Sharing a Legacy--A Celebration of American Indian Heritage MonthSunday, November 8
1 - 4 p.m.
Free
A great variety of American Indian art forms will be demonstrated during the Museum's 3rd annual collaboration with Great Promise and the Austin Powwow, celebrating American Indian Heritage Month. Spend the afternoon with fiber artists, storytellers, singers and dancers, and learn more about the diversity of cultures. Highlighted artists include Vanessa Jennings, a beadworker and National Living Treasure; Lorraine Herder and Edith Herder Simonson of Black Mesa Weavers; Karen Bellinghausen who creates fine regalia representing many different traditions; and Sequoya Guess, a traditional storyteller of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. Bring the family to enjoy storytelling, hands-on activities and art making, music, and dancing.
Color Pattern Grid
November 22
1 - 3 p.m.
Free with Museum admission
Ever wondered why quilting is so popular? Come to the Museum for an afternoon that explores all types of quilts--from the most traditional to the latest contemporary styles. Tour the new exhibit A Legacy of Quilts: The Briscoe Center's Joyce Gross Collection to see classic quilts and then watch demonstrations of contemporary quilting from Kathy York and the Austin Art Bee to compare today's quilting with historical techniques. Quilters of all stripes will be around to share patterns and advice. Kids get the chance to design their own quilt grid too! Stitch and Kitsch--Intergenerational Stitch Party
December 19
1 - 3 p.m.
Free with Museum admission
In celebration of our Hotsy-Totsy exhibit A Legacy of Quilts: The Briscoe Center's Joyce Gross Collection, join us for an afternoon of 1930s-style celebration. Bring your craft project and spend the afternoon sizzlin' to the hot tunes of Aunt Ruby's Sweet Jazz Babies. Tour the exhibit with expert quilters or sit and stitch with other kindred crafters. We'll have some slick birds on hand to show you the latest fads, get you started on new crafts, or to give you a hand with unfinished projects. Knitting lessons for lads and lasses. Special prizes for dressing the bee's knees. It'll be a real hootenanny!
Ongoing Programs
Join us once a month during the noon hour for engaging conversations in the exhibits! High Noon Talks will feature special guests who will reveal the interesting and often untold tales that shape the Story of Texas. Click here for more information.
Previous Programs
In The Shadow of Giants: Craig Toungate
Friday, March 6: Sold Out
7 PM in the Texas Spirit Theater
Members $12, $15 Non-Members
Reservations required. Call (512) 936-4649
Saturday, March 7: Sold Out
7 PM in the Texas Spirit Theater
Members $12, $15 Non-Members
Reservations required. Call (512) 936-4649
This debut performance will mark the 173rd Anniversary of the fall of the Alamo and the ensuing Sam Houston-led San Jacinto Campaign for Texas Independence. In The Shadow Of Giants tells the story of the Texas Revolution from the day of the fall of the Alamo to the Battle of San Jacinto using original songs and narration based on eyewitness accounts. Native Texan troubadour Craig Toungate portrays his great grandfather, Texas pioneer settler and member of Sam Houston’s army Meredith Toungate in this riveting historical perspective. This performance will combine drama and unexpected humor with memorable music and first person narration from a true Texas character.
Germans in Texas Walking Tour
Saturday, April 11, 10-12:30 PM
Members Free, $5 Non-Members
Reservations required, please call (512) 936-4649
Discover Austin's German roots by walking historic downtown Austin. The tour includes an introduction to The Texas State History Museum's special exhibit, Forgotten Gateway: Coming to America Through Galveston Island, a walking tour of historic German sites including Scholz Garten, Turner Hall, and Gethsemane Lutheran Church, followed by a presentation on German immigrant life in Texas in the late 1800s at the German-Texan Heritage Society.
Transformative Journeys: A Symposium
Thursday, April 30
7 PM
Spirit Theater
FREE Reservations required, please call (512) 936-4649
Join artists Lordy Rodriguez, Liliana Wilson, Tien Nguyen, Eduardo Xavier Garcia, and Terrence Moline as they discuss how their experience of immigration and place has informed their identities and work. The symposium is presented by the Austin Museum of Art, the Mexican American Cultural Center, the Austin History Center, Mexic-Arte Museum, The George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center, and the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in conjunction with the exhibit Forgotten Gateway: Coming to America Through Galveston Island on view at the Texas State History Museum.
Arts on the Move
Thursday, May 14
6-9 PM
FREE
Click on map
Six cultural institutions in Austin invite you to a community arts tour that explores immigrant artist experiences. Participating cultural organizations and exhibitions include:
The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, Forgotten Gateway: Coming to America Through Galveston Island; Meet curator Dr. Suzy Seriff from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Austin Museum of Art, Lordy Rodriguez: The States of America; Come for special docent-lead tours of the exhibit throughout the evening.
Austin History Center,Vietnam to Austin: Restoring Community; Enjoy refreshments and meet artist Tien Nguyen from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Mexic-Arte Museum, 25th Anniversary Permanent Collection Exhibition; Join us in a celebration and public affirmation of the rich artistic heritage of Mexico and the enduring significance of Mexican culture in Austin, and throughout the state of Texas.
Mexican-American Cultural Center,Right Now From Far Away (featuring the work of Liliana Wilson and Cecilia Sánchez Duarte); Meet artist Liliana Wilson from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. and enjoy light refreshments.
The George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center, Who We Are featuring the work of photographer Alice McNamara.
Altered Lives: An Immigration Film Series
February – June 2009 7-9 PM
Spirit Theater
Film Organizations Members and Museum Members FREE
Non-Members, $5
To help tell the story illustrated in the special exhibition, Forgotten Gateway: Coming to America Through Galveston Island, the Museum is hosting a film series that will run from February through June.
February 26, 2009:
Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival presents Through Thick and Thin directed by Sebastian Cordoba. The documentary follows the extraordinary stories of seven bi-national gay and lesbian couples whose lives are dramatically affected by current immigration law. Cordoba intimately captures integral moments of each of the couples as they struggle to stay together at whatever cost, unfortunately demonstrating that love does not conquer all. A panel discussion on immigration law and its effects on gay and lesbian couples will follow the screening.
March 26, 2009:
The Texas State History Museum screens The Visitor by Director Tom McCarthy. Walter, a college professor, travels to New York to attend a conference and returns to finds a Syrian man and his Senegalese girlfriend living in his apartment. The couple has nowhere to go and when Walter reluctantly allows the couple to stay with him they return his kindness by teaching him the exuberant rhythms of the African drum and rekindling his passion for life.
April 23, 2009:
Austin Film Society screens The Exiles (Kent MacKenzie, 1961), a rare treasure from mid-century American independent cinema. The film surveys 12 hours in the lives of Yvonne, Homer, and Tommy, Native Americans who have left their reservations or small towns to try to survive in Los Angeles. MacKenzie’s use of a documentary shooting style and voice-over narration makes this narrative film amazingly realistic. The characters move around a downtown L.A. that no longer exists – decaying Bunker
Hill boarding houses and apartments, Angel’s Flight funicular (for transportation, not tourism), seedy bars and clubs, Hill X overlooking the city and providing a space for drumming, and downtown movie theaters. This is a stunning film that shows emigration from well structured Native American life to the disorder of big-city poverty was as great a leap as any taken by immigrants to the US from other countries. The screening includes an appearance by special guest Orvie Lee Longhorn (Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Delaware), who will speak about his own experiences being relocated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Anadarko Agency in Oklahoma in 1957 to San Jose, California.May 28, 2009:
Austin Film Festival presents Stories of Borders: Short Films about Immigration. Join us for an evening of film and an appearance by local filmmakers Matthew Gossage (Director of America's Family Prison) and Angela Torres Camarena (Director of Exiled in America). The short film lineup includes:
Wet Foot/Dry Foot – Finding themselves stranded on a deserted island, two Cuban refugees must struggle against nature and each other to stand a chance at freedom. Get caught in the water, and they send you home, but touch dry land and you’re allowed to stay. (USA, 17 min.) Directed by: Carlos Gutierrez
Muertas – A young American journalist attempts to piece together the fractured memories of a love lost amidst the ongoing Juarez, Mexico murders. (USA, 9 min.) Directed by: Ryan Piers WilliamsVictoria Para Chino – In May 2003 a refrigerated truck carrying more than 80 undocumented immigrants from the Mexican border drove into the Heartland of Texas. This is a story of that journey. (USA, 13 min.) Directed by: Cary Fukunaga
America’s Family Prison – A determined people stand in solidarity with imprisoned, non-criminal immigrant families to close the for-profit “residential facility” which holds them. (USA, 18 min.) Directed by: Matthew Gossage
Exiled in America – A group of siblings cope with the deportation of their mother, a legal U.S. citizen, while calling into question the legality and morality of the nation’s zero tolerance laws. (USA, 10min.) Directed by Angela Torres Camarena
June 25, 2009:Cine Las Americas presents El Norte, Gregory Nava's directorial feature film debut which tells the story of a brother and sister, Enrique and Rosa Xuncax, who choose to flee their mountain village in Guatemala rather than face military persecution. They embark upon a harrowing journey to a fabled land of plush houses, electric lights, and flush toilets.
The land is America: The North. Together, Enrique and Rosa acquire a small piece of the American dream, though their native Mayan identities are slowly being stripped away. When temptation threatens to destroy their bond, it is their spirit that proves indelible. Newly restored for its 25th anniversary, this landmark of independent film (which Variety described as the “first American independent epic”) was the first commercial feature film that presented the immigration community in a humane and intimate light, recorded in Mayan, Spanish and English languages. After 25 years it is finally back on the big screen."El Norte tells their story with astonishing visual beauty, with unashamed melodrama, with anger leavened by hope. It is a Grapes of Wrath for our time." -Roger Ebert Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
World Refugee DaySaturday, June 20
1-5 PM
FREE
Join us to celebrate and meet some of Austin’s newest Texans for the United Nations World Refugee Day. This free event is in conjunction with Forgotten Gateway: Coming to America Through Galveston Island.
Austin singer songwriter Sara Hickman will kick off a live music stage with other activities including children’s games, food, face painting, a fashion show, and more. Collaborating organizations include Austin Area Interreligious Ministries, Caritas of Austin, Center for Survivors of Torture, City of Austin Refugee Health Screening Clinic, Heart of Texas Peace Corps Association, Refugee Services of Texas-Austin, The United Nations Association, and Multicultural Refugee Coalition.
Photo of Refugee Family by Caroline Mowry.
Forgotten Gateway Curatorial Talk
Sunday, June 21
2 PM
Free with exhibit admission Meet in the Forgotten Gateway exhibit with the guest curator, Dr. Suzanne Seriff, who will share the behind-the-scenes stories of the artifacts and people who helped create this extraordinary exhibition, which joins a growing museum movement around the country to use history as a lens through which to engage in conversation around issues of national importance to us today.
Beginner Genealogy Workshop: Sold Out
Friday, August 14, 9:30 AM – 5 PM
Museum Members $25, Non-Members $35, Class Limited to 25
Reservations required. Call 512-936-4649
Museum Classroom 137
Dr. Martha Everman Jones leads an intensive beginning genealogy workshop for adults. Learn how to use public records and the internet to research your heritage. Attendees will also have the opportunity to get hands-on research experience at the General Land Office and the Texas State Library and Archives. Participants should bring a one inch, three-ring binder for handouts.
Forgotten Gateway Curatorial Talk
Sunday, August 30, 2 PM
Free with exhibit admission
Meet in the Forgotten Gateway exhibit with the guest curator, Dr. Suzanne Seriff, who will share the behind-the-scenes stories of the artifacts and people who helped create this extraordinary exhibition. This exhibit joins a growing museum movement around the country to use history as a lens through which to engage in conversation around issues of national importance to us today.
Cooking Classes at Central Market
Friday, September 4;
Friday, September 18;
and
Tuesday, October 6
6:30 – 9 PM at HEB Central Market (4001 North Lamar, Austin)
Museum Members $50, Non-Members $55 for each class
Reservations required, please call HEB at 512-206-1014.
Do you love ethnic foods? Come celebrate the rich immigrant history of Texas through a 3-part series of cooking classes developed by the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum and HEB Central Market. 
Texas is home to cuisines from around the world. Many immigrants have passed through the gates of Galveston Island bringing unique culinary traditions with them. Today, Texas continues to attract immigrants from every continent, adding unique spice to our tables, restaurants and grocery stores. Join us to taste and learn how to prepare food from some of these delicious traditions: Vietnamese, Greek, and Ethiopian.
Friday, September 4
Join Tran Ngoc, owner of Tam Deli in Austin, for an evening of delicious Vietnamese cooking.
Friday, September 18
Join the Georgantonis sisters, authors of Greek Food for Thought: Recipes for the Body and Soul, for Greek food and fun.
Tuesday, October 6
Join Aster Kassaye, owner of Aster's Ethiopian Restaurant in Austin, to learn the art of Ethiopian cooking.
Calendar of Public Events
Click here to see a complete calendar of Public Events.
Admission to the Museum’s exhibits, including the special exhibit Forgotten Gateway: Coming to America Through Galveston Island in the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Hall of Special Exhibitions: $7.00 for adults, $6.00 for seniors/military/college students (with valid ID), $4 for youth ages 5-18, free for ages 4 and under. The Museum is located at 1800 N. Congress Ave., at the corner of Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in downtown Austin. For more information, call 512-936-TSHM (512-936-8746).
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