Official behind-the-scenes blog of the Dallas Museum of Art
September’s Late Night theme is “iMuseum,” where you can use technology to explore the DMA and participate in new, experimental, and interactive programs. We also want you to pick our September Main Stage Act by voting for your favorite performance from our Be Our Main Stage Act contest. The winner will be announced next week.
And the finalists are (click here to cast your vote):
Daniel Hart
Veronica Lopez
Jon Meyer
J. D. Whittenburg
Little Birds
Hello there! My name is Michele Loftus, and I’m the Marketing Coordinator for The Dallas Arts District. A lot of people don’t know that my organization actually exists, so let me take the opportunity to introduce us. We are an advocacy organization for . . . you guessed it, The Dallas Arts District! Still confused? I’ll put it this way: if you’ve ever eaten at a food truck, ventured out to an artsy block party, or consulted one of our kiosks looking for directions, then you’ve crossed paths with what our organization does. We’re often the ones who close off the streets for late night parties, coordinate the programs, and most importantly, do our best to make it easy for you to be a one-stop shop for all things Dallas Arts District. We bring together all the museums, restaurants, performing arts companies, and venues to promote the neighborhood along Flora Street as a cohesive district. All this being said, we hope you’ll join us for our next big bash, the Summer Block Party, this Friday night from 6:00 p.m. to midnight.
Now in our fourth year of throwing block parties, we’ve had the fortune of attracting more and more people to our neighborhood and educating them on the various offerings of the Dallas Arts District. What’s interesting now though, as observed in our most recent block parties and art crawls, is that people will come not knowing we’re throwing these events in the first place. They’ll stumble upon them for various other reasons: food trucks, a concert at the Winspear, or just driving by. Seeing the streets all lit up with activity, it’s difficult for them to stay away. It’s become something that amazes me every time and is now one of the things I look forward to most when wandering around, sending out my usual tweets, or taking pictures of what’s going on. It’s that curious “So what’s happening over there?” look, and the subsequent “Oh, awesome!” when I tell folks that the museums are open until midnight and send them on their merry way down Flora Street, knowing they’ve caught the buzz of our neighborhood.
Often, I’ve noticed these people are the faithful food truckies who follow their favorites to the ends of the earth, and this time their journey happens to lead to the Arts District. But I’ve also met a fair share of museum-goers who are equally as surprised and excited to find out there’s an entire food court waiting for them just down the street. We even come across people who are members at one institution and have no idea there’s something going on at the others right next door.
This kind of exchange is why we do these events and one of the many reasons we thrive on nights like the Summer Block Party. We’re fortunate to have an arts district that’s all on one street, so we can foster exciting collaborations like these and make it easy for people to stumble upon something new.
To discover something new for yourself, visit us at this Friday’s Summer Block Party. The museums will all be open until midnight. For more information, visit http://thedallasartsdistrict.org.
Michele Loftus is the Marketing Coordinator for The Dallas Arts District
Regarded as one of the premier art historians on the Harlem Renaissance, Dr. Richard Powell will be joining us on Friday, May 18, for our Late Night celebration centered on the Harlem Renaissance and the Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties exhibition.
Dr. Powell, the John Spencer Bassett Professor of Art & Art History at Duke University, has been writing on art and curating since 1988, when he received his Ph.D. from Yale University. He has worked with the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. We asked him a few questions about his work before he joins us on Friday.
You’ve worked extensively on African diaspora, American art, and African American art. What drew you to the Harlem Renaissance specifically?
So much of the work during this period was trail-blazing. It was pushing against conventions to make a bold, new statement in art.
Would you comment on the work Congo (1928) by Aaron Douglas, which is featured in Youth and Beauty, and how it is evocative of the Harlem Renaissance?
It is evocative of the Harlem Renaissance because Douglas is encouraging viewers to see African dance, bodies, and art as sources of inspiration and information. My favorite part of the picture is the woman looking upward with what seems like “super sight” Eyes that radiate upward on a levitating figure. Eyes that do more than simply see; they project.
Aaron Douglas, Congo, c. 1928, gouache and pencil on paperboard, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, Gift of Susie R. Powell and Franklin R. Anderson
Do you have a favorite, little known fact or story about the Harlem Renaissance?
My little known fact is that the term “Harlem Renaissance” actually comes into common currency starting in the 1940s. Artistically inclined black artists in the 1920s and 1930s referred to that moment as the “New Negro Arts Movement.”
What are you most looking forward to on your visit to Dallas?
Just seeing Dallas. It’s been a little while since I was last there. I’m really looking forward to my visit!
Dr. Powell’s lecture, Jungle Beauty: Harlem Renaissance Portraits and Their Marks, will start at 9:00 p.m. in Horchow Auditorium on Friday, May 18. We hope to see you there!
Liz Menz is the Manager of Adult Programming.
Our upcoming Late Night on Friday, April 20, will celebrate our exhibition Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties. As we were planning for this event, we learned that Chilton Gallery I would be empty during this time, as staff prepares the space for a new installation, so we inquired about using it for one of our programs. Once we got the green light, we immediately thought: Speakeasy!
The Speakeasy will feature 1920s-inspired cocktails and live music, with an area where visitors can “cut a rug.” But we also wanted to have music playing in-between the live acts, and what speakeasy would be complete without a player piano!
We believed the easiest thing to do would be to rent one from a local piano company, but after placing a few calls we found that they didn’t have any “older-looking” player pianos, and even if they did, it would cost a lot of money to rent one for a night. We thought we were out of luck until one of the companies suggested that it would be cheaper if we just bought one online.
Surprisingly (to us at least), there were quite a few to choose from.
Welcome to Carrollton
After examining all of the listings for pianos for sale we picked our favorite four. We heard back from a couple who was selling a Rubenstein player piano that fit the feel of the 1920s. So we headed to Carrollton to take a look, make sure the player part did indeed work, and check out the instrument’s overall condition.
Checking out the inner workings of the piano.
A box of music rolls for the player piano.
Once we agreed to buy the piano we then had to work out transport to the Museum. After a few more calls, and the brief thought of moving it ourselves with a U-Haul, we ended up working with Piano Movers of Texas.
Bringing the piano into the Museum via our loading dock.
Two weeks after beginning our quest for a player piano we finally have one on-site, where it is waiting in our auditorium greenroom for its move next Friday to the Speakeasy.
Stop by during the Late Night and take a look at the newest addition to the DMA piano family, which also includes a 9-foot Steinway Concert Grand piano and a 6-foot Yamaha G Series Baby Grand white piano.
Stacey Lizotte is Head of Adult Programming and Multimedia Services.
Denise Helbing is Manager of Partner Programs.
We had a “wild” Late Night this past Friday, March 16, celebrating Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book and the Dallas Arts District’s Spring Block Party. Visitors transformed themselves into wild things in the Art Studio, took in a circus performance by Lone Star Circus in the Atrium, listened to author Laura Numeroff discuss her Jellybeans series, met animals from the Dallas Zoo, experienced many of Dallas’s food trucks on Harwood Street, and raced through the Museum to win the DMAzing Race. We even had our own Wild Thing roaming the Museum’s Concourse. What was your favorite “wild” event?
Have a roaring good time as we travel back to the 1920s, complete with our own Speakeasy, during April’s Late Night on Friday, April 20.
Kimberly Daniell is the PR Specialist at the Dallas Museum of Art.
The Dallas Museum of Art is a wonderful place for families to share experiences together and offers more than 700 programs for children and their families every year. From a 2-year-old visiting the museum for the first time, or a 75-year-old showing his grandkids his favorite work of art, to a visitor with autism learning that she too can appreciate the Museum – we have something for everyone at the DMA. And if you’re under 12, you can always visit the Museum for Free! Watch the video below to see all of the different ways you can experience the DMA as a family.
Have you ever wanted to throw a block party but don’t know how to go about it? One of the interesting things about my job is that I now know a lot about what goes into making a good one.
On June 17 we’ll host our third annual Summer Block Party in the Arts District, and I wanted to share a little of the “backstage” planning. The Summer Block Party has always involved the Arts District museums and Downtown Dallas Inc., and this year we are also working with the Dallas Symphony and the AT&T Performing Arts Center.
The first part of planning any big event is getting all the “players” together to discuss ideas and work out the details. Our first Arts District group meeting was the first week of April, and we have had two group meetings since then. Agenda items for these meetings included planning joint programs, discussing street closure logistics, and crafting a marketing plan.
A street performance during a Summer Block Party
After these meetings, the “point person” from each institution goes back “home” to work out the specifics. Here at the DMA we had meetings with our Security, Operations, Membership, and Marketing teams to go over all the details for the DMA’s Late Night, especially the Summer Concert featuring The Polyphonic Spree. Between that first planning meeting in April and the event on June 17, I will have had fourteen internal meetings with various staff members just about this one event.
A past Late Night Summer Concert on Ross Avenue Plaza
After our programs are confirmed, we then work with our graphic designers and editor to create a schedule of events, which we give to visitors when they arrive that night. We submit text three weeks in advance to give them time to edit and design the schedule, have staff review the schedule, and make any last minute changes before sending it to the printer. We then update our website with all the current information, and our PR department sends out a press release and begins posting on Facebook and Twitter.
Proof for the Late Night Schedule of Events
Lastly, to continue in the tradition of my previous blog post about Late Nights, I thought I would end this post with a new Late Nights by the Numbers list:
272 – number of emails I have sent and received about the Summer Block Party since April
52 – number of performers and artists featured during the June Late Night
7,000 – number of Late Night event schedules printed for this night
6 – number of food trucks that will serve food during the Summer Block Party
2 – number of clues the DMA will tweet for the Museum Art Challenge on Twitter
12 – number of port-a-potties on-site during the Summer Block Party
4 – number of rotating mirror balls that will be used during The Polyphonic Spree concert
Stacey Lizotte is Head of Adult Programming and Multimedia Services.
As you know, our Late Nights are a staple for Dallas activities in the Metroplex. For our second YouTube video, we chose to feature what makes this program so special. If you know anyone who has not experienced Late Nights, share the video with them and plan your visit!
Our Late Night this Friday will celebrate the works of Dr. Suess. When we have such great characters to inspire us the staff at the Museum gets into character. Last March during our Alice in Wonderland themed Late Night appearances were made by Alice and the Mad Hatter. This Friday you may see Thing 1 and Thing 2 and be on the lookout for the Cat in the Hat!
Denise as Alice in Wonderland
Stacie as the Mad Hatter
Leah and Amanda as Thing 1 and Thing 2
Stacey Lizotte is the Head of Adult Programming and Mulitmedia Services at the Dallas Museum of Art
The program Late Nights at the Dallas Museum of Art is full of activities and experiences for people of all ages. But did you know that there’s a way to enjoy them without having to pay Museum admission?
Volunteering at Late Nights isn’t your average charitable activity. Volunteers can choose from a wide array of programs they wish to help with, and they often get to participate. As a volunteer, you become a part of Late Nights on multiple levels as a facilitator, aide, and participant, and you can also explore the Late Night before or after your volunteering shift. You can get in on the action yourself, helping visitors create their own works of art in the Art Studio or encouraging visitors to think outside the box during a Creativity Challenge.
Many volunteers have said that the rewards that come with volunteering at Late Nights make the event more of a fun activity than actual work. Couples and families will volunteer together to participate in Late Nights in a different way, and more often than not, they come back again and again to volunteer. One volunteer put it this way, “I look forward to the beaming faces of the kids when you’ve applauded them for the project they’ve just completed. It’s really sweet to see the parents and children working so closely together. It’s also amazing to see what people can create with simple materials and their imagination.”
Volunteers receive free admission to Late Nights and also have the opportunity to meet up-and-coming or even nationally known artists who lead workshops or host programs. When you volunteer, you get a glimpse into all of the behind-the-scenes work that is involved in creating a fun and exciting Late Night. You’ll be amazed at how much collaboration and effort goes into each one of these events, and being a part of it can give you a great sense of accomplishment.
Volunteering at the Dallas Museum of Art helps you become an integral part of the Late Night experience. After all, where else can you help little ones wiggle into fun yoga poses and then race against the clock to create a work of art under pressure at the Space Bar? So if you’re looking for a unique way to experience the Museum, consider becoming a volunteer. It will provide you with a new perspective on Late Nights at the DMA.
For more information on volunteering, visit our volunteer page or contact Hadly Clark at 214-922-1311 to volunteer for Late Nights.
