Rice University alumnus Stanford Carpenter is reconnecting with his alma mater and the city of Houston by partnering his Black & Brown Comix Arts Festival (BCAF) in San Francisco with Houston’s annual Comicpalooza event in an effort to elevate the visibility of diverse voices in the arts.
Carpenter, who earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from Rice in 2003, said he remembers his time as an Owl fondly. Working closely with George Marcus, former chair of anthropology at Rice, he was able to experiment with comic-related artwork, allowing him to pursue his passion while getting his degree.
“What was great about Rice was that it just allowed me to really be an explorer,” Carpenter said. “I felt very supported by the anthropology department, and I had great interactions in my time there.”
With this in mind, Carpenter recently reached out to a Rice alumni group hoping to garner USA Today Readers’ Choice votes for BCAF, and it was named one of America’s 10 best art festivals this year. The San Francisco-based event is widely known for showcasing the creativity of people of color in the comic arts as well as popular visual culture.
“I was just amazed at how enthusiastic the alumni were,” Carpenter said. “They were incredibly supportive.”
Not only were the alums helpful in providing votes, but in the process he was connected with alumnus and Director of University Relations Greg Marshall, who introduced Carpenter to event organizers for Houston’s Comicpalooza — one of the largest annual pop culture conventions in the Southern U.S.
Even with little time for planning, this connection led to three BCAF panels being coordinated at the 2024 Houston event last month and set the foundation for a fruitful partnership in future years, Carpenter said.
“It just started this conversation about how we can collaborate and work together,” he said.
One of the panels focusing on Black superheroes featured Rice faculty member Margarita Castromán, assistant professor of African American literature and culture. The panelists spoke about topics such as representation and inclusion in superhero movies, costumes, gender politics of black superheroes and more.
Castromán said it was a unique and rewarding experience being able to represent Rice at a local event like Comicpalooza.
“It’s just a great opportunity to expand what we think of when we think of academia and scholarship into these other arenas that are much more about public engagement,” she said. “I think it’s a great avenue for us to explore.”
Russell Reinhart, event programming manager for Comicpalooza and Houston First Corporation, said the BCAF panels produced lively and engaging discussions.
“Audiences of all ages were engaged and participated in the discussions, making our experiment a true success,” Reinhart said. “While fusing pop culture with academia enhances the content at Comicpalooza, the event can serve as a larger platform for discussions, idea sharing and analytical exploration for academia as well. Rice University understood the potential and connected us with Stanford.”
Carpenter says he hopes to showcase more Rice talent at future Comicpaloozas.
“What’s interesting about BCAF is we’re always bringing people together, and this is an extension of that,” he said. “There’s a lot that has to do with science and comics that hasn’t been explored, and I think we could do some really fascinating things in that realm with Rice.
“I also am very grateful for what I was able to do with Rice, so a chance to do something like this with Rice was inherently attractive to me.”
