Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts (MECA) is a community-based, non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the healthy social, cultural, and academic development of at-risk, inner-city youth through education in the arts.

MECA offers classical and ethnic arts education and support services to approximately 1,300 students a year through our In-School, After-School, and Summer Arts Program. MECA reaches another 4000 students through workshops, performances and cultural events. Many of the children living in Houston’s inner city are burdened with low academic expectations, little or no social or cultural opportunities in their public schools, limited after school activities, and no recognition of their cultural heritage and traditions. MECA programs help promote self-esteem, discipline, and academic achievement in our community's youth, while instilling a sense of direction and a commitment to cultural diversity. Since 1977, MECA’s presence has given youth a positive sense of themselves, their community, and their culture.

In addition to the three main programs, MECA provides a wide variety of other cultural opportunities throughout the year. MECA hosts an annual Concert Series which features a diverse line-up of performing artists, including classical, multicultural, jazz, experimental, and popular forms of music, dance and theater. MECA also hosts short and long-term artistic residencies, holds an annual Day of the Dead Festival, and we have completed several public art projects such as murals and sculptures at schools and parks throughout the city.

Through the success of our students, the breadth of our services and the quality of our programs MECA has been a consistent contributor to the social health and cultural life of Houston for nearly 30 years.

Support Services

MECA utilizes arts education in conjunction with support services to ensure that youth and their families are served in a holistic manner. Students receive tutoring, mentoring, life-skills workshops, educational field trips, school advocacy, SAT preparation, and assistance with college selection, enrollment, and financial aid. Youth and their families also receive crisis intervention, substance abuse education, counseling, and referrals for long-term counseling. MECA offers $10,000 a year in scholarships to college bound students, offers opportunities for international travel, and collaborates with local service organizations for counseling referrals, life-skills training, parenting classes and ESL Classes for youth and adults.

MECA Programs

Opportunities for cultural enrichment, academic development and self-expression are scarce for many of Houston’s inner city, minority youth. MECA programs give youth with limited opportunities the knowledge and skills they need to define their own limits, and become healthy, productive and successful adults.

MECA achieves this by providing students with education in the performing and visual arts, while also providing support services to promote academic and social development. At MECA students improve their academic performance, discipline, self-esteem, and teamwork, while building cultural knowledge and healthy social lives.

MECA’s three main programs are the In-School Program, the After-School Program, and the Summer Arts Program.

The In-School Program is a collaboration with Houston area public schools, predominantly schools in Houston’s inner city. MECA sends arts faculty to these schools to teach either during the school day or at that school’s after school program. In some schools MECA is the only arts programming the school offers, and in other schools MECA is the first arts programming that has ever been offered. Currently MECA is providing programming in 21 Houston area schools.

The After-School Program at Dow School, MECA’s home, provides year-round arts education classes in a variety of disciplines, including art forms that target our predominantly Latino client base such as Mariachi and Ballet Folklorico. MECA’s arts curriculum is mapped to the state standards for fine arts education, the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. The After School Program offers training and performance collaboration with professional artists and multiple performance opportunities for our students at recitals, concerts, festivals, private celebrations and public events.

The Summer Arts Program at Dow School is an intensive seven-week course that includes a wide range of arts activities, as well as academic enrichment, recreation, and field trips. MECA integrates arts education with counseling, academic enrichment, and family support to ensure that youth and families are served in a holistic manner.

Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts Concert Series

MECA’s Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts Concert Series brings performing artists to MECA to participate in workshops with MECA students and give performances for the MECA community. The series features a diverse line-up of performing artists, including classical, ethnic, jazz, experimental, and popular forms of music, dance and theater. Artists are involved in residencies of variable length depending on artist availability and the nature of the particular artistic project. The Series is designed to give MECA students the opportunity to work one-on-one with professional artists while providing quality cultural performances for an underserved audience.

Most performances are held at MECA's facility in the Old Sixth Ward, and predominantly serve Houston’s Old Sixth Ward, First Ward, Northside, and Heights Districts. This program reaches out to a community where resources, and therefore cultural and artistic opportunities, are limited.

Student Success

Over the years, MECA students have won many notable awards, received artistic and academic scholarships, and been invited to perform at many prestigious events, including the 2004 Houston Mayoral Inauguration, the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the annual International Mariachi Festival in Guadalajara (where they are one of the only student groups invited to perform), the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and special performances in New York City, Ireland, France and most recently in Stavanger, Norway.

Graduates from MECA programs have gone on to study art at world-class institutions including the Juilliard School of Music, American Music and Dance Academy and the Berklee School of Music, among many others. Many more MECA students attend local colleges to prepare for careers outside of the arts. Former MECA students are professional dancers, writers, lawyers, architects and accountants, as MECA programs prepare students for any profession that requires creative and inspired thinking.

MECA is a member of:
The Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
The Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau