Dallas Arts Month Events Commissioned and Supported by the Office of Cultural Affairs
Dallas,
Texas – Dallas Arts Month is “an opportunity for everyone in Dallas to discover
new art experiences that might just be right in their own backyard,” stated
Mayor Pro Tem Monica Alonzo, Chair of the City’s Arts, Culture and Libraries
Committee.
With
that vision in mind, the Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA) of the City of Dallas
has commissioned two events for Dallas Arts Month: DeColonize Dallas presented by Michelada Think Tank
and Family Arts Day hosted by the Office of
Cultural Affairs. Through the Cultural Vitality Program
(CVP), the OCA partnered with several organizations to support more arts
and culture in the community including Art Drop
by Color Me Empowered, Pia Camil: Bara,
Bara, Bara exhibition by Dallas Contemporary, The MAP Pavilion by Making Art with Purpose, D’JAM Free Jazz Concert by D’Jam: Dallas Jazz Appreciation Month
and Sammons Center for the Arts, Exhibit,
Artist Talk, and Workshop with Native American Artist, Eve-Lauryn Little Shell
LaFountain by Video Association, and Bruises:
Animal vs Machine by PrismCo Movement Theatre. For the first
time ever, the City’s cultural centers have coordinated ART 214, a collaborative exhibition between the South Dallas
Cultural Center, Latino Cultural Center, Oak Cliff Cultural Center and the Bath
House Cultural Center. All of these events are free and open to the public.
The
Latino Cultural Center’s ART214
exhibition is their 14th Annual Hecho en Dallas.
This “is one of the most culturally diverse juried shows in
Dallas and the greater North Texas region. From students to professional
artists to retirees, the individuals selected by the jurors reflect the fullness
of our community,” stated Benjamin Espino, Manager of the Latino Cultural
Center. “Furthermore, this exhibition is an integral part of the LCC and the
Office of Cultural Affairs’ mission of providing access to arts and culture for
all Dallas residents and visitors.
“We
wanted to support efforts to bring art into neighborhoods and communities, so
we added Dallas Arts Month to the Cultural Vitality Program grant application
and decided to commission DeColonize
Dallas” says Jennifer Scripps, Director of the OCA. “Hopefully people will
get to partake of arts near them.” DeColonize
Dallas curates multiple exhibitions and hosts several events with ten
artists in four communities: Vickery Meadow, West Dallas, Southern Dallas and
Pleasant Grove.
"We are initiating
the project DeColonize Dallas to
decenter how Dallas thinks about the arts, focus on artists and cultural
producers on the margins, and present opportunities for residents to experience
art in pivotal neighborhoods across the city,” said Darryl Ratcliff, a social
practice artist based in Dallas.
Bringing
art and culture into unconventional spaces was part of the thought process
behind hosting a free afternoon of culture, performances, art and family
activities for Family Arts Day at the
Felix Lozada Gateway to Ronald Kirk Pedestrian Bridge, as well as supporting
the MAP Pavilion, a pop-up structure used as a gallery and performance space, which
will feature artists from underserved communities. “Installing the Pavilion as an
exhibition space in a public park, Pegasus Plaza, in downtown Dallas, MAP
reaches new audiences, who might not typically visit museums or galleries in
addition to people who go to exhibition spaces on a more regular basis.
Additionally, we are presenting the work of emerging artists who might not
otherwise have a public platform during Dallas Arts Month” says Janeil Engelstad, Founding Director of MAP.
For
more information, please visit DallasArtsMonth.com. Follow the Office of
Cultural Affairs and Dallas Arts Month on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Below
are key event dates:
DeColonize Dallas: Super Fantasy
Mercado 2
April 1st – April 2nd,
2pm at Southwest Center Mall
DeColonize
Dallas: West Dallas; April 5th
April
19th, 1pm at City of Dallas Multipurpose Center
DeColonize
Dallas Opening Reception
April 11th, 6pm – 8pm at
the Nasher Sculpture Center
DeColonize
Dallas: Water is Life
April 15th – April 16th,
11am at Trans.lation: Vickery Mead
DeColonize Dallas: Buckner Train
Station
April 22nd, 10am at DART
– Buckner Station
DeColonize
Dallas: Dark Moon Poetry and Arts
April 25th, 6pm at City
of Dallas Multipurpose Center
- Family Arts Day
April 15th, 12pm at the
Felix Lozada Gateway Park to Ronald Kirk Pedestrian Bridge
- ArtDrop
April 29th, 12pm in Oak
Cliff
- Pia Camil: Bara, Bara, Bara
Exhibition
April 8th – August 20th
at Dallas Contemporary
- MAP Pavillion
April
3rd – 25th at
Pegasus Plaza
- D’JAM Free Jazz Concert
April 8th, 1pm at Dallas
City Performance Hall
- Bruises: Animal vs. Machine
April 1st – 2nd
& April 7th – 9th, 8pm at Oak Cliff Cultural Center
-
Exhibit, Artist Talk, and Workshop
with Native American Artist, Eve-Lauryn Little Shell LaFountain
April 28th
– May 27th at The MAC
- ART214
Perform La Femme: Photographs by
Angilee Wilkerson and Jana C. Perez /
In This Day and Age
March 11th –
April 22nd at Bath House Cultural Center
14th Annual
Hecho en Dallas
April 13th –
June 30th at Latino Cultural Center
Dia de Los Ninos: Arte
de Estudiantes
April 14th –
28th at Oak Cliff Cultural Center
blkART214
April 6th
– 29th at South Dallas Cultural Center
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