WOW Heritage Center Grand Opening
Join E4 Youth from 2:00–5:00 PM for an afternoon of community, creativity, and celebration.
View calendar →
The WOW Heritage Center at Rosewood Courts
Come BuildWhat's Next.
What once was is the foundation for what's being built now. Join E4 Youth and the Rosewood community as a permanent home for storytelling, learning, and opportunity takes shape.
Rosewood Courts, August 1943 · Archival photograph
Building in public
The doors open October 18. The work is already underway.
The WOW Heritage Center is E4 Youth's first permanent home, located at 1141 Chicon Street, in East Austin's African American Cultural Heritage District.
Before the grand opening, neighbors, young people, educators, artists, culture-bearers, and partners are being invited into the process. Come see the space, share what matters, and help shape its first season.
Learn about the Center →The story is still being written
The people who carried the history are helping shape what comes next.
The WOW Heritage Center grows from the memories, creativity, knowledge, and aspirations already held across East Austin.
NowCommunity engagement
and space preparation
and space preparation
SeptemberPre-opening sessions
and visits
and visits
Oct. 18WOW Heritage Center
grand opening
grand opening
Opening at WOW
WOW Heritage Center Grand Opening
October 18, 2026 · 2:00–5:00 PM
WOW Heritage Center · Rosewood Courts
Celebrate the opening of E4 Youth’s first permanent home with a community gallery experience, music, local vendors, community resources, welcome remarks, and a ribbon-cutting.
Upcoming event
The doors open October 18.
The grand opening is the next public event currently announced for the WOW Heritage Center.
Experience what is already here
Meet history where it happened.
WOW uses location-based storytelling, augmented reality, and 3D guides to connect historic places with the people and memories that give them meaning.
- Six place-based stories
- A self-guided East Austin route
- Built for phones, classrooms, and community exploration
Youth-powered technology
Young people are helping build how history is experienced.
Young people are not only learning the history. They are researching, testing, and creating digital experiences that connect East Austin's stories to place.
Inside the Center, immersive programming will give students room to experiment with new tools, develop media skills, and shape the next generation of public history.
Bring a school or group →
Stories become skills
What Once Was is built with the next generation.
What Once Was isn't only about preserving stories.
Young people help create how those stories are researched, produced, interpreted, and experienced. Through E4 Youth, participants work alongside community members, historians, artists, and technologists to turn cultural storytelling into creative practice and real-world skills.
- Research
- Create
- Share
- Lead
Curious how the larger ecosystem works?
Explore E4 Youth →Living culture
Stories are preserved by being shared.
Music, food, performance, conversation, and celebration are part of how communities carry memory forward.
Explore upcoming gatherings →
Build with us
Help shape the first chapter.
Neighbors, alumni, artists, educators, culture-bearers, and partners are being invited into the first circle around the WOW Heritage Center.