Rothko Chapel

Following an eighteen-month restoration, the Chapel has reopened to the public with transformed lighting that brings the space into alignment with the founders’ original vision for the first time. This conversation explores the original design of the Rothko Chapel, the importance of light within the building, the Chapel’s growing campus, and the creative process of the Opening Spaces Design Team.

Panelists include: Adam Yarinsky, Principal, Architecture Research Office; George S. Sexton III, Principal, George Sexton Associates; and Thomas L. Woltz, Principal, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects; moderated by Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, Melva Bucksbaum Associate Director for Conservation and Research, Whitney Museum of Art.

Today, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is celebrated for his 'dream' of a just America, but by the end of his career King was calling for a "radical reconstruction" of the United States. What compelled the transformation of King's ideas and what do they tell us about our society today? For the 2021 Annual MLK Birthday Celebration, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor engaged these questions in hopes of unlocking the ideas and strategies necessary to enact effective and lasting change in the United States. A Q&A session followed the lecture, moderated by Brandon Mack, community activist and lead organizer for Black Lives Matter: Houston.

The Chapel started this important annual gathering in 1979 to connect the contemporary implications of Dr. King’s legacy to the ongoing struggle for civil and human rights, captured through artist Barnett Newman’s Broken Obelisk. This sculpture, located on the plaza adjacent to the Chapel, is dedicated to Dr. King.

About the Presenter

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is an Assistant Professor in the Department of African-American Studies at Princeton University. She is author of Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership, published in 2019 by the University of North Carolina Press, longlisted for a National Book Award for nonfiction and a 2020 finalist for the Pulitzer in History. Taylor’s book From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, won the Lannan Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book in 2016. She is also editor of How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective, which won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ nonfiction in 2018. Taylor is a columnist for The New Yorker.

About the Moderator

Brandon Mack is a community activist and sociologist dedicated to issues related to the intersections of race, gender, and sexual orientation. He is a lead organizer with Black Lives Matter: Houston, Co-Chapter Director of New Leaders Council - Houston, Screening Committee and Education and Advocacy Chair of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, and Research Coordinator for the Mayor’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board. Mack is currently a Ph.D. student in the Higher Education Leadership & Policy Studies at University of Houston.

Frances Tarlton “Sissy” Farenthold Endowed Lecture Series in Peace, Social Justice and Human Rights

Is this really a racial reckoning? with Charles M. Blow

Presented in partnership with the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice at UT’s School of Law

After the killing of George Floyd, millions of people, of all races and ethnicities, in America and around the world, poured into the streets as part of historic protests to demand racial justice. Some began to call those protests a major civil rights moment, a long-overdue, honest dealing with racial justice and equality. But, as months have passed, as progress has stalled and protests narrow, we are forced to wrestle with the question: Is this really a racial reckoning?

Join the Rothko Chapel and the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice at the University of Texas at Austin for the 6th annual Frances Tarlton “Sissy” Farenthold Endowed Lecture in Peace, Social Justice and Human Rights.

The 2020 Farenthold Lecture kicked-off a series of Rothko Chapel programs exploring the past, present, and future of civil and human rights in this country. Which rights are particularly at-risk in today’s society, and how can we become more effective advocates and activists as we work to undo injustice and create a society of equality and equity? A moderated Q&A session by ABC13’s news anchor Melanie Lawson followed the lecture.

About Charles M. Blow

Charles M. Blow is an Op-Ed columnist at The New York Times, where his column appears on Mondays and Thursdays. Mr. Blow’s columns tackle hot-button issues such as social justice, racial equality, presidential politics, police violence, gun control, and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Mr. Blow is also a CNN commentator and was a Presidential Visiting Professor at Yale, where he taught a seminar on media and politics. He is the author of the critically acclaimed New York Times best-selling memoir, Fire Shut Up in My Bones. The book won a Lambda Literary Award and the Sperber Prize and made multiple prominent lists of best books published in 2014. People Magazine called it “searing and unforgettable.”

Mr. Blow joined The New York Times in 1994 as a graphics editor and quickly became the paper’s graphics director, a position he held for nine years. He then went on to become the paper’s design director for news before leaving in 2006 to become the art director of National Geographic Magazine. Before coming to The Times, Mr. Blow had worked at The Detroit News. He graduated magna cum laude from Grambling State University in Louisiana, where he received a B.A. in mass communications, and he holds an honorary doctorate from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. He lives in Brooklyn and has three children.

Los servicios de interpretación estarán a cargo de Antena Houston

El Premio bienal Óscar Romero de la Capilla Rothko, se ha otorgado cada dos años, desde 1986, en reconocimiento al valeroso trabajo de incidencia comunitaria en favor de los derechos humanos. El premio lleva su nombre en honor al arzobispo Óscar Romero de San Salvador, quien fuera asesinado el 24 de marzo de 1980 debido a su fuerte oposición contra la violenta opresión de sus compatriotas.

Partiendo de los temas sobre cambio climático discutidos en nuestro Simposio de Primavera del 2019: “Hacia un mejor futuro: Transformando la crisis climática”, la Capilla Rothko reconocerá a tres personas comprometidas con la justicia del medio ambiente y quienes juntas representan la intersección de la Capilla Rothko con el arte, la espiritualidad y los derechos humanos.

Los galardonados del 2020 incluyen a: Germán Chirinos, Fundador de MASSVIDA (Honduras); Bernadette Demientieff, Directora Ejecutiva de Gwich’in Steering Committee (Alaska); y a Jorge Díaz, Co-Fundador de AgitArte (Puerto Rico).

Gérman Chirinos es activista hondureño por los derechos del agua y la tierra. Desde hace más de 10 años, tierras protegidas y públicas del sur de Honduras han sido privatizadas y proyectos de energía a gran escala y de explotación forestal han limitado el acceso al agua y a la tierra. Motivado por esta creciente crisis medioambiental, en el 2014 Gérman se unió a otros activistas para fundar el Southern Environmental Movement for Life (Movimiento Ambientalista del Sur por la Vida) o MASSVIDA, una asociación que incluye a 37 comunidades que se encuentran en resistencia activa en contra de la destrucción de la tierra y el agua. Cuando se le preguntó sobre el impacto de este premio para MASSVIDA, Germán dijo: “Ya no nos podrán silenciar, nuestro trabajo será reconocido.”

Bernadette Demientieff es la Directora Ejecutiva de la Gwich’in Steering Committee (Junta Directiva de Gwich’in) y es Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich’in. Bernadette es firme en su protección del Refugio Ártico Nacional de la Vida Silvestre del Llano Costero, el Porcupine Caribou Herd (La Manada del Puerco Espín Caribú) y el modo de vida Gwich’in. Bernadette es miembro del consejo del Arctic Refuge Defense Council (Consejo de Defensa de Refugio Ártico). También ejerce como miembro del comité asesor del NDN Collective (Colectivo Indígena), el Care of Creations Task Force (Grupo de Trabajo del Cuidado de las Creaciones), el Native Movement Alaska (Movimiento Nativo de Alaska) y el Defend the Sacred Alaska (Defensa de la Sagrada Alaska). Es miembro tribal del Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich’in Tribal Government (Gobierno Tribal Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich’in) y es líder del consejo del ITR. Cuando se le preguntó sobre sus años de activismo, Bernadette respondió, "Todxs debemos recordar que estamos en un camino espiritual, y que son fundamentales tanto la co-existencia como el respeto mutuo hacia las formas de vida de lxs demás".

Jorge Díaz co-fundó AgitArte en 1997 en Santurce, PR, y es uno de los editores del libro When We Fight, We Win! (Cuando luchamos, ¡ganamos!). Jorge es titiritero, educador popular y organizador bicultural con más de 25 años de experiencia. Está profundamente comprometido con las luchas de la clase trabajadora contra sistemas opresivos, concretamente el colonialismo, el patriarcado, la supremacía blanca y el capitalismo. Jorge es también uno de los fundadores de Papel Machete, un colectivo radical de artistas y trabajadores de teatro callejero/titiriteros dedicado a la educación, agitación y trabajo solidario en el Puerto Rico del siglo XXI y en su Diáspora. Al recibir la noticia del premio, Jorge dijo: “Acepto este premio como una oportunidad para reafirmar mi compromiso individual de continuar en la lucha colectiva por una vida en la que podamos liberarnos de la violencia”.

Este programa está financiado por The Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation.

The Rothko Chapel's biennial Óscar Romero Award has been given every two years since 1986 in recognition of courageous, grassroots human rights advocacy. The award is named in honor of Archbishop Óscar Romero of San Salvador who was assassinated on March 24, 1980, because of his vocal opposition to the violent oppression of his fellow citizens.

Building upon climate change topics addressed at our 2019 Spring Symposium: “Toward a Better Future: Transforming the Climate Crisis,” the Chapel honors three recipients who are committed to climate justice, and together represent the Chapel's intersection of art, spirituality and human rights.

2020 Awardees include: Gérman Chirinos, Founder of MASSVIDA (Honduras); Bernadette Demientieff, Executive Director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee (Alaska); and Jorge Díaz, Co-Founder of AgitArte (Puerto Rico).

The virtual ceremony was led by David Leslie, Executive Director of the Rothko Chapel and an invocation was given by Myokei Caine-Barrett, Shonin, the Resident Priest of Myoken-ji Temple in Houston.

This year's Nomination Committee included Cassandra Carmichael, Executive Director at the National Religious Partnership for the Environment; Guillermo Kerber, former Program Executive for Climate Justice at the World Council of Churches; Cara Mertes, Project Director for Moving Image Strategies at the Ford Foundation; Marianne Møllmann. Director of Regional Programs at the Fund for Global Human Rights; Bryan Parras, Healthy Communities Campaign Organizer at the Sierra Club; and Nato Thompson, Artistic Director at Philadelphia Contemporary.

About the Awardees:

Gérman Chirinos is a land and water rights activist from Honduras. Over the past 10 years, protected and publicly held lands in southern Honduras have been privatized, and large-scale energy projects and logging have limited access to water and land. Motivated by this growing environmental crisis, Gérman joined other activists in 2014 to found the Southern Environmental Movement for Life (Movimiento Ambientalista del Sur por la Vida) or MASSVIDA, an association of 37 communities in active resistance to the destruction of land and water. When asked what difference the award will make for MASSVIDA, Gérman said: “We will no longer be silenced, our work will become known.”

Bernadette Demientieff is the Executive Director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee and she is Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich’in. Bernadette stands strong to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge-Coastal Plain, the Porcupine Caribou Herd and the Gwich’in way of life. Bernadette is a council member for the Arctic Refuge Defense Council. She also serves as an advisory board member for NDN Collective, the Care of Creations Task Force, Native Movement Alaska, and Defend the Sacred Alaska. She is a tribal member of the Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich’in Tribal Government, and on the leadership council for ITR. When asked about her years of advocacy, Bernadette said, "We must all remember that we are on a spiritual path and that co-existing and respecting each other’s ways of life is important."

Jorge Díaz co-founded AgitArte in 1997 based in Santurce, PR and is an editor of the book When We Fight, We Win! He is a puppeteer, popular educator and bicultural organizer with over 25 years of experience. He is deeply committed to working class struggles against oppressive systems, namely colonialism, patriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism. Jorge is also a founding member of Papel Machete, a collective of radical artists and street theater/puppetry workers dedicated to education, agitation and solidarity work in 21st century Puerto Rico and its Diaspora. Upon announcement of receiving the award, Jorge said, "I take this award as an opportunity to reaffirm my individual commitment to continue in the collective struggle for a life in which we can be free from violence."

This program was underwritten by The Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation.

Over the next year, each Twelve Moments will highlight the role of music and sound in spiritual practices, and how these practices sustain us in the face of current challenges and injustices. For the month of February, the Rothko Chapel presented a meditation in the Bahá'í tradition, led by members of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Houston, organized by Marcel Wormsley.

According to the Baha’i writings, music is “a ladder for our souls, a means whereby we may be lifted up unto the realm on high.” In the Baha’i tradition, music will often involve the setting of sacred writings to song and instrument, or may be in the form of a prayer chant. Join to experience an immersion into a slice of the musical soul of the Baha’i community, including performances by Badie Khaleghian (vocals, keyboard), TJ Stapleton (vocals, guitar), Robyn Smith Retzlaff (vocals), and Kamal Khanjani (vocals). The musical offerings will be uplifting, contemplative, and sublime, and are exemplary of what the Baha'i community may hear during periodic gatherings, devotionals and holy day celebrations.

About the Twelve Moments series

Since 2005, the Rothko Chapel has shared a monthly contemplative practice featuring different spiritual and faith traditions. Taking place on the first Wednesday of each month from 12-1pm, this series engages teachers and religious leaders from the greater Houston community, providing opportunities to learn more about specific traditions and participate in a contemplative practice.

About the presenters

The Bahá'í Faith has been part of the Houston community since the 1930s. The first Local Spiritual Assembly in Houston was established in 1942, and local members were involved in legal and social civil rights movement efforts from the 40s through the 60s. Since the early 2000s, the Houston Baha'i Center has made its home in Midtown Houston. Currently, the Houston Bahá’ís are involved in various community building efforts throughout the city, including children's education, junior youth groups, and study circles, all punctuated by regular devotional gatherings throughout the city, and firesides in homes and at the Houston Baha'i Center. To learn more visit bahaihouston.com

Over the next year, each Twelve Moments will highlight the role of music and sound in spiritual practices, and how these practices sustain us in the face of current challenges and injustices. For the month of March, the Rothko Chapel presents a meditation in the Hindu tradition, led by Dr. Hansa Medley and representatives of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) of Houston. In this traditional Vedic or Hindu meditation we will vibrate sacred sound in the form of the maha-mantra (maha - great, man - mind, tra - liberating). To start, our first mantra meditation will be chanted individually (japa), then we will chant the maha-mantra collectively in call-and-response (kirtan) accompanied accompanied by Doug Sauer (mridanga drum) and Damodar Sharan (harmonium & vocals).

About the Twelve Moments series

Since 2005, the Rothko Chapel has shared a monthly contemplative practice featuring different spiritual and faith traditions. Taking place on the first Wednesday of each month from 12-1pm, this series engages teachers and religious leaders from the greater Houston community, providing opportunities to learn more about specific traditions and participate in a contemplative practice.

About the presenter

Hansa Bhakti Medley M.D. has been practicing Gaudiya Vaisnavism since 1981 under the guidance of H.H. Tamal Krishna Goswami, a disciple of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the Hare Krishna Movement. In addition to being the Director of Outreach for the Hare Krishna Temple where she serves as a teacher, priest and advisor, she also works as primary care physician.

Douglas Sauer has been serving as a brahmacari, student-monk, in the ISKCON Houston community for the past 2 years. Born & raised in Pittsburgh, PA, he completed a BA in Criminology from Pennsylvania State University. While in college he developed an interest in eastern spiritual practices and began his personal practice of meditation and yoga. It was there that he met some practitioners of the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition, and became attracted by both the rich depth of its philosophy and the sincere application of its principles by its followers. He is currently preparing for formal initiation or baptism in ISKCON.

Damodara Sharana das (Devesh Kasireddy) has been practicing mantra meditation since his childhood, for nearly 21 years, committing to a daily regimen of chanting and singing in prayer. He is a youth leader at ISKCON who also engages in outreach & interfaith activities. He is currently a senior at the University of Houston, studying Biochemistry with the hopes of pursuing medical school.

Please note, this livestream recording is choppy during the Q&A session due to some connection disruption during the live event.

Over the next year, each Twelve Moments will highlight the role of music and sound in spiritual practices, and how these practices sustain us in the face of current challenges and injustices. For the month of January, the Rothko Chapel presented a crystal bowl meditation to mark New Year's Day, led by Dana Shamas of Bayou Bliss Yoga.

About the Twelve Moments series

Since 2005, the Rothko Chapel has shared a monthly contemplative practice featuring different spiritual and faith traditions. Taking place on the first Wednesday of each month from 12-1pm, this series engages teachers and religious leaders from the greater Houston community, providing opportunities to learn more about specific traditions and participate in a contemplative practice.

About the presenter

Dana’s passion for health and wellbeing comes from the heart. As a therapeutic yoga teacher, breathwork facilitator, biofield tuning practitioner, and crystal bowl musician, Dana understands how complementary tools in the healing arts can facilitate a profound and lasting transformation. Her work as a certified practitioner in biofield tuning brings structure and form to the power of healing vibration that is available to all beings. With her generous spirit and open nature, she creates a safe and nurturing environment in which her clients can explore, release, receive, and heal.

Dana’s previous work in the world of business and finance gives her a unique perspective on the challenges we face day to day, and how elusive a sense of wholeness and harmony can be. Dana knows that harmony within ourselves gives us the capacity to create a more harmonious life. She is dedicated to helping people find a deeper connection to their Higher Selves so that they may fully express who they are and what they are meant to do.

Over the next year, each Twelve Moments will highlight the role of music and sound in spiritual practices, and how these practices sustain us in the face of current challenges and injustices. For the month of December, the Rothko Chapel presented a meditation in the Christian tradition, led by representatives from Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church Music Ministry. Organized by Music Minister Leon Lewis (keyboard) and featuring Sabrina Gatson (vocals) and Jamie Perry (violin), this contemplative performance explored the history and significance of gospel music in the Baptist tradition.

About the Twelve Moments series

Since 2005, the Rothko Chapel has shared a monthly contemplative practice featuring different spiritual and faith traditions. Taking place on the first Wednesday of each month from 12-1pm, this series engages teachers and religious leaders from the greater Houston community, providing opportunities to learn more about specific traditions and participate in a contemplative practice.

About the presenters

Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church is a worshiping, witnessing and welcoming congregation committed to a spirit of excellence in the praise of the Almighty God through Jesus Christ; the Christian Education of children, youth and adults for the maturation in the faith; and worldwide ministry for the promotion of peace and justice in every aspect of life. In March of 1962, 13 pioneering worshipers assembled in the lounge of Texas Southern University’s Baptist Student Union for the sole purpose of establishing an ecclesiastical form of expression through which the worship of God and service to mankind could co-exist. Led by Founding Pastor Rev. William A. Lawson until 2004 and by Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Marcus D. Cosby today, the congregation has grown to over 12,000 members and a multitude of ministries. To learn more visit wheelerbc.org.

The Rothko Chapel presented a meditation in the Jain tradition, led by Samani Punya Pragya Ji & Samani Jigyasa Pragya Ji of JVB Preksha Meditation Center.

We are all familiar with external music but have you ever experienced internal music? This session compared elements of sound in two different approaches to meditation in the Jain tradition - Mantra Meditation (external sound) and Deep Breathing Meditation (internal sound). Mantra Meditation focuses on humming or chanting certain syllables and frequencies to create healing vibrations in the body, while Deep Breathing Meditation emphasizes attention to the inner vibrations and sounds within the body. Samani Ji's shared the histories of these healing meditative traditions and facilitate practices of both methods.