Local arts organizations innovate new ways to get to patrons in Houston and beyond

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Ticket-holders can watch a taped performance of the Alley Theatre's 1984. Photo by Lynn Lane

With the city of Houston — and much of the rest of the state — issuing stay-at-home mandates, cultural events and institutions have closed their doors. But, thanks to a little innovation, many are now providing online options.

Arts groups all across Texas are using technology to stream concerts, opera, dance, and even museum tours for free during the coronavirus quarantine, and we're adding more here as they come in.

The Alley Theatre
Patrons can watch a taped performance of the recently canceled 1984. Current ticket holders will be sent a password protected link, and those who would like to still watch are welcome to purchase tickets to gain access to the link.

Houston Symphony
You can listen to Houston Public Media broadcasts and national broadcasts anytime on the symphony's website, or tune in to I Heart Radio to hear selected albums.

ROCO
The Houston-based music ensemble has its entire archive of audio and video recordings available online, including a number of its more than 100 world-premiere commissions (and several of which were also included in the Grammy-winning debut album Visions Take Flight).

Ars Lyrica Houston
The early music ensemble has created two new series: Musical Moments and Concerts & Conversations. All of their content will be aired on their social media platforms as well as newsletters and YouTube. They will be posting new content on Mondays and Fridays at 10 am.

Fusebox Festival
The Austin festival originally scheduled for April 15-19 will now go digital; keep an eye on the Facebook page for updates about how to watch and listen.

Black Fret
Celebrate the Austin music scene in a safe and responsible way through a livestream of Austin Love & Lightstream, a local response to the cancelation of SXSW. Closed to the public and taking place on a sterilized outdoor sound stage at Scholz Garten, Austin bands and personalities will be livestreamed six hours a day starting at 4 pm each day, beginning March 17. Viewers can access the Facebook Live stream from the Black Fret website.

Dallas Theater Center
A video was taken of the final dress rehearsal for American Mariachi, a new work by José Cruz Gonzalez about a young woman who forms the first all-female mariachi band in the 1970s, despite disapproving relatives and going against social norms. Patrons are encouraged to pay-what-you-can — starting at $15 — to receive a link and a password to access the recording within 24 hours. Purchasers will have up to two weeks to watch the video. Dallas Theater Center is allowed to sell the video up to the original close date of April 5, 2020; after that, it will be deleted. The number of videos for sale is the same as the number of seats available throughout the run, so patrons are encouraged to buy their "tickets" soon.

Avant Chamber Ballet
Watch the 360-degree world premiere video of 19th Amendment recorded on February 15, 2020, at Moody Performance Hall, spotlighting choreographer Katie Puder and composer Quinn Mason.

American Baroque Opera Company
Enjoy the full-length production of La Serva Padrona by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.

Dallas Museum of Art
Browse more than 25,000 works of art from all cultures and time periods.

Thin Line Fest and Dallas VideoFest
The Denton-based multidisciplinary festival will be streaming its selection of documentaries online March 25-29, while Dallas VideoFest will host its Alternative Fiction festival April 3-5. Featuring a curated collection of over 50 documentary features and shorts, Thin Line Fest's film division will stream all screenings and Q&A sessions online. Attendees will be able to login at www.thinline.us and then choose which "theater" to stream live. The fest will still hold its Photography & Film Award Ceremony, which will be live-streamed on March 29.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap. Click here for latest update to the story.

If you have a virtual concert or artwork that can be enjoyed from home during this time, email lindseyw@culturemap.com and we'll add you to the ever-growing list.

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New 'living pharmacy' biotech company launches out of Rice venture studio

fighting cancer

Rice University’s biotech venture studio RBL LLC has launched a new “living pharmacy” company, Duracyte, designed to make cancer treatment easier on patients.

Backed by an up to $45 million Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) award, Duracyte aims to commercialize implantable biohybrid pharmacy devices that are designed to produce therapeutic proteins inside the human body around the clock, replacing the need for regular injections and infusions for some cancer patients.

The company’s main platform is its Hybrid Advanced Molecular Manufacturing Regulator (HAMMR), a rechargeable, implantable device that can sense biological signals, monitor tumor environments and adjust therapeutic output in real time. HAMMR has wireless communication capabilities, which allow patients and clinicians to remotely monitor results through an app every five minutes and make changes to treatment plans without a hosptial visit. Additionally, the device can generate its own oxygen supply, which is key for the therapeutic cells’ survival.

“Biologic medicines such as monoclonal antibodies, cytokines and metabolic regulators already account for a significant share of modern therapeutics, but the way we deliver them today often requires frequent injections or infusions that can be demanding for patients and lead to inconsistent drug levels,” Daniel Anderson, MIT professor and co-founder of Duracyte, said in a news release. “Our vision is to enable a continuous, stable therapy by producing these medicines directly inside the body, which could improve treatment consistency, reduce side effects and ultimately transform how biologic therapies are delivered across many diseases.”

Duracyte’s first clinical trial is slated to begin by the end of 2026 and will focus on recurrent ovarian cancer. The Phase I study will build upon existing work on encapsulated cytokine pharmacy technology, and the company hopes that within a few years this treatment can reach clinical application.

The development of Duracyte is supported by ARPA-H's Targeted Hybrid Oncotherapeutic Regulation (THOR) project, which supports a multidisciplinary research consortium co-led by Omid Veiseh, a professor of bioengineering at Rice. The consortium also includes others at Rice, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University and the University of Houston, plus industry collaborators like Chicago-based CellTrans.

“What we are building is the culmination of years of progress in cell engineering, biomaterials and implantable device technology,” Veiseh added in the release. “By combining these advances with real-time sensing and adaptive drug delivery, we are working with the support of RBL to create a true ‘living pharmacy’ that can deliver continuous, precisely controlled biologic therapies and fundamentally change how these treatments reach patients.”

RBL launched in 2024 and is based out of Houston’s Texas Medical Center Helix Park. Duracyte is the third company launched by RBL, including Sentinel BioTherapeutics, a clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing localized cytokine therapies for solid tumors, and SteerBio, a regenerative medicine company targeting lymphedema.

“Duracyte exemplifies the kind of breakthrough that Houston’s ecosystem is built to produce,” Paul Wotton, managing partner of RBL LLC and co-founder of Duracyte, added in the release. “With world-class clinical infrastructure, exceptional engineering talent and initiatives like the Texas Biotech Task Force driving alignment across industry, investment and talent, this region is uniquely positioned to move the most ambitious ideas in medicine from concept to patient, faster than anywhere else.”

Houston energy hub opens new fundraising cohort to fuel startups

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EnergyTech Cypher has opened applications for its second Liftoff fundraising program.

Applications close May 20 for the 10-week virtual fundraising sprint. The program is geared toward energy and climatech founders preparing to raise their first institutional round. It will cover fundraising requisites, like pitch materials, term sheet negotiation and round closing, according to a release from EnergyTech Cypher.

The program kicks off June 1 and runs every Monday from 1-3 p.m. CST. It will conclude with an in-person capstone simulation in Houston on August 3, where founders will work to close a mock round.

Jason Ethier, EnergyTech Cypher founder and CEO, will lead the program with Payal Patel, an EnergyTech fellow and entrepreneur in residence.

The program is available through Cephyron, EnergyTech Cypher's new investor relationship management platform, built specifically for energy and climatech founders. Users must have a Cephyron Boost membership to participate in the Liftoff program.

The Cephyron IRM app recently went live and is available to founders at any point in their fundraising process, according to the news release. The platform aggregates investor data, tracks market signals and delivers curated weekly recommendations.

EnergyTech Cypher launched Liftoff last year. The inaugural cohort included 19 startups, including Houston-based AtmoSpark Technologies, The Woodlands-based Resollant and others. Each participant closed at least one fundraising deal, according to EnergyTech Cypher.

EnergyTech Cypher rebranded from EnergyTech Nexus earlier this year. It also launched its CoPilot accelerator in 2025. The inaugural group presented its first showcase during CERAWeek last month.

EnergyTech Cypher's annual Pilotathon Pilot Pitch and Showcase applications also opened this month. Find more information here.

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCaptialHTX.com.

Cancer diagnostics startup wins top prize at annual Rice competition​

winner, winners

Rice University student-founded companies took home a total of $115,000 in equity-free funding at the annual Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship's H. Albert Napier Rice Launch Challenge last week.

2025 Rice Innovation Fellow Alexandria Carter won the top prize and $50,000 for her startup Bionostic. The startup offers personalized diagnostics for cancer patients by using 3D culturing through its Advanced Tumor Landscape Analysis System (ATLAS) platform.

Carter is working toward her PhD in bioengineering in Professor Michael King's laboratory. She recently completed the Rice Innovation Fellows program and plans to commercialize ATLAS, according to a news release from Rice.

Actile Technologies, founded by another former Rice Innovation Fellow, Barclay Jumet, won second place and $25,000. The company is developing and commercializing textile-integrated technologies. InnovationMap first covered Jumet's wearable technology back in 2023.

Kairos took home the third-place prize and $15,000, plus the $2,000 audience choice award and the $5,000 undergraduate business award. Founded last year by Sanjana Kavula and Adhira Tippur, Kairos is an AI-powered patient intake platform built specifically for independent dental practices.

The NRLC features top startups founded by undergraduate, graduate and MBA students at Rice each year. The top three finishers were named among a group of five finalists earlier this year, which also included HAAST Autonomous and Project Kestrel.

HAAST is developing an unmanned aircraft for organ transport, while Kestrel uses machine learning to organize bird photographers’ photo collections.

Teams presented multiple five-minute pitches throughout the application process over Zoom and in-person before the five finalists presented at the NRLC Championships April 21 at the Rice Memorial Center. Each finalist walked away with an equity-free investment.


Other awards went to:

UnitCode

  • $5,000 MBA Venture Award

HAAST Autonomous

  • $2,500 Chan-Kang Family Prize for Bold Ambition
  • $1,000 Healthcare Innovations Prize

Telstar Networks

  • $2,500 Outstanding Undergraduate Startup Award

Multiplay

  • $1,500 Frank Liu Jr. Prize for Creative Innovation in Music, Fashion, & the Arts

Butterfly Books

  • $1,500 Social Impact Award

SOOZ

  • $1,000 Interdisciplinary Innovation Prize sponsored by OURI

Dooly

  • $1,000 Consumer Goods Prize

Project Kestrel

  • $1,000 AI Prize

Veloci Running won the NRLC last year for its naturally shaped running shoe. Founder and CEO Tyler Strothman recently told InnovationMap that the company has gone on to sell roughly 10,000 pairs of its flagship Ascent shoe, designed to relieve lower leg tightness and absorb impact. Read more here.

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