A drumming exhibit, a virtual reality experience and a printmaking workshop are some of the activities of the upcoming #Subculture event happening on Saturday.
#Subculture will take place from 2 to 6 p.m. in downtown Brownsville (Adams Street, between 11th and 12th streets) and is open to the public. Admission is free.
The event’s theme is The Future Is Now and the interactive activities aim to represent how things are always evolving, according to UTRGV Director of Public Relations Jennifer McGehee-Valdez.
“The event itself was inspired by highlighting UTRGV’s students, artists, unifying campuses,” McGehee-Valdez said. “We have professors and students, staff from each campus working together at the event, providing workshops, activities for the community.”
#Subculture: The Future Is Now will include:
–a printmaking workshop, presented by Professor Reynaldo Santiago and Lecturer Noel Palmenez, in which attendees can watch, learn and participate. Paper will be available to practice printing designs or participants can bring extra shirts.
–a drumming exhibit, in which Assistant Professor Kristina Weimer will set up buckets and play beats. The drumming workshop was introduced at the Festival of International Books & Arts last year and will now be a part of this event.
–a 3-D virtual-reality experience, presented by Digital Marketing and Analytics Director Alex Garrido and Nate Garcia, in which videos will play on headsets provided to participants.
–a cultural digital photography workshop presented by Instructor Carlos Bortoni.
–an engineering and computer science exhibition, presented by Professors Mahmoud Quweider and Mounir Ben Ghalia, that will include robotics, gaming and technology.
“That fits in with The Future Is Now,” McGehee-Valdez said. “Every year, we have a different theme and we try to add more interesting interactive experiences that add that theme.”
This will be the seventh #Subculture hosted by the University Marketing and Communications department.
McGehee-Valdez encourages the public to attend. There will be food trucks and other vendors. The first 200 people to arrive at the event will be given postcards, and if they attend all five workshops, attendees will have the chance to receive a #Subculture T-shirt.
“The big overarching goal is to really just highlight UTRGV and provide a free event … where community members can come in and just, you know, learn a little bit more about what our students do,” she said.
