Detroit, January 17, 2022: The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) celebrates Black History Month with music and films and family events. Also, this month is the return of the popular 2023 Oscar© Nominated Shorts. For more information and to stay up-to-date on current events, visit www.dia.org/events.
Friday, February 3
Drawing in the Galleries: Con|Temporary (Temporary Contemporary) 6 p.m.
Create your own pencil drawing to take him. All supplies provided; no experience is necessary. For ages 6–adult (Children ages 12 and younger should be accompanied by an adult). Capacity is limited. A different Gallery every Friday night.
Friday Night Live! Wendell Harrison: Fighting for the Children 7 p.m.
Friday Night Live partners with Neighborly Need, Inc., a non-profit committed to strengthening urban communities and developing projects that address urgent community problems and needs. This performance features a commissioned work, Fighting for the Children, by saxophonist/clarinetist Wendell Harrison. The work features Harrison leading an ensemble that includes a rhythm and horn section made up of veteran Detroit musicians, and a large string orchestra of young Sphinxx artists. Free admission.
Saturday, February 4
Free Family Fun! Drop-In Workshop: Collaborative Neighborhood Collage 12–4 p.m.
Kick off Black History Month in the DIA Artmaking Studio with a mixed media collage project inspired by Romare Bearden. Take part in a collaborative community installation that will be on display in the DIA Learning Center throughout February and March.
Free Family Fun! New York International Children’s Film Festival: Celebrating Black Stories 2 p.m.
Black stories take the spotlight to highlight short films that share the joy, determination, resilience, and complexity of being Black and young. Explore a range of genres and styles in a program that spans the globe. These short films were audience favorites and award-winners at the 2022 New York International Children’s Film Festival. Admission is free. Presented in partnership with New York International Children’s Film Festival.
Recommended for families with children ages 9 and up. In English, Portuguese and Luganda with English subtitles.
Detroit Film Theatre: The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks 7:30 p.m.
The Detroit Film Theatre presents a screening of The Rebellious Life Of Mrs. Rosa Parks, followed by a conversation with the film’s executive producer, journalist Soledad O’Brien and the film’s directors Johanna Hamilton and Yoruba Richen. Based on the bestselling biography by Jeanne Theoharis, The Rebellious Life Of Mrs. Rosa Parks corrects the record on Rosa Parks’ often-overlooked accomplishments and the erasure of her radical politics.
This special evening is co-presented by SO’B Productions, The League, The Detroit Free Press and Detroit Film Theatre.
Sunday, February 5
Free Family Fun! Drop-In Workshop: Collaborative Neighborhood Collage 12–4 p.m.
Detroit Film Theatre: Drylongso 2 p.m.
Afrofuturist artist Cauleen Smith’s UCLA thesis film looks at racial injustice. Observing the alarming rate at which the young Black men around her are dying—“becoming extinct,” as she sees it—California art student Pica begins preserving their existence in Polaroid snapshots, along the way forging a friendship with a gender nonconforming young woman, experiencing love and loss, and being drawn into the search for a serial killer at large in the city. Capturing the vibrant community spirit of Oakland in the nineties, Smith crafts both a rare cinematic celebration of Black female creativity and a moving elegy for a generation of lost African American men. The DFT presents this special preview screening in advance of the film’s national release. Tickets are $9.50 general admission, $7.50 seniors, students and DIA members. There is a $1.50 online convenience fee when purchasing tickets online.
Thursday, February 9
Mosaic in Concert: Let the Good Times Roll 7 p.m.
Let the Good Times Roll illuminates the joys and complexity of growing up. Underscored by the music of Rock & Roll pioneers and torchbearers from Little Richard to Gary Clark Jr., Let the Good Times Roll is a musical revue that reminds us of the beauty of the present and the promise of the future.
Friday, February 10
Drawing in the Galleries: Modern & Contemporary 6 p.m.
Detroit Film Theatre: No Bears 7 p.m.
Iranian director Jafar Panahi won the 2022 Venice Film Festival Jury Prize and 2022 New York Film Critics Circle for the new complex meta-drama about a filmmaker (Panahi) who temporarily relocates to an Iranian border town to remotely oversee the making of a new film in Turkey. Though it begins playfully as a film-within-a-film, Panahi soon finds himself involved in controversy with local villagers when he’s accused of taking a photograph of an unmarried couple, leading to larger clashes between tradition and progress, city and country, spiritual belief and photographic evidence, as well as the human desire to escape oppression. This film is receiving worldwide theatrical release and critical praise, even as the international film community denounces Panahi’s summer 2022 arrest, resulting in a six-year prison sentence for “collusion against the regime.” In Farsi, Azerbaijani, and Turkish with English subtitles. Tickets are $9.50 general admission, $7.50 seniors, students and DIA members. There is a $1.50 online convenience fee when purchasing tickets online.
Saturday, February 11
Free Family Fun! Drop-In Workshop: Pop Art Pins 12–4 p.m.
Participants can create a bright, energetic, wearable art pin using traditional and nontraditional
jewelry-making materials.
Mosaic in Concert: Let the Good Times Roll 2 p.m.
Detroit Film Theatre: No Bears 7 p.m.
Sunday, February 12
Free Family Fun! Drop-In Workshop: Pop Art Pins 12–4 p.m.
Detroit Film Theatre: No Bears 2 & 4:30 p.m.
Friday, February 17
Drawing in the Galleries: African American 6 p.m.
Detroit Film Theatre: 2023 Oscar® Nominated Short Films – Animation and Live Action 7 p.m.
The Detroit Film Theatre is excited to present the most popular annual program in its original format—combining all the nominees in both the short animation and short live action categories into one entertaining presentation, with an intermission between the two sections. Experience some of the year’s most imaginative works of cinematic storytelling with other fans, family and friends whose first impressions of each film are uncluttered by advance hype. The Oscars® will be awarded on Sunday, March 12th.
Advanced tickets are strongly recommended. Remaining seats will be available at the door prior to each performance. Tickets are $9.50 general admission, $7.50 seniors, students and DIA members. There is a $1.50 online convenience fee when purchasing tickets online.
DFT @ Home: The Melt Goes on Forever streaming 17–23
The Melt Goes On Forever chronicles the career of African American art star David Hammons, whose category-defying practice is, in the words of one art critic, “an invitation to confront the fissures between races,” as the artist seeks to go beyond the dominant culture and his own to a new one for the 21st century. Featuring eminent artists, curators and critics, a rove of archival footage, animation and an soundscape, The Melt is a portrait of a celebrated art star whose elusive, rule-breaking practice offers commentary on race in America.
Register here: https://forms.office.com/r/siWV5j5L4J
Saturday, February 18
Free Family Fun! Guest Artist Workshop: Letterpress Printing with Amos Kennedy Jr. 12–4 p.m.
Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. is an American printer, book artist and papermaker best known for social and political commentary, particularly in printed posters. Join Amos as he talks about his practice and demonstrates his letterpress poster making process.
Detroit Film Theatre: 2023 Oscar® Nominated Documentary Short Films 2 p.m.
The DFT is presenting all the Academy Award® nominated short documentary films together in one event. Short documentaries have enjoyed a rapidly growing base of enthusiasts who love to experience their exploration of the world on the big screen. The Oscars® will be awarded on Sunday, March 12th.
Advanced tickets are strongly recommended. Remaining seats will be available at the door prior to each performance. Tickets are $9.50 general admission, $7.50 seniors, students and DIA members. There is a $1.50 online convenience fee when purchasing tickets online.
Detroit Film Theatre: 2023 Oscar® Nominated Short Films – Animation and Live Action 7 p.m.
Sunday, February 19
Free Family Fun! Guest Artist Workshop: Letterpress Printing with Amos Kennedy Jr. 12–4 p.m.
Detroit Film Theatre: 2023 Oscar® Nominated Short Films – Animation and Live Action 2 p.m.
Wednesday, February 22
Virtual Lecture: Piet Mondrian’s Boogie Woogie and Other Things 6 p.m.
Driven from Europe first by the Nazi conquest of France and then the Blitz in London, Dutch artist Piet Mondrian settled in New York City, where he discovered a form of jazz whose popularity was sweeping the city—Boogie Woogie. Mondrian expressed the revelations of this encounter in some of the best known and best loved mid-century abstract paintings. Leah Dickerman, Director of Research Programs at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) will explore some of the contexts and meanings expressed by one of the artist’s most iconic and beloved works, Broadway Boogie Woogie, which MoMA acquired in 1943, only a few months after Mondrian completed it.
This lecture is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Visit www.dia.org/events to register.
Thursday, February 23
Detroit Film Theatre: 2023 Oscar® Nominated Short Films – Animation and Live Action 7 p.m.
See Feb. 17 for description.
Friday, February 24
Drawing in the Galleries: American 6 p.m.
Detroit Film Theatre: 2023 Oscar® Nominated Documentary Short Films 7 p.m.
Saturday, February 25
Free Family Fun! Drop-In Workshop: Stencils 12–4 p.m.
Create a simple stencil using colored chalk and black paper.
Detroit Film Theatre: 2023 Oscar® Nominated Short Films – Animation and Live Action 2 & 7 p.m.
Alain Locke Awards 3 p.m.
More information to be announced. Visit dia.org/events to stay up-to-date.
Sunday, February 26
Free Family Fun! Drop-In Workshop: Stencils 12–4 p.m.
Detroit Film Theatre: 2023 Oscar® Nominated Short Films – Animation and Live Action 2 p.m.
Music: Kenneth Thompkins: Structurally Sound 2 p.m.
Principle Trombonist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Ken Thompkins performs Structurally Sound featuring new compositions by vocalist Jeff Scott, harpist Maurice Draughn and poetry by Kalimah Johnson.
Museum Hours and Admission
9 a.m.–4 p.m. Tuesdays–Thursdays; 9 a.m.–9 p.m. Fridays; 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; closed on Mondays. General admission (excludes ticketed exhibitions) is free for Macomb, Oakland and Wayne County residents and DIA members. For all others, $14 for adults, $9 for seniors ages 62+, $8 for college students, $6 for ages 6–17. For membership information, call 313-833-7971.