The Jung Center Presents An Evening with Clint Smith

Words and art converge at The Jung Center’s annual fundraising dinner, An Evening with Clint Smith. Raised in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina evacuee Clint Smith called Houston home for his senior year of high school, graduating from the Awty International School. He went on to earn a doctorate at Harvard and is the bestselling author of three books, including How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America.

Artist Mathieu Jn Baptiste is receiving the Carolyn Grant Fay Humanitarian Award, making him the first artist to be honored with the award named after the Center’s founder. Born in Haiti, Jn Baptiste is a Houston-based painter, muralist, and metal sculptor whose works have been seen all over the world (including three times at The Jung Center), and whose credo is that art should “teach, heal, and inspire.”

Houston arts supporters and education advocates Heidi & Marcus Smith and Judy & Wayne McConnell serve as the evening’s chairs and co-chairs, respectively. Though strangers before this event was scheduled, Heidi Smith and Clint Smith attended the same high school in New Orleans and both relocated to Houston after Katrina. And (Wayne) McConnell is an avid attendee of the Jung Center’s meditation classes and a former board member.