FEATURED, FROM LEFT: Rhonda Salinas, Member, Board of Directors, Futuro RGV; Nedra Kinerk, Chair, Board of Directors, Futuro RGV; and Naxi López-Puente, Journalist, The Monitor. The three women had participated in Futuro RGV’s first public affairs forum of 2022 – featuring candidates for McAllen City Commission District 4 – held on Tuesday, January 4, 2022.
Photograph Courtesy Futuro RGV FACEBOOK
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Futuro RGV cancels day-long September 17, 2022 Futuro Fest, will instead feature – on the same date – two state Rio Grande Valley Senate races and State Board of Education contest
By DAVID A. DÍAZ
[email protected]
Futuro RGV is canceling its planned daylong Futuro Fest – originally scheduled for Saturday, September 17, 2022 – because the majority of invited Republican Party candidates did not respond to participate by the Wednesday August 31, 2022 deadline.
All but two Democratic Party hopefuls had met the Wednesday, August 31, 2022 deadline.
The purpose of the September 17, 2022 Futuro Fest was to allow local voters a chance to hear from as many candidates as possible so that they could make informed decisions about how to cast their vote, according to the group’s leadership.
On Tuesday, November 8, 2022, Texans will decide several statewide, legislative and congressional races in 2022. The offices of governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general are among those that will be on the ballot.
https://www.texastribune.org/series/texas-2022-election-voting/
Rather than hosting several forums on different dates, Futuro RGV had originally planned the September 17, 2022 event to feature as many candidates as possible along with a luncheon to discuss the political environment in the Rio Grande Valley.
“The lack of participation makes it impossible to meet the goal of the event, which was to allow candidates to discuss how they would govern on behalf of their constituents in the Rio Grande Valley regarding issues specific to our communities,” said Nedra Kinerk, President of Futuro RGV. “This is a missed opportunity for both the candidates and voters to hear the issues on which candidates will work and how they propose to work on those issues.”
She expressed her appreciation to the McAllen Citizens League and the League of Women Voters for their support of the now-cancelled September 17, 2022 Futuro Fest “of what would have been a great and informative event.”
Instead, on Saturday, September 17, 2022, Futuro RGV, along with with its partners League of Women Voters and McAllen Citizens League, will separately host forums for the three races where candidates from the Democratic and Republican parties agreed to a discussion.
Those forums will feature:
• State Senate District 20 (Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, Democrat of McAllen, and Republican Westley Wright of Bluntzer);
• State Senate District 27 (Adam Hinojosa, Republican of Corpus Christi, and Morgan Lamantia, Democrat of Brownsville); and
• State Board of Education District 2 (Republican L.J. Francis of Corpus Christi and Democrat Víctor Pérez of Pharr).
Those six candidates will meet as planned on Saturday, September 17, with the times of their respective forums to be announced in the coming days.
Their respective presentations will be live-streamed with the videotaped version on theFuturo RGV website (futurorgv.org) and Facebook page.
Futuro RGV is a group of citizen volunteers who present information regarding issues and concerns in our communities. It is committed to bringing impartial and non-partisan information on quality-of-life issues affecting area cities including economic growth, educational opportunities, healthy families, safe neighborhoods, green space, culture and the arts.
Futuro RGV is among the numerous prominent public affairs organizations in deep South Texas. It began as Futuro McAllen as an advocacy citizen group in 1999 for quality-of-life issues that were in danger of being side tracked due to the tremendous growth taking place in that city.
Quality of life is a highly subjective measure of happiness that is an essential component of many financial decisions. Factors that play a role in the quality of life vary according to personal preferences, but they often include financial security, job satisfaction, family life, health, and safety.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/q/quality-of-life.asp
Just this year alone,Futuro RGV has organized and hosted Candidates Forums for:
• 2022 McAllen City Commission District 4;
• Republican and Democratic Forums for U.S. House Districts 15, 34, and 28;
• Texas State House District 37;
• Texas State Senate District 27;
• State Board of Education District 2;
• Hidalgo County Judge;
• Hidalgo County District Attorney;
• Hidalgo County Commissioners District 2 and 4; and
• Mission Mayor 2022 Run-off Election.
Other forums also held in 2022 are:
• 2022 Festival of Facts;
• Meet & Greet honoring former McAllen Mayor Jim Darling;
• Futuro RGV recognition of a UTRGV School of Medicine White Coat Recipient;
• Rio Grande Valley Leader Interviews;
• Immigration & Border Security Review; and
• 2020 CENSUS Review.
More information about Futuro RGV, as well as the videos of the above forums, are available at:
Gov. Abbott Invites Rio Grande Valley, South Texas, statewide communities to Film Friendly Texas Workshop to take place on Wednesday, October 5, 2022 in McAllen
Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday, August 29, 2022 invited communities in the Rio Grande Valley, South Texas, and from across the state to participate in a Film Friendly Texas Workshop on Wednesday, October 5, 2022 in McAllen.
The workshop, hosted by the Texas Film Commission, is open to community representatives statewide interested in learning about the media production industries of Texas and how to become Film Friendly Texas certified to attract new jobs and investments.
For more than 50 years, the Texas Film Commission has helped communities across Texas to grow local jobs and economies by promoting the Lone Star State as the premier destination for film, television, commercial, animation, visual effects, video game, and extended reality (XR) production.
“In promoting the Lone Star State as a premier moving image production destination, the Texas Film Commission has attracted $1.74 billion in local spending and created more than 162,000 production jobs across the state from 2007 to 2021,” said Abbott. “Through the Film Friendly Texas training and certification process, certified communities are readied to help match local businesses with production-related needs, stimulating the local economy by creating jobs for Texas-based crew members and local residents, as well as creating on-site spending at local small businesses.”
The target audience for this workshop is community representatives from the Rio Grande Valley, South Texas, and across the state who will serve as the community’s point-of-contact for facilitating media production requests.
Most communities choose a member of their city or county government, Convention and Visitors Bureau, Chamber of Commerce, or Economic Development Corporation.
The Film Friendly Texas Workshop in McAllen is being held in partnership with the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, Visit McAllen, and the Texas Economic Development & Tourism Office.
FILM FRIENDLY TEXAS WORKSHOP – MCALLEN
Wednesday, October 5, 2022
9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The Old Church
700 N Main Street
McAllen, Texas 78501
For registration and information on hotel accommodations, please visit:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/film-friendly-texas-mcallen-workshop-tickets-403167463737
For more information about the Film Friendly Texas program, visit:
https://gov.texas.gov/film/page/fftx_overview
South Texas International Film Festival returns to in-person event from Thursday, September 8 through Saturday, September 10, 2022
The annual South Texas International Film Festival, sponsored by the City of Edinburg, is returning as an in-person event after two-years of being held virtually.
The festival will take place Thursday, September 8 through Saturday, September 10, 2022
The three-day event will include more than 50 free film screenings, various workshops with topics ranging from casting and special effects to legal issues for filmmakers, panel discussions, and meet and greets with local and visiting filmmakers and celebrities.
The festival will end with the highly anticipated Eddy Award Ceremony and a Red Carpet event with special celebrity guests in attendance.
The Eddies are a coveted award reserved for the winning Feature Films in the following narrative film categories:
• Texas Feature;
• National Feature; and
• International Feature.
Each year the solid bronze awards are cast locally by Master Sculptor Douglas Clark and each weigh in at about 10 pounds.
The Eddy Awards are named after the City of Edinburg and were designed and originally cast in 2015 by Master Sculptor Magdiel Castle.
This year, the South Texas International Film Festival received more 180 submissions from 23 countries.
All Official Selections have been announced and will be competing in categories such as RGV, Texas, National, International, Documentary, Student, Animation, and Music Video shorts or feature film length.
All 59 2022 Official Selections will be shown during the festival dates; tickets for those held at the Cinemark Bistro will be $5.
All others shown at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance will be free of charge.
Opening Night for the South Texas International Film Festival is set for Sept. 8th and will kick off its festivities at Cinemark Movie Bistro in Edinburg.
All other events, such as film screenings, workshops, meet and greets, and award ceremonies, will be held at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance.
For more information, visit http://WWW.STXIFF.COM, email [email protected] or call 956-383-6246.
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Ashly Custer contributed to this article. For more on this and other Texas legislative news stories that affect the Rio Grande Valley metropolitan region, please log on to Titans of the Texas Legislature (TitansoftheTexasLegislature.com).
