Houston artist launches virtual pop culture convention

the con is on

Scream queen actress Tiffany Shepis will make an appearance at QuarantinedCon. Photo courtesy of Tiffany Shepis

Though states around the country— including Texas— have been slowly but surely been trying to reopen businesses and public places and so forth amid this global pandemic, there have been many events that are still cancelled and won't go down until sometime next year.

For those disappointed that Comicpalooza had to cancel its festivities this year, a new online convention is ready to sate your geeky thirst. On Saturday and Sunday, May 2 and 3, locals can go online and attend QuarantinedCon, a new pop-culture convention where guests can hang out with celebs, get items from vendors, and enjoy the same convention fun right in the comfort of their own home.

The con is mainly the brainchild of Dirk Strangely, a Las Vegas-born, Houston-based multimedia artist and frequent guest at comic-book conventions. He has built that convention over at his online platform known as ArtFarm.tv.

"It's something that me and a few people in my network have been building for about three years now," Strangely (government name: John Christopher Carson), tells CultureMap. "We've been helping artists manage their online business and offline business. But, when the pandemic hit, I realized the whole industry basically tanked, and all the people in my network have been wondering how they're gonna make a living… And my platform is the perfect place to have a convention.

So, what I did was put my network to use to get the word out to supply and provide people in my community and in my industry a means to continue business in a pop-culture convention industry."

This convention is a free-for-all in every sense of the term. People can check out everything from magicians to people doing balloon-animal tutorials to live concerts to watch parties over on Facebook — all for free. Strangely has already rounded up quite a collection of guests.

John Kassir, who voiced the Crypt Keeper from HBO's Tales from the Crypt, will be in the house, along with horror icon Kane Hodder (who has played Jason in many a Friday the 13th movie) and Deadwood cast members Peter Jason, Larry Cedar, and Pasha D. Lychnikoff, among others.

"Once I started getting some of them set up," says Strangely, "word of mouth started spreading like wildfire. And even with the celebrities, when I got one of them, they would tell their friends that they're doing it, and their friends — obviously they're gonna have other celebrity friends. So, they tell their friends and their friends are calling me like, 'Hey, I'd love to be part of this too.'"

Strangely is hoping that this online convention will entice other well-known conventions to hit him and his platform up about doing online extensions of their conventions that people all over the world can attend.

"Conventions are a huge part of our industry and, yes, we're helping all the people who go to conventions," he says. "But what about the actual conventions themselves. We are going to help them do their own virtual, online conventions and provide a full-blown experience like they provide physically. And, if we do go back to gathering again soon, we're also gonna do it to supplement their convention. So, they're not limited to who can come to their convention geographically."

For more info on QuarantinedCon, visit the official site.

------

This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Ad Placement 300x100

Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

Italian aerospace company sets up first U.S. office at Houston Spaceport

welcome to houston

Como, Italy-based aerospace company Involve Space recently made the Houston Spaceport the site of its first U.S. office.

Involve Space develops high-altitude balloon platforms for Earth observation, scientific research and hardware testing. The balloons carry instruments into the stratosphere (a layer of the upper atmosphere) to collect images and data, conduct experiments and test technology.

The company plans to launch its first commercial missions from Houston by the end of this year, according to a news release.

“Houston is the global center of aerospace, and our presence at Houston Spaceport strengthens our international growth trajectory,” Jonathan Polotto, founder and CEO of Involve Space, said in the release.

Founded in 2021, Involve Space incorporates aerospace hardware, AI and geospatial tools into its offerings. Its proprietary CLEAR platform uses conversational AI to help customers interpret data and support decision-making.

Located at Ellington Airport, the Houston Spaceport provides a base for Involve Space’s North American operations, including business development and partnerships with aerospace companies and researchers.

Other tenants at the Houston Spaceport include NASA, Axiom Space, Venus Aerospace and Intuitive Machines.

Involve Space’s relationship with the Houston Spaceport began in January 2025, when it conducted its first U.S. pilot launch. During the five-hour mission, the balloon reached an altitude of about 85,000 feet and traveled about 250 miles across Texas.

One of Involve Space’s first U.S. customers is Houston-based Rhodium Scientific, a space biotech company. Polotto and Rhodium Scientific founder and CEO Olivia Gamez Holzhaus signed a deal to conduct biotech experiments aboard Involve Space’s stratospheric balloon platforms before planned missions to orbit.

“The presence of innovative platforms like those developed by Involve strengthens the Spaceport’s role as a site for testing, validating, and deploying advanced technologies between aeronautics and space,” Jim Szczesniak, director of aviation for Houston Airports, added in the release.

UH lands $3M grant to expand opioid overdose training

Overdose Response

The University of Houston has received a $3 million federal grant to expand its potentially life-saving overdose response training program.

The grant will support the Houston Health Department’s FRONTLINES program that trains first responders in Harris and Fort Bend counties to recognize opioid overdoses and administer the drug naloxone, which can counter the effects of an opioid overdose. The four-year grant comes from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services, and it builds on eight years of work at UH, according to a release from the university.

As part of the expansion, UH medical, social work and psychology students will now also be able to take part in FRONTLINES’ overdose-response training. Some of the students will also be selected to help train community members, ultimately passing along the life-saving skills throughout Houston.

FRONTLINES is a collaboration with the City of Houston, the Fertitta College of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine and the Houston Recovery Center. It was co-founded by Dr. James Bray, chair of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Houston’s Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine, in 2018.

“When someone experiencing an opioid overdose is reached in time, naloxone can save their life,” Bray said in a news release. “We’ve seen the impact this training can have in Houston, and now we have an opportunity to extend that reach across Harris and Fort Bend counties, putting lifesaving knowledge and tools into the hands of more first responders.”

In 2024, around 450 residents of Harris County died from opioid overdoses, according to a Texas Department of State Health Services report. The report found that fentanyl was involved in about three-quarters of the deaths.

In 2025, UH also received a $2.6 million gift from the estate of Dr. William A. Gibson to expand its opioid research and develop a vaccine to help block fentanyl's effectiveness in entering the brain. The vaccine research is part of the Michael C. Gibson Addiction Research Program led by UH professor of psychology Therese Kosten and founding member of the UH Drug Discovery Institute Colin Haile. Read more about the grant and the vaccine’s development here.

Texas public libraries drive billions in economic impact, report finds

Beyond the Stacks

A new statewide study examining the economic impacts of public libraries has revealed they have generated over $3.8 billion in value to local communities — a return of $4.74 for every $1 invested.

The report, "Beyond the Stacks: Measuring the Economic and Community Value of Texas Public Libraries" was conducted by third-party consultancy JBK Economics Group in partnership with the Texas Library Association. About 300 of the total 513 public libraries in Texas participated in a survey for the report.

A major finding from the survey revealed that public libraries create billions in economic value for the communities they serve at a fraction of what it costs to pay employee wages and benefits, operating expenditures, and capital expenditures. About 11,200 jobs were directly and indirectly supported by public libraries, the report found.

The report found its $4.74 to $1 ratio by adding up the total value of the services provided by these institutions (an estimated $2.48 billion), and comparing it to total expenditures ($808.6 million).

"Public libraries had about the same economic footprint as the Texas motion picture and sound recording industry ($2.9 billion in Gross Domestic Product in 2024) or the Texas paper manufacturing industry ($4.0 billion in Gross Domestic Product in 2024)," the report said.

Many Houstonians are already familiar with Houston Public Library's expansive catalog and programming, but there are many more services the library provides that might fly under the radar. A few examples include access to subscription-based research databases and news outlets, and the Library of Things, a collection of cookware and bake ware, musical instruments, craft kits, and other tools or activity materials that are available for cardholders to borrow. Individual branches also provide free Wi-Fi, computer access, and meeting spaces.

Houston-area residents also have access to services at several other local libraries depending on their address, such as the Harris County Public Library, Montgomery County Memorial Library System, or Fort Bend County Libraries, just to name a few.

These are additional services and partnerships that Texas public libraries commonly provide, per the survey results:

93 percent provide voter registration and/or serve as voting locations
84 percent provide partnerships with local social services agencies
82 percent provide job application assistance
68 percent facilitate applications for government benefits
38 percent provide on-site social services
30 percent provide telehealth rooms and/or resources

"Public libraries are practical, welcoming and rooted in the communities they serve — they are unmistakably Texan," said Texas Library Association executive director Shirley Robinson in a press release. "This study puts a dollar value on the opportunities libraries create every day. Whether someone visits a library to apply for a job, access the internet, learn a new skill or simply find a new favorite book, those services create real value for Texans and their communities."