Town Meeting 1978-2028
“Town Meeting 1978 - 2028" is a multi-year initiative led by queer interdisciplinary artists Nick Vaughan & Jake Margolin to inspire and coordinate programming across Houston in Fall 2028 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of "Town Meeting I" a pivotal 1978 convening of 4,000 LGBTQIA+ Houstonians at the Astro Arena, which galvanized Houston’s emerging LGBTQIA+ rights movement and helped lead to the creation of major institutions including The Montrose Center and The Montrose Clinic (Legacy Health).
Rendezvous Center for Art invites arts and queer serving organizations across the Houston region to curate and present programming that explores the rich diversity of queer history, current experience, and future visioning between September 1st and December 31st 2028. Rendezvous will promote this expansive, city-wide season of exhibitions, performances, lectures, panel discussions, screenings though a central website, program and calendar. Following the model of other region-wide initiatives like Pacific Standard Time, Prospect New Orleans, and FotoFest, "Town Meeting 1978-2028" will connect local and national audiences to Houston's wealth of arts and queer serving organizations, and foster impactful engagement with LGBTQ art.
"Town Meeting 1978-2028" launched with an exhibition and two-day symposium featuring presentations from over thirty elders, activists, artists, and scholars in June, 2025 at Art League Houston.
Bi-monthly public planning sessions bring together an expanding community of stakeholders to join Nick & Jake in shaping this project. To join these meetings, please sign up for Rendezvous' mailing list.
If your arts or queer serving organization is interested in learning more about participating in "Town Meeting 1978-2028" please email Jake Margolin at director (at) rendezvouscenterforart (dot) org.
"Town Meeting 1978-2028" is the first supported project of Rendezvous Center for Art, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) founded by Nick & Jake.
Press for "Town Meeting 1978-2028":
Arts + Culture Texas
Outsmart
Glasstire
Rendezvous Center for Art gratefully acknowledges the major 2025 sponsors of "Town Meeting 1978-2028":
Symposium & Exhibition Underwriters:
Beverly McPhail & Kevin Kulish, Sara Rosenbaum & Dan Hawkins, Bobby Bacon Metalart,
Conference Table Sponsors:
Dr. Don Bacigalupi & Daniel Feder
Panel Sponsors:
Jereann Chaney, The Terrence McNally Foundation, H. Russell Pitman
Publication Sponsors:
Scott & Judy Nyquist
Keynote Sponsors:
John Bradshaw Jr, Sharmon J Hilfinger & Luis Trabb Pardo
Interpretation & Documentation Sponsors:
Natilee Harren & Michael G Powell, Nina Rubin
And: The Whitehall Hotel, Air Alliance Houston, and La Mexicana.
Rendezvous Center for Art also gratefully acknowledges the following 2025 donors:
Devin Borden, David Chavkin, Sadie Costello, Faye Driscoll, Bergen St Flats, Jonna Fonda, Hillerbrand+Magsamen, Rina & Malcolm Margolin, Katy, Zach, Alan and Eddie, Janice Rubin and Charles Wiese, Kristen Sieh, Sarah Stauder, Nick Thomas & Nicole Pelligrino, and a donation in memory of Milton and Annette Wiener.
This project relied gratefully on the JD Doyle Archives, Heart of Leather Foundation and Judy Reeves, and the University of Houston Special Collections at the MD Anderson Library.
This project is made possible with support from The Idea Fund in 2025. The Idea Fund is a re-granting program administered by DiverseWorks, Aurora Picture Show, and Project Row Houses and funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and numerous individual donors.