Students Bring Huntsville Art Community Together With New Annual Event

Students Bring Huntsville Art Community Together With New Annual Event 

Sam Houston State University Elliott T Bowers Honors College students Mia Smith and Jamie Albert selected a seminar centered on academic community engagement in the fall of 2025 on a whim. At the time, the course seemed fun for the two to take together. Soon, they were putting on what they were told was an impossibly large event, Walking with Giants, by launching the Huntsville Arts Initiative and joining forces with local art leaders.

The semester-long seminar challenged the students to engage with their community on a project or event. Smith and Albert’s idea, to hold an event celebrating art and artists in Huntsville, was a lofty goal, especially with an approximate three-month turnaround deadline and no funding to support their mission. That was where the students leveraged the community partnership experience of their professor, Jeff Wozniak, the staff of SHSU’s Center for Community Engagement and their local connections as native Huntsvillians.   

“We went out into Huntsville every week networking and spent hours online reaching out to local businesses. It was a lot of work, but we secured two community partners and 20 vendors,” Albert said.  

Securing the partnerships with Huntsville’s Imerj Arts Be Free Gallery and Splintercraft Artisan Works and Supplies, and vendors was no small feat, and was only one of the mountainous challenges the students faced. They also needed to identify a location and get the proper permits before they started digging into the logistics of what tables would fit where. On top of that, they would also need to start marketing the event as soon as possible so there would be patrons to visit the vendors’ booths.  

According to the advice of one of their partners, the duo needed to name their event based on an iconic landmark or moment in Huntsville that would draw attendees. They chose the Sam Houston statue located off I-45 North as their name inspiration, landing on Walking With Giants. Their inspiration, the giant statue of Sam Houston, was perfect. The statue was created by David Adickes, a Huntsville native, SHSU graduate and iconic sculptor. Their event would bring members of the city’s arts community together to walk with local giants.  

“The day of the event felt surreal. Our community partners were thrilled to see so many people at our event. They both expressed how this was the most successful event they had ever hosted, and that made it all worth it. It was amazing to see them enjoying themselves,” Smith said.  

Another aspect they enjoyed seeing was the engagement from the community. Well over 300 people from around the city came to Rather Park to peruse the works and wares that vendors had to sell. The event’s triumph also represented a bridge being built between the Huntsville art community and the university.  

“In our vendor section, we had a mix of small businesses and SHSU organizations; we were told by many SHSU organizations that they felt really encouraged to network with the Huntsville community. They said it was the first event they’ve ever had that opportunity to do so,” Albert said.  

Smith and Albert's Huntsville Arts Initiative promises more community programming for the future, including another Walking With Giants event in the fall of 2026, potentially with even more vendors and programming. Making the difference is financial support through the Reba Bock Fellowship. The scholarship is awarded to students who develop sustainable activities, projects or programs that make a positive contribution to the community. With it, the students raised their budget for the event to $3,000, allowing them to use the second event this fall to solidify Walking With Giants as a new annual tradition for the Huntsville community to come together and celebrate the artists among them. 

Academic Community Engagement (ACE) is a teaching method that combines community engagement with academic instruction. This pedagogy encourages students to use the skills, knowledge and dispositions learned in the classroom to collaborate with community partners to contribute to the public good. SHSU offers hundreds of ACE courses within an academic year. 

The Center for Community Engagement (CCE) is SHSU’s hub for campus-community connections and collaborations. Through Community Partnership Development, Faculty Development, and Student Development, the CCE designs, plans, manages, and promotes many initiatives that enhance the culture of community and civic engagement. The CCE is dedicated to maintaining SHSU’s status as a community-engaged campus recognized nationally since 2010 by the Carnegie Foundation.