Houstonia’s The Must List tells you about something going on in Houston that you absolutely cannot miss.

Once a year, the outer walls of the Menil Collection light up with home movies, interactive displays, animated shorts, and other silent films. Its iconic light gray color (so iconic it’s become known as “Menil gray”) serves as an ideal canvas that lets colors and movement pop, to the delight of hundreds of Houstonians who gather on the lawn with chairs and blankets. Since 2013, the Menil and cinema arts nonprofit Aurora Picture Show have partnered for the annual Bring Your Own Beamer, a crowdsourced evening of works by local creators, both professional and not, with a story they want to tell. This year’s BYOB will be held on April 26.

“It’s a really cool, diverse range of work, from people who have some stuff in their closet to people who are professional filmmakers,” says Mary Magsamen, manager of public programs at the Menil. “They’re all fun, and the spirit of the event is very collaborative and relaxed.”

In her previous curator role at Aurora Picture Show, Magsamen was inspired by the community projection art events originally organized by Dutch artist Rafaël Rozendaal. BYOB is his creation, but the concept has since grown to 350 cities worldwide since its 2010 inception. As an open-source idea, anyone is welcome to host their own BYOB provided they honor a noncommercial license. Beyond that, the rules are up to the organizers.

Houston’s event allows 32 artists to claim a slot on the lineup before the night of, though a waitlist to fill in spots left by no shows will also be available. As long as the films are family-friendly and absent of sound—imagine the cacophony of a dozen shorts blaring all at once—they’re allowed on the evening’s programming. Aurora Picture Show will provide three tables full of projectors for participating artists, though they’re welcome to bring their own as well (hence the name of the event). Audiences don’t know what to truly expect until the festivities begin.

“Depending on who signs up for the event, it can change what’s being projected and what the overall feel of the event is,” says Salome Kokoladze, the Aurora Picture Show curator who now partners with Magsamen to present BYOB.

If visitors start to feel inspired by what they’re watching on the Menil’s walls, they can step up to the crowdsourced animation table and contribute their own drawings. These will also be projected throughout the night, an ever-shifting, randomized tableau of movement and color and shape. Anyone who wants to take part in this element of the event is welcome. Just make sure to look up from your drawing long enough to see what other art shares the space.

Previous Houston BYOB events have attracted between 300 and 500 people. They’ve featured local multimedia artist Pablo Gimenez-Zapiola and interactive arts and tech lab Input Output. Magsamen speaks of projectionists experimenting with foregoing the wall and placing their art in the trees outlining the Menil lawn. It’s a truly democratized creative opportunity, where artists’ experience levels with projection art and access to equipment aren’t determining factors in whether they can display their works. All one needs to do is simply sign up.

Both Kokoladze and Magsamen stress the community aspect of BYOB. There’s no cost to attend, no submission fees—just a cool evening full of movies running the gamut from candid, big-hearted family moments to cutting-edge works by established names in the art world. With the inclusion of the animation table, everyone who steps up to draw even one line becomes a part of the show.

“[Bring Your Own Beamer] is great for those who like to show work, but also for people to experience it. So we really cherish this,” Kokoladze says.