Archives for December 2013

Voices for Children Benefit Concert Rocks Grand Stafford Theater

On November 15, more than 100 guests gathered at Grand Stafford Theater in Historic Downtown Bryan for the first Voices for Children Benefit Concert produced by Advent GX. With generous underwriting from Fred Davis of Davis & Davis Lawyers, Advent GX produced the event that raised funds to help Voices for Children and their staff provide court appointed special advocates for children in the foster care system in the Brazos Valley. The evening featured the Latino rock of Texas’ own Del Castillo at Grand Stafford Theater, Downtown Bryan’s premier live music venue. Guests started the evening with Latino dance lessons donated by Dr. Susan Quiring from Susan’s Ballroom Dance.

“We are always looking for ways to put our heritage assets, such as Grand Stafford Theater, to work to benefit local economic development,” explains Advent GX Managing Partner Joan Quintana. “In this case, we were able to work with generous local businesses and patrons of the arts to create a cultural arts event that was incredibly fun and supported some of the most vulnerable members of our community…kids in foster care.”

The event raised funds and, thanks to promotional support from arts and community advocate Denise Bermudez, raised awareness of Voices for Children’s mission through advertising and social media campaigns produced by Advent GX Media.

Fred Davis of Davis & Davis Lawyers supported the Voices for Children, Inc. benefit concert as part of the firm’s campaign to commemorate their 50th Anniversary in 2013 by donating $50,000 to local charitable organizations. Celebrating 50 years of Texans helping Texans, Fred Davis chose Voices for Children, Inc. as one of these organizations, understanding the importance of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) in representing neglected and abused children in our community.

In FY 2013, Voices for Children’s 101 CASA volunteers advocated for 242 abused and neglected children in Brazos, Burleson, and Grimes counties, placing 80 children in safe, permanent homes. Each CASA volunteer serves as Guardian ad Litem for one child or sibling set throughout the child welfare court system. CASAs provide the detailed information necessary for judges to safeguard the children’s best interests and ensure they are placed in safe, permanent homes as quickly as possible.

Advent GX opened the 100-year-old Grand Stafford Theater in Fall 2012 as a community development project showcasing the economic potential of the arts and heritage preservation. The theater now features state of the art sound and lighting and has been host to Grammy-award winning artists, up-and-coming talent and local musicians across a wide variety of genre. Advent GX is a community and economic development consulting firm headquartered in Texas A&M University’s Research Park. Advent GX owns the Innovation Underground, a business and technology incubator in downtown Bryan, and serves rural and small urban communities throughout Texas and North America.