Summer Studios Stages 2023

Summer Studios Stages Take-Over: September 18 and September 19

We are excited to announce that Summer Studios is being re-mixed into SUMMER STUDIOS STAGES! The Summer Studios Program was developed to provide an opportunity for emerging socially engaged artists to create and exhibit work that responds to and/or is reflective of community. This year’s Summer Studios program is unlike any other. For the first time in this program’s history, Summer Studios is taking a special turn and highlighting time-based media and digital artists.

Selected Summer Studios Stages students receive: 

• $1,500 stipend 
• Mentorship with esteemed Houston-based artists 
• Access to open rehearsal space located on the main campus of PRH 
• An opportunity to present their work at Project Row Houses, Eldorado Ballroom, and other Third Ward landmarks! 

This year, students will work closely with guest facilitators and mentors Matt Manalo and Tobaric Atkins-Montana on a 6-week program that will include exclusive visits to other Houston arts organizations, group conversations with Houston’s finest artists, hands-on workshops, and more. The students will be required to gather once a week to engage with our mentors as they guide the Summer Studios Stages cohort through the foundations of social and community practice as they learn how to incorporate those principles into their own artworks. Learn more about our guest facilitators below:

Matt Manalo is a multidisciplinary artist who was born in Manila, Philippines and resides in Houston. His environmentally conscious work incorporates raw materials and found objects and tackles ideas surrounding his own immigrant identity, displacement, and how “home” is defined. Manalo is influenced by the physical and social structures that exist in both the Philippines and the United States as well as the erasure of histories and presence of colorism that have resulted from colonization. Manalo is the founder of Filipinx Artists of Houston, a collective of visual, performing, literary, culinary, and multidisciplinary artists. He also runs an alternative art space: Alief Art House, a hub for creativity that highlights the cultural richness of the multiple communities within a unique Houston neighborhood.

Tobaric Atkins-Montana is a Houston based Choreographer and Dancer. He has been professionally dancing for seven plus years with companies such as Alas Dance, Pilot Dance Company, Urban Souls, Nia’s Daughters, Creative Movement Practice, and Holding Space Flow arts. His Pre-professional career started in High school as he danced in Alief Jazz Ballet and continued to college. He’s had the opportunity to train in various forms of modern, flow, soft acrobatics, jazz, ballet, Cuban contemporary, and west African. He Recently embarked on his journey of Choreography within the establishment of his dance company IMU Dance with the Mission to create works that empower, educate and entertain others with love and understanding through dance. 

After the 6-week studio period, the 2023 cohort will have the opportunity to present the works they’ve created during the program with Summer Studios Stages Take-Over. In September, students will engage with our community through their own series of performances, screenings, and other programs. This is a special opportunity for students to present their work at the Eldorado Ballroom and work with the PRH Art Team to gain valuable experience of learning how to put on a show from beginning to end!

If you have any questions about the program, please email Sol at sdiaz@projectrowhouses.org.    

Important Summer Studios Stages Dates:

Studio Period: Tuesday, June 20 – Monday, July 31, 2023    
Summer Studios Stages Take-Over: Monday, September 18 and Tuesday, September 19 at the Eldorado Ballroom.