Vincent Valdez (b. 1977, San Antonio, TX) lives and works in Houston, TX and Los Angeles, CA. He received a full scholarship to the Rhode Island School of Design, earning his BFA in 2000. He was a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant for Painters and Sculptors (2016), as well as completing residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting (2005), the Vermont Studio Center (2011), the Kunstlerhaus Bethania Berlin Residency (2014), and Joan Mitchell Center (2018). Valdez was the 2019 Artadia awardee in Houston, TX, and a 2020 artist fellow at NXTHVN in New Haven. Recent exhibitions include The Face of Battle: Americans at War, 9/11 to Now, Smithsonian Museum of American Art and National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC; So Different, So Appealing, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; The City, Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX; Between Play and Grief: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Suffering from Realness, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA; and ESTAMOS BIEN: LA TRIENAL 20/21, El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY. The artist has been shortlisted as a finalist for the Smithsonian’s 2022 National Portrait Award. Valdez’s portrait of his grandparents was presented in The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today, a major exhibition premiering at the National Portrait Gallery from April 30, 2022 through Feb. 26, 2023, before traveling to other cities in the United States. He is represented by Matthew Brown Gallery in Los Angeles, CA.

Houston’s first-and-only bilingual children’s choir, Segundo Barrio Children's Chorus (SBCC), transforms the lives of children and their families through tuition-free music-education, coupled with transformative performance opportunities at community events throughout Segundo Barrio/East-End and greater Houston. Arts-education and creative-expression are proven to build character & confidence, instill discipline, foster pride in cultural-identity and build community. Our focus on YOUTH-DEVELOPMENT keeps children off the streets and engaged in the arts, while also reducing drop-out rates and increasing overall academic-outcomes.

Chicano Boulevard was founded by Isaac Rodriguez and Robert Apodaca. The group is currently made up of six members. Each bringing experience, knowledge, and a unique skill-set that helps contribute to the overall mission. That mission is to celebrate, preserve and educate on all aspects Chicano Culture. Other members include David, Ben, Jocelyn, and Johnny.

A singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Nick Gaitan makes music rooted in Houston’s East End and broader Gulf Coast: Tejano, Chicano Soul, Country, Blues, Swamp Pop, Rockabilly, and Soul. He’s a master of the tololoche, Mexico’s signature version of the double bass, and has played with greats including Billy Joe Shaver, Los Skarnales, and Nikki Hill. Gaitan is also an active Chicano Community music scholar and historian, working to celebrate, explore, and preserve the sounds that have shaped him.