of our city and our nation are turning their focus on helping LIVE VENUES (my favorite home for arts & culture!) -- I've listed some news and actions below.

Please also take a moment to donate to your favorite performing arts org -- they are suffering alongside the live venues. If you need some ideas as to which arts group(s), check out my nine quarantine blogs for information about 45 Houston-based arts organizations!

  1. Houston Clean is an initiative to unify businesses and venues to prepare for re-opening safely. Learn about them on this page -- included in this effort are many arts groups I write about, including Alley Theatre, Asia Society Texas Center, Holocaust Museum Houston, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston Museum of Natural Science, Miller Outdoor Theatre, and Rothko Chapel.
  2. Check out the #RedAlertRESTART program here. Houston was one of over 1,500 cities around the country who lit up buildings red this week as a signal that the live events industry is on "Red Alert." Houston chose City Hall; you can see pics here.
  3. Ask the members of Congress who represent you to support the RESTART Act, a bill which extends the Paycheck Protection Program through the end of 2020. Don't know who represents you? Click here or fill out the easy peasy form here.
  4. The National Association of Theatre Owners has created a #SaveYourCinema campaign, here, which also has a widget to send emails to your members of Congress about the RESTART Act, with a specific focus on movie theatres. They've also got a new CinemaSafe program to protect patrons against COVID. There are a few movie theatres open in Houston, including IPIC and others you can find here.

If you are wondering wassup with me this month, my current offerings are below. If you'd like to keep up with all my doings, please click here to get a sorta monthly newsletter from me full of info about my events and more, including my IGNITE YOUR LIFE! art project. Be sure to follow my Facebook pages too -- Gish Picks Kids and Gish Picks Adults. I'm always throwing words and pictures around somewhere!
⬆️CLICK ON IMAGE FOR WEBSITE⬆️
⬆️CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW VIDEO⬆️
My ⭐️ARTS PICKS Spotlight⭐️ this week is the Art Car Museum, which is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays by appointment. Their full list of new, COVID-safe guidelines is here. The current exhibition is Daniel Kramer: GIDDY UP!! A Decade of Documenting the Houston Rodeo, and, as always, they'll have some fun art cars for you to enjoy!

Click on the image on the right and you'll get to enjoy more art cars from a Facebook Live video I did prior to heading out for a fun-and-safe pop-up art car procession that my friends and I did a few weeks ago. I'm the gal in the front making the peace sign. We had a blast! There's no joy like the joy of seeing pandemic-weary people's faces light up (I assume they were smiling underneath their masks...).
And now -- the two virtual events I am PICK-ing this week. Please note that even my VIRTUAL PICKS are always Houston-based because I am very committed to Houston arts & culture.

➡️ Virtual for ADULTS: Did you know Numbers nightclub is one of the oldest continually operated alternative music venues in the United States? They are temporarily closed but are still jamming it online with DJ Wes Wallace on InSIDEs Wednesdays and Classic Numbers on Fridays. The club is happily celebrating their 42nd anniversary with an online party on Saturday, September 12. Partiers will get to see a clip of "Friday I'm in Love," an upcoming doc about the club, plus enjoy party packs and more.

➡️ Virtual for KIDS: the Houston Public Library has several fab online events that you can find here, including a weekly story time. Their YouTube channel is full of crafting fun, book chats, and more (and the BEST photo of the library staff!). All branches are temporarily closed, but HPL TO GO curbside book pick-up is available by appointment.
HIRE ME! If you want help getting centered -- or for focusing your life -- I'm available to help in many ways:

  • Virtual Labyrinth Walk with the Hines Center for Spirituality on Saturday, September 12 at 10am. All you need is your hands and this labyrinth that you can print up or use on a nearby device. The fee is donation-based; we appreciate any amount! Register by clicking on the link for the walk.
  • One-on-one labyrinth walks or nature mandala-making sessions (or both!), all done with masks and physical distancing. The fee varies based on what we are doing.
  • Virtual Life Path Sessions; see more about those here. It's $50 for 45 minutes during COVID. 
  • ZOOM meditation circles for kids of any age will be on Mondays from September 14-October 30, from 10-10:30am. The fee is $30 for the 7-week series. Registration information is below.

To book me for anything, please call me at 713.492.1173 or email me. I'd love to help you find PEACE in this crazy time.

UPDATES ON GISH PICKS:
In non-pandemic times, and since I started publishing my blog in 2004, it has been a space to promote my curated list of unique live Houston area cultural events (PICKS) on the weekend for adults and kids. Because of COVID-19, those haven't happened since mid-March so I originally re-worked the format to focus on 5 Houston-based arts & culture organizations in my (Almost) Daily Dose of ARTS PICKS blog each of the NINE weeks of quarantine. You can see each edition - and read about 45 arts groups! - here.
 
And now I'm bringing you an ⭐️ARTS PICKS Spotlight⭐️ each week -- featuring an arts & culture space that is open -- and you'll get info about all of their activities and sometimes a video to bring them to life. Alongside that, I'll also be PICK-ing one local virtual event each for ADULTS and KIDS. 

I'll keep doing all of that until public events start happening again on a larger scale and I can start curating live event PICKS again.

In the meantime: please enjoy my weekly Spotlights and VIRTUAL PICKS, and please stay healthy!


Sincerely,

Sarah Gish
713.492.1173


P.S. If you want to IGNITE YOUR LIFE now or anytime, check out my list of "12 Ways to Ignite Your Life Daily" -- and watch the 12 videos I made about each Way here. I'm very proud of that list and my work and I hope it will help you live a fully creative life. Meditation, taking care of yourself, enjoying life, and laughing -- plus more! -- is what will get us through this global pandemic. 
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