Tag Archives: lectures

Summer Fun At The MCA Denver!

The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (MCA Denver) explores the art and culture of our time through rotating exhibitions and public educational programs. Featuring regional, national and international artists, MCA Denver offers a wide range of exhibitions promoting creative experimentation with art and ideas. Through adult and youth education programs and other creative events, the museum serves as an innovative forum for a culturally engaged community.

MCA Denver is a non-collecting institution acting as an incubator for art and ideas, artistic exchange, and dialogue. In 2007, eleven years after its founding, the museum opened a new David Adjaye-designed building in Lower Downtown Denver. MCA Denver presents exhibitions featuring local, national and international artists, as well as offering ongoing public programs that explore the relationship between art and contemporary life. MCA Denver has a robust youth program, with a focus on teens.

The MCA has a fun Summer Camp With Adult Drinks program running through August with Bartender-in-Residence on Wednesday Nights
from 5–9PM where Denver’s top bartenders drop by to counsel campers on the art and craft of a tasty cocktail. Each beverage counselor will create signature drinks on the outdoor rooftop bar on Wednesday evenings from 5–9PM. During June the Beverage Counselor is from Steubens. In July, the Beverage Counselor is from The Kitchen, and in August, the Beverage Counselor is from Coohills.

Also, on Thursday nights, The MCA hosts “Mixed Taste”, Tag-team lectures on unrelated subjects, such as Sinkholes & Wormholes or Draft Beer & Draft Urbanism. The Mixed Taste series runs until August 29, 2013. Visit mcadenver.org for more information.

Newman Center for the Performing Arts: Eclectic, Electric Entertainment

Three theaters in one, the University of Denver’s year-round performing arts venue isn’t just for students. Indeed, entertainers of all stripes—local, national, and international; emerging and established—make touring stops here. In any given academic season, enthusiasts can catch the acts of flamenco and ballet troupes; concerts by chamber orchestras, jazz ensembles, and a capella groups; and even spoken-word pieces and lectures by authors and professors as well as performers. Among the big names gracing the marquee of late: the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Bill Frisell, and Joyce Carol Oates. Insider’s tip: the Newman Center is only a couple of miles away from Old South Pearl; south Denver’s Restaurant Row is your best bet for dinner before the show.

newman

Paramount Theatre: Downtown Denver’s Performance Palace

Denver’s a wonder of early to mid-twentieth century architecture, and the Paramount Theatre is no exception, boasting as it does a sweeping Art Deco interior complete with a 1600-pipe Wurlitzer organ—a feature it shares with only one other venue in the nation, namely Radio City Music Hall. But this inductee into the National Register of Historic Places is also a vibrant showcase for performers of all kinds, from alternative songsters like Sufjan Stevens and star comedians like Louis CK and Margaret Cho to TV celebrities like Buddy Valastro, aka The Cake Boss. The Paramount screens films, hosts lectures—think talks by famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass—and of course stages holiday classics like The Nutcracker. In short, it’s a glitzy, posh one-stop entertainment shop.

Paramount_June_2004_Aud

The Norton Simon Museum: Picture Perfect in Pasadena

norton simon pic

The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena is truly noteworthy when it comes to its artwork and exhibits.

Featuring Asian Art, European Art, and anything that is remotely Modern or contemporary, is featured in this hideaway. Current exhibitions at the Norton Simon include Hiroshige: Visions of Japan, while future exhibitions will be Raphael’s “The Small Cowper”.

The vast amount of exhibitions and collections keeps tours and memberships alive. The Norton Simon, known for relatively inexpensive admission rates, has multiple levels of membership for active visitors as well as same-day admission for $8.00.

Tours are also encouraged from those at Norton Simon who administer guided tours as well as spotlight talks featuring twenty minute discussions free to visitors.

Along with guided tours and visits to the Museum, Norton Simon frequently features adult drawing and art history classes as well as lectures and dance performances.

With multiple ways to enjoy the exhibits and collections, Norton Simon makes it easy for anyone to become fascinated by the works around them.

Fresh Entertainment at Historical DAR Constitution Hall

Get Courtside Seats at the Supreme Court

Book a Date With the Dallas Public Library

During tough economic times and the “go green movement,” there’s no better way to save a few dollars and trees and spend the day broadening your knowledge base than by visiting the downtown Dallas Public Library. Whether you’re a library card toting resident or just looking to browse the vast rows of bookshelves, you won’t regret spending an afternoon exploring everything this library has to offer.

Lectures with authors from the New York Times Best Seller’s List and free inventor workshops are among some of the exciting offerings, and children can get in on the fun with story time and youth poetry competitions. If books aren’t your cup of tea, check out the media library for an impressive array of CDs, DVDs, and magazines.

The Dallas Public Library isn’t just for studying and quiet whispers, either. Weekend concerts, featuring local and visiting professional musicians, are free and open to the public.

Hyde Park Art Center: Obama’s Neighborhood Gem

Never before did Hyde Park gain such a name than in recent times, thanks to none other than the President of the United States. Reigning from Hyde Park, President Obama has heavy ties to his old neighborhood, just south of the downtown “Loop.” An eclectic mix of mansions and apartments, rib-joints and bistros, the South Side is certainly up-and-coming. But you can’t really make it until you’ve got some cool art on the scene and alas, there’s the Hyde Park Art Center, which has actually been around for 70 years.

Its mission since it opened in the 1930s (it’s actually the oldest contemporary art venue in Chicago) is to “stimulate” and provoke the unexpected. Today it continues to do just that with a wide range of classes, lectures, workshops, camps, exhibits, and not to mention, fun, flirty, cocktail-enriched galas.

The HPAC always stays true to its roots, however, and aims to unite artists and the community. Their Not Just Another Pretty Face bridges the gap between patrons and artists by involving them together directly. If you think you’ve got a cool idea and want to see it materialize through the eyes of a verifiable artist, then this is the program for you.