Day Out with JVN Headlines HSPVA’s Record-Breaking Lunch and Auction

Bob Eury, Deborah Keyser & James Stafford

HSPVA CELEBRATED FIVE years at its Downtown campus with a 1920s-jazz-club-inspired luncheon for 300 supporters. Guests were transported to the days of swing dancing as a student-conducted band played music by Duke Ellington, while performers, donning showgirl and flapper costumes from the high school’s performance of After Midnight, danced along.

Lunch was served onstage in the school’s Denney Theatre. The meal was unusually decadent for a luncheon, as chef Michelle Morris of Southern Cadence Cuisine served chicken scarpariello with pickled sweet peppers, a white wine Calabrian chili, crispy potatoes — and finished off with a chocolate pot de crème for dessert.

A toast was given by HISD Superintendent Mike Miles who spoke of his personal appreciation for arts education. A live auction followed, and the package featuring a day out with Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness — including a hair and skincare consultation — went for $6,000.

The afternoon raised a record-breaking $306,700 for Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. These funds will provide arts supplies, adjunct faculty, specialized equipment and technology, and other essential building blocks of Kinder HSPVA’s nationally acclaimed, tuition-free arts curriculum.