PechaKucha became an international phenomenon in the early 2000s, originating in the Japanese business establishment as a concise way to present ideas, growing organically to form chapters in cities around the world.
Vicki Yuan, an architect with Lake Flato, and Libby Morris, principal of advertising firm Morris Design, are the leading organizers of the San Antonio PechaKucha chapter that formed in 2011.
Yuan and Morris joined bigcitysmalltown host Bob Rivard to talk about Volume 44 of PechaKucha set for Sept. 4 at the Carver Community Cultural Center featuring a slate of local personalities: James Beard-nominated Chef Nicola Blaque, restaurant critic Mike Sutter, artist Jorge Villarreal artist and public art advocate Jimmy LeFlore, architect Cotton Estes, homeless advocate Brittney Ackerson, and death rights advocate Maura Bobbitt.
Morris pointed out that Ackerson had previously been a bigcitysmalltown guest, whom Rivard called a “very inspirational speaker” whose message would be hard to contain in the constrained PechaKucha format, with each speaker strictly limited to showing 20 slides and speaking for 20 seconds each, for a total time of six minutes and 40 seconds.
Blaque has won national acclaim for her cooking, locally available at Mi Roti in the Pearl food hall and Jerk Shack on the city’s West Side.
Sutter, longtime food critic for the San Antonio Express-News, has praised Blaque’s The Jerk Shack offerings as “food … worth talking about,” and his former editor Emily Spicer praised Sutter as “among the best food writers in the country — bar none — and San Antonio is incredibly lucky to have him. His lens on the food scene of San Antonio has 100% helped elevate it.”
Yuan and Morris said PechaKucha has never before presented a food critic among its array of speakers, even as featured bites from local chefs have been regularly offered as part of the events. Rivard joked, “they better be on their A game if Sutter’s coming.”
Morris and Yuan said the all-volunteer brain trust behind PechaKucha has partnered with the Power of Preservation Foundation, which aligns with their focus on bringing the event to locations around the city including previous versions at the 1911 Hermann Sons building, the Espee at historic Sunset Station and the Majestic and Empire theaters. And now returning after 10 years to the Carver Center, with its rich and continuing history of presenting touring music artists.
Tickets for PechaKucha Volume 44 in the Carver Center’s Jo Long Theater are $10 each. The welcome reception starts at 6:30 p.m., followed by presentations starting at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 4. Emcee for the evening will be Jessica Conrad, with musical guest Los Dos Coyotes.
Disclosure: Nicholas Frank has previously presented as a PechaKucha speaker.
