By Addie Tsai
For better or for worse, I’ve always felt that Houston, with its vast freeway systems and complex, urban sprawl, had a lot to offer—sometimes, you had to search to find it. And although I have plenty of gripes about social media, one of the things I’m grateful for is its way of getting the word out about events that I otherwise may have only found out about after they ended. It was through social media that I learned about the current exhibition at the “new” DeLuxe Theater, Art for the People: Celebrating 50 Years of the DeLuxe Show and the 5th Ward Community, which runs until September 30, 2021. The DeLuxe Theater will host a closing program that day at 6:30 p.m. The program, which is free of charge, will include a few words from each exhibiting artist and co-curator Danielle Burns Wilson.
Art for the People pays homage to The DeLuxe Show, one of the country’s first-ever integrated art exhibitions, which took place 50 years ago in 1971 at the old DeLuxe Theater. The DeLuxe Theater originally opened in 1941 and served the city’s Black community. After the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, segregated movie theaters were no longer needed, and the DeLuxe Theater closed in 1969. However, the building remained standing and, in 1971 when the De Menils tasked New York artist Peter Bradley with finding an appropriate venue in 5th Ward for an integrated art exhibit, its purpose would be transformed.
“The DeLuxe showed films that were family-oriented,” explains Harrison Guy, director of arts and culture at Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation. “That was another reason why they decided to set The DeLuxe Show there, because it was already seen as a family-friendly place.”
Co-curator Danielle Burns Wilson, Project Row Houses’ curator and art director, wanted to flip the original show—which was intended to bring “high art” and culture into the “ghetto” to the Black community—on its head. Instead, Wilson focused on the community who came to see the exhibit. They’ve anchored the exhibition with photos of the community seeing the original 1971 exhibition. The rest of the exhibit includes artists from the 5th Ward neighborhood—artists who live or whose studios are based in the community.
Photo courtesy Harrison Guy.
“I like the idea of having art accessible in this community,” says Guy. “I think their intent was a little problematic, but I love the idea of accessibility. I want the people in this community to feel like they can roll out of bed and see some art. A gallery can be anywhere. I want them to understand that what happened wasn’t outside of them. It was because of them. You can’t get The DeLuxe Show without 5th Ward, and 5th Ward people. Something great happened, and something great is happening.”
Guy brings to The DeLuxe Theater a “mixed bag” of experiences from serving the LGBTQ community that enables him to advocate for any person who might find their way to 5th Ward and to The Deluxe Theater. He’s the founder and creative director of the nonprofit Urban Souls Dance Company, a modern Black dance company. He served as Pride Houston’s 2019 Male Grand Marshal and Chair of the Mayor’s LGBTQ Advisory Board. Guy’s also performed activism work, such as when he worked as an analyst and program developer for an HIV-prevention agency that focused on outreach work among Black gay cis men. Guy also founded the Charles Law Community Archive at the Gregory School to document Houston’s Black LGBTQIA+ history, as well as led conversations on racism in the arts via the Center for the Healing of Racism. It is this combination of experiences and insights that he brings to The DeLuxe Theater to help build and foster a community for 5th Ward and throughout the Houston arts community.
The DeLuxe Theater rents the space for theater, dance, movement, and art exhibitions from arts organizations throughout Houston, but what distinguishes them from other theater spaces is an emphasis on what Guy describes as “radical hospitality.”
“Radical hospitality is what we want to be known for,” Guy says. “That’s very 5th Ward, small town, small Houston. It’s not New York. It doesn’t have to be. The difference is we care about you as a person. I always ask anyone who comes to us: how we can infuse you into the community? It can be magical.”
Starting in October 2021, anyone will be able to come to The DeLuxe Theater for a number of different community events and activities: salsa on Tuesdays, yoga on Wednesdays, and a youth program on Saturdays (The DeLuxe Kids for elementary level and The 5th Ward Vanguard Program for the upper level).
Guy hopes that this will become an annual exhibition, with a guest artist and featured neighborhood artists from the community each year.
“Today this woman came to see the show who used to work here and remembered that she met her husband here, too,” Guy shares. “That’s the story. That’s gold. It’s the reason I work here. I always ask people what their 5th Ward story is. When I was teaching dance at a fine arts magnet school, I would get a group of kids who auditioned together, who auditioned for everything. And they were from the 5th Ward. My association was knowing the 5th Ward through the talent. No matter what we do here, we will stay focused on the people.”
For more information on Art for the People: Celebrating 50 Years of the DeLuxe Show and the 5th Ward Community, visit https://thedeluxetheater.com/whats-on/.
