Town Meeting Symposium: Galveston Arts Center

Saturday, October 24 10am-6pm

Galveston Arts Center

Spanish Language interpretation will be available.

 

 This symposium is part of "Town Meeting 1978 - 2028" a multi-year initiative led by queer interdisciplinary artists Nick Vaughan & Jake Margolin to inspire and coordinate programming across Houston in Fall 2028 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of "Town Meeting 1" a pivotal 1978 convening of 4,000 LGBTQIA+ Houstonians at the Astro Arena, which galvanized Houston’s emerging LGBTQIA+ rights movement and helped lead to the creation of major institutions including The Montrose Center and The Montrose Clinic (Legacy Health).

Following a 2025 Symposium at Art League Houston, we are convening artists, organizers, and scholars to explore the history and potential of queer artistic participation. The symposium will look at examples of queer artistic inquiry and collaborations between queer artists and broader LGBTQIA+ political and social initiatives to imagine future organizing.

 

Presenters include:

Julia Bryan-Wilson

Frances Cava-Humphrey

Mo Cortez

Sol Diaz-Peña

Joelle Espeut

free feral

Koomah

Brandon Mack

L. Frank Manriquez

Ayanna Joliet Mccloud

Chris E. Vargas

Nick Vaughan & Jake Margolin

Documentation by Violette Bule

(read presenter bios here)

MEALS

Lunch will be provided for all attendees and there will be snacks throughout the day.

We will have vegetarian, gluten free, and dairy free options for lunch. Galveston Arts Center is in the heart of Galveston's Strand with plentiful food options as well. Let us know if you have any of the following dietary needs.

TRANSPORTATION

Galveston Arts Center is located at the heart of the Strand in Galveston.

We are looking into chartering a bus from Houston to Galveston (pickup/dropoff at the Montrose Center). Please let us know if you would be interested in riding on this bus (free) or getting a ride in a carpool. And let us know if you would be interested in driving others in a carpool.

HOTELS

The symposium is one-day, Saturday October 24th.

On Sunday, October 25th we will be hosting a very casual continued hang for anyone who lives in Galveston, decides to stay over, or wants to return down for a second day.

Hotel Lucine has offered a roughly 20% discount code for symposium attendees - use code "Nick & Jake".

Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) Film Round Up program!

The Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) is excited to continue to support the preservation of Texas’ LGBTQ+ history. TAMI will be collecting submissions for our free Film Round Up program at the  Town Meeting 1978-2028 Symposium at the Galveston Art Center on October 24th. Attendees are invited to bring AV materials to be dropped off for digitization through the Round Up program. Learn more about the Round Up Program and accepted formats at texasarchive.org/round-up.

If you would like to bring materials for submission at the symposium, you must pre-register via texasarchive.org/ruform prior to the event in order for your materials to be submitted. Materials brought to the event and not preregistered may not be able to be accepted. When filling out the form, on the second page under How will your films be delivered to TAMI? Select Drop off at Galveston Symposium on October 24.