14 Pews

About

14 Pews is a mission-driven 501[c]3 nonprofit that is passionate about enriching lives through the positive, transformational power of the arts, education,

Story

14 Pews is a nonprofit, passionate about enriching lives through the positive, transformational power of the arts, education, and community outreach.

It was founded in 2010 by Houston filmmaker, Cressandra Thibodeaux. It is housed in a 1924 wooden church which was converted into an art house. The first 14 Pews event was in September 2010. In March 2011, 14 Pews received its nonprofit status.

14 Pews first began its Artist-in-Residency Program in 2011 to promote and encourage artists by giving them full use of the theater to create new works for an entire year. 14 Pews provides the space; a stipend from the box office income, and marketing. Since 2011, 14 Pews has selected, supported and promoted 11 talented artists. In 2011, our artist-in-residence was Emily Sloan (performance artist), who created 4 site-specific performances. In 2012, it was Sandy Ewen (visual artist and electronic musician), who created 3 concerts and 2 art shows. In 2013, it was Elizabeth Keel (playwright), who created a full-length site-specific play, performed 2 one-acts and had a reading of her novel. In 2014, we had Two Star Symphony (8 musicians and composers), who created a live original score to the classic film, "Girl Shy" and several original musical works.

In June 2012, 14 Pews launched its summer Film Academy to at-risk students who were economically disadvantaged at Reagan High School. The goal of the Film Academy is to keep unsupervised "latch-key" students engaged in positive and creative activities that would be beneficial to the students and their community. Cressandra Thibodeaux plus 11 guest lecturers taught the 3-week workshop. The class culminated in a Student Film Festival, which was free and opened to the general public.

The types of audiences that 14 Pews programming is reaching is mostly age 45-64, female, married, college graduate, Caucasian, who are middle and upper-middle class. Our programs encourage dialogue after each cultural event because we want to hear from all the voices of Houston.

Since 2010, 14 Pews has:
-- Screened over 400 Independent films, documentaries, narrative, experimental and short films.

-- Created, curated and hosted 5 film festivals: "It Gets Better" Film Festival, 14 Pews Film Academy Film Festival, H-Town Multicultural Film Festival, The Bayou City Music & Film Festival, Bayou City Food & Film Festival.

-- Created a weekly German Film Series co-sponsored with the German Consulate and The Goethe-Institut.

We are proud to have met and surpassed our goals for our first three years as a non-profit and look forward to serving our community for many more years to come.

Mission

14 Pews is a mission-driven 501[c]3 nonprofit that is passionate about enriching lives through the positive, transformational power of the arts, education, and community outreach.