UpRise! Productions: The Root of Rebellious Creativity, was founded in 2005 as a collaboration between members of several established arts groups in Texas including Xenogia Spoken Word Collective, Capoiera Da Rua, Ballet East Dance Company, Cry Havoc Action Choreography, Public Offenders, and Blacklisted Individuals. This diverse band of alchemists blend artistic genres deeply rooted in a framework of social justice.

This project is funded and supported in part by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and in part by the City of Austin Economic Development Department/Cultural Arts Division believing an investment in the Arts is an investment in Austin’s future.

UpRise! Productions transcends the confines of difference through a multidisciplinary performing arts group that aims to affect social change through performance and empowerment education. UpRise! has produces a multitude of successful productions in Austin, including "Arrythmia," "Windows," and "Radio Silence: a word opera," "For Colored Girls...," and "A Raisin in the Sun."

Devil music from the Bible Belt, Chicken Ranch Records is home to Peelander-Z, The Woggles, The Clutters, Tiger! Tiger!, White Ghost Shivers, Moonlight Towers, Automusik, and many more.

Chicken Ranch Records recording artists, Starlings, TN, composed the "Z-End Theme" for this project. "UFOs spotted over Music City, USA? Just maybe…alien meddling is a pretty plausible explanation for Starlings, TN and its otherworldly hybridization of Celtic-flavored bluegrass, old-time string music and they-are-out-there psychedelia." (No Depression, 2002)

"Though still grounded in the DIY spirit of punk, Chicken Ranch's aesthetic has expanded to include Mr. Lewis & the Funeral 5's 21st century cabaret, as well as the gothic bluegrass soundscapes of Starlings, TN. 'I tend to gravitate toward eclectic music,' Dickinson says. 'I like bands that aren't afraid to do their own thing.' (Austin Chronicle, 2007)

Little Herds is an Austin nonprofit with 501c3 charitable status dedicated to educating the public in Texas and around the world about the environmental and nutritional benefits of edible insects.

With demand for meat rising around the world, and many nations facing starvation and food deficiencies, we know we have to change the way we view food. Current farming practices are ravaging the environment, polluting the water and air, causing deforestation, overfishing, and contributing to the rise in infectious diseases.

Cultivating insects as food addresses each of these problems. But in North American and in Europe, we have the hurdle of the taboo against them. 80% of the world views them as normal food; it's only nations in Europe, Canada, and the USA who balk at the idea. (Read More)