Community memory
Living Legends
Oral histories, neighborhood knowledge, and the memories carried by community elders will anchor a growing public archive.
WOW Heritage Center
A permanent home at Rosewood Courts.
Opening October 18, 2026, at 1141 Chicon St., the WOW Heritage Center is a place for memory, media, oral history, creative learning, and community voice.
Built in partnership with HACA and rooted in East Austin's African American Cultural Heritage District, the Center gives What Once Was a physical home.
The neighborhood is a character in the story.
Rosewood Courts is not a backdrop for WOW. It is part of the record. The Center sits inside a district where Black families, artists, educators, organizers, entrepreneurs, and neighbors have carried memory across generations.
The October 18 grand opening is a proof point inside a story already underway. Juneteenth 2027 is the horizon: the first Juneteenth celebration in E4 Youth's permanent home and the second annual E4 Youth Homecoming.
The Center at Rosewood Courts
A new home inside a living historic district.
The WOW Heritage Center opens onto the shared grounds of Rosewood Courts, where public space, historic markers, and everyday community life connect the neighborhood's past with what is being built now.
Before the doors open
The community is already inside the story.
September is a month of pre-opening activation at the WOW Heritage Center, building toward the October 18 grand opening.
September 12
Rosewood Community Engagement Series, Session 1.
September 18
Build With Us: A Community Preview of the WOW Heritage Center.
What you will experience at the Center
The Center brings community memory, youth media, immersive storytelling, and public programs together in one place.
Youth-powered technology
Youth Media
Young people will research, interpret, and produce stories through digital media, immersive tools, and creative technology.
History in place
AR and Immersive Experiences
Visitors will encounter oral histories, archival material, and 3D guides connected to historic locations throughout East Austin.
Culture in motion
Public Programs
Performances, conversations, exhibits, workshops, gatherings, and celebrations will keep stories moving between generations.
Long arc
From building in public to Juneteenth Homecoming.
The digital home will grow alongside the Center. As oral histories, youth media, exhibits, and public programs are developed, this site will become a growing archive and guide to the work.
Come in through the story.
Visitors will encounter oral histories, archival material, and 3D guides connected to historic locations throughout East Austin.