Houston Grand Opera's Giving Voice to honor HBCU's during annual event

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- This year, the Houston Grand Opera is honoring Historically Black Colleges and Universities during the annual Giving Voice program.

Now in its sixth year, Giving Voice is the Houston Grand Opera's effort to elevate Black artists and educate the community. This year, they're showcasing how valuable HBCUs can be as training grounds for classical music and opera.

The program will be back out at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church this year. It's part of the opera's mission to get outside of the Wortham Center and into the community.

They're featuring everything from Grammy Award-winning artists to local ensembles and soloists.

SEE ALSO: 5 reasons HBCUs matter, as told by TSU students

Why are HBCUs important? That's the question we asked Texas Southern University students. Here's what they said.

New this year, there will also be performances by choirs from Texas Southern and Jackson State universities.

HGO's director of community and learning, Jennifer Bowman, joined Eyewitness News and shared how offering this event in Third Ward for free fulfills several goals.

"We want to be able to share what we do with the whole community, spotlight the power of the human voice... and we have wonderful high school groups who are coming to the concert, so we'll be able to demonstrate to them what opera is and show it to them in their community," Bowman said.

Giving Voice is this Friday night at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church. Tickets are free, but you are asked to register online.

For updates on this story, follow Briana Conner on Facebook, X and Instagram.