Happy Thanksgiving

by Alyssa Ely, Texas Tower PR

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and people are starting to count their blessings. Texas Tower PR is thankful for many things this season, one of them being our great client Creative Action. Over the past few years, we have helped them with fundraising events, social media reach and everything in between. Lucky for us, this semester wasn’t any different.

Starting early in the fall, we had the privilege of helping with the event I Spy Pie! Our team worked on everything from writing blogs and creating PSA’s to making pie hats. We had a blast watching I Spy Pie! come to life and even more fun volunteering  at the event. We are so glad that the fundraiser was such a huge success and are already looking forward to next year.

Later in the semester our team had the chance to spend an evening with some of the students in Changing Lives Youth Theatre Ensemble. It was great to get to see the program and its positive effects first-hand. While there, we played a series of games with the students and answered a few questions, all geared towards the topic of the day: knowing your limit in relationships. We were all surprised by how welcoming the students were and how much we enjoyed ourselves while we were there.

We are grateful for all of our experiences working with Creative Action. Yet, we are most thankful for a program that helps to educate kids about critical issues while giving them a healthy outlet for them to express themselves. We have had another fabulous semester with Creative Action and can’t wait for many more to come.  Happy Thanksgiving!

About Texas Tower PR
Texas Tower Public Relations is The University of Texas at Austin’s PRSSA nationally affiliated student-run public relations firm. The goal of Texas Tower Public Relations is to provide students with hands-on experience in the field of public relations and Austin-area nonprofits with quality public relations assistance.

A Recap in Photos of I Spy Pie!

by Erik Weasenforth, Marketing Associate VISTA

Peanut Butter Mousse Pie and Barbie’s Pumpkin & Cream Cheese Pie by Central Market Bakery

Louies Fruitie Pie and Chocolate Bourbon Pie by Central Market Cooking School

Pecan Pie and Meyer Lemon Meringue Pie by Madison Street Desserts

The Biscuit Brothers get kids up and dancing (left). Jungle Jill and the Jaybirds played songs and had a puppet show (right).

Volunteers painted faces.
(Photo by Carol Park Acurso)

Peace Through Pie held a craft station for writing peace poems in the theme of pie

Shana Merlin was a wonderful emcee at I Spy Pie!

The I Spy Pie! raffle included 3 great prizes: ACL 2013 wrist bands, Fun Fun Fun Fest 2012 wrist bands, and a gift card to Trace at the W plus a gift basket from Central Market.
(Photo by Carol Park Acurso)

Left to right: Jim Swift (KXAN), Nina Seely (Trento), John Bullington (Alamo Drafthouse)

To see more photos of I Spy Pie!, check out our Flickr album or read the event recap here.

I Spy Pie! Our Wonderful Experience and Event Recap

by Alyssa Ely, Texas Tower PR

This past weekend was Creative Action’s huge fall event I Spy Pie! located at Central Market. The weather was perfect for the family-fun activities offered such as crafts, games, face painting, live music, and of course, pie tasting!

The festivities kicked off at noon including a wonderful performance by the Emmy Award winning duo The Biscuit Brother’s, who did a great job getting the children up off their feet singing and dancing along to the music. One of my favorite parts of the performance was when they had a song about watermelons and needed a participant to count to ten in a language other than English. An adorable little girl stood up, took the microphone and started counting in Arabic and Chinese. It was very impressive.

By 12: 30 p.m., people were lining up to get their tickets to taste the wonderful pies that were offered by Central Market Bakery, Central Market Cooking School, Madison Street Desserts, Tiny Pies and Texas Pie Kitchen. Many UT student organizations, including Tower PR, were there to volunteer at the craft and pie tasting booths.

The two awards up for grabs were Judges Favorite and the People’s Choice. After everyone tasted the contestant’s pies, they were able to cast their vote for which they thought had the tastiest pies. Our three celebrity pie tasting judges Jim Swift, Nina Seely and John Bullington, Executive Chef had a really hard time awarding their favorite pie. They were all so delicious!

The enthusiasm at the event was lively and appetites for pie were at an ultimate high. As the pies underneath the tasting tent began to dwindle down to only crumbs, the awards were announced. Tiny Pies won the People’s Choice award for their delicious Bourbon Buttermilk Chess pie and Madison Street Desserts took home the Judges Favorite award for their Meyer Lemon Meringue pie (which was my personal favorite too!)

It was an amazing day for everyone and how could it get better when we get to taste the best pies in town! A huge thanks to Central Market and all of the bakeries involved for their support towards a great cause!

I Spy Pie! Features Family Fun

by Chelsea Gilman, Business Manager

We’re getting really excited about I Spy Pie! on Saturday, Oct. 20!  Join us from 12-3pm on the deck and the lawn at Central Market North.

Your children can listen and dance to The Biscuit Brothers as well as Jungle Jill and the Jaybirds.  They can write their own Peace Pie Poem, create a moving Pie Puppet, compete in the Pie Walk for a chance to win their own pie, make their own Chef’s Hat, decorate an Apron for Baking, and get their faces painted.  All of these fun activities are free!

For $5, you’ll receive a tasting ticket so you can taste 10 different pie flavors from Austin’s favorites: Central Market Bakery, Central Market Cooking School, Jeffrey’s, Texas Pie Kitchen, and Tiny Pies.  Then you will get the chance to vote and help determine the winner.

Purchase a raffle ticket for your chance to will any one of three fabulous prizes:

Grand prize – 2, 3-day wristbands for Austin City Limits (ACL) 2013

2nd prize – 2, 3-day wristbands for Fun Fun Fun Fest 2012

3rd prize – Central Market gift basket and gift card to Trace at W Austin
Hope to see you on Saturday!

My favorite pie is a difficult choice because I like so many of them!  It’s a tie between apple pie a la mode and pumpkin pie a la whipped cream.  Fun fact:  The Long Wharf Theatre, where I worked in Connecticut many years ago, held an annual pie competition.  I entered with a homemade chocolate pie with oreo crust, topped with chocolate shavings in the shape of the symbol “pi.”  I lost the contest, but the next year I was selected to judge.  Being a judge was much tastier.

The Creative Action Proclamation

by Sarah Rinner, Elementary School Program Director

Teaching artists drawing their ideal “Creative Action island”

At our after school teaching artist training this year we put the creative imaginations of our staff to work in exploring the world of Creative Action and what it means to our community.

Our amazing group of over 55 teaching and administrative staff worked in small groups to create Creative Action Islands that encompasses our actions and values and communicates the culture of our organization. (And crammed into the Ruiz Library, it was positively overwhelming to have such a large team of dedicated people!)

My favorite, and most meaningful, part of the activity was our Creative Action Proclamation. We had each group contribute a line to our proclamation and we read it aloud to close out our day together.

Here are a few lines of the Creative Action Proclamation:

We hereby declare that the inhabitants of the Creative Action Island have come together for the purpose of… 

Being happy; relaxing; exploring and having adventures; making their imagination world reality; destroying boredom; making stuff; and expressing themselves,

With the intention of allowing everyone to live their best life,

Therefore we shall explore and have adventures, dance, smile,

So that our community can create without boundaries,

Furthermore on our island, we shall eat Family Style at a large table,

So that our land can be a place where creative expression reigns free and social change & creative action can come to be,

And with this purpose we transform our communities in positive and creative ways,

In order to inspire the flow of creative energy among a generation of youth, we model the behavior and attitude we hope to instill in our students,

To conclude, our island shall be a place where everyone is free to be creative without limit of judgment. There are an infinite number of resources of varying types to facilitate creativity and art. It is an island where people are made well through creating and receiving art!

P.S. My favorite pie flavor is apple pie.
Join us at I Spy Pie! on Saturday, October 20th at Central Market North. 12 – 3 p.m.
Family fun, arts and crafts and pie for families of all ages!

Want to volunteer? Sign up here for 1 or 2 (or both) shifts:  I Spy Pie! Volunteer Sign Up.