Join us for a showcase designed to highlight local, national, and international talent. Rivera Court Stage shares diverse styles of dance with Detroit Dance City Festival audiences in an inspiring museum setting.

Friday's showcase features works by:

• Rachel Stratton
• Claire Bechard
• Sophia & El Kronox
• Compañeros de Flamenco
• Dance Uprising
• HBY Ensemble
• Malaak Aburahmeh and Nina Contreras
• Haley Tarling and Dancers
• Thayer Jonutz
• Embodied Arts Collective
• Eleanor Raygorodsky
• Dua Colon

Saturday’s showcase features works by:

• Lauren Blair Smith Dance Company
• Oakland University Repertory Dance Company
• Movement Reservoir
• Bodies of Water
• The ChoreoJoey Project
• Suttle Dance
• Sean Hoskins & Tower Dancers
• Natalia de Miguel Annoni
• Currents Dance Theatre
• Savanna McFadden and Sophie Williams
• Angelina Diaz

This program is free with museum admission. Limited capacity seating begins 30 minutes prior to performance in the DIA’s Rivera Court. Ticket reservations are encouraged from detroitdancecityfestival.com

Detroit Dance City Festival (DDCF) is an annual community building event curated by ArtLab J that celebrates dance in its various forms and disciplines. DDCF brings the work of renowned local, national, and international performing artists, choreographers, and companies to the stage in a weekend full of performances, master classes and networking events. For full festival lineup, please check out detroitdancecityfestival.com

Please join the DIA for a conversation between internationally recognized artist Tiff Massey and award-winning filmmaker and writer dream hampton. This talk will explore the themes behind Massey's celebrated exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts, 7 Mile + Livernois, on view through May 11, 2025.

This event is an official part of the program for the 2024 Detroit Month of Design. This citywide project gathers designers, consumers, residents, and the greater community to celebrate Detroit's role as a national and global design capital.

Join Detroit photographer Elonte Davis as he shares techniques and inspirations from his work.

All participants will also create a polaroid portrait mixed media collage using a variety of artmaking materials like decorative papers, magazines, paint markers, and more.

This program is made possible by the PNC Foundation.

In partnership with multiple sclerosis society ambassador, Vickie Whyte, this free class will include a guided tour of the museum plus a make-and-take art project in the DIA Artmaking studio.

No experience is necessary and all supplies will be provided for making a multi-media collage. Capacity limited to 25 people.

Presenting The Art of Dining in Detroit

Join us for an exclusive member lecture with Katherine Kasdorf, Associate Curator of Arts of Asia and the Islamic World at the DIA, for a behind-the-scenes look into The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World. Dr. Kasdorf will provide an overview of the exhibition, discuss highlights from the planning process, and take a deeper dive into works of art featured in the exhibition.

Image: India. Saltcellar inscribed with Poem about Salt, between 1664 and 1665. Copper and tin. Detroit Institute of Arts, City of Detroit Purchase, 30.432.

Dates, Saffron, and Broth: Eating for Health in Medieval Islam

Cities such as Damascus, Cairo, and Baghdad were important centers for the practice of medicine and gastronomy between the tenth and the fourteenth centuries. Michelle Al-Ferzly, a research associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art who holds a PhD from the University of Michigan, examines the objects and manuscripts that were integral to the practice of eating for health in the medieval Islamic world, from collections of recipes and diet books to pharmacy jars.

The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World brings together 230 works from the Middle East, Egypt, Central and South Asia, and beyond to explore connections between art and cuisine from ancient times to the present day.

Image: Spain (Manises). Pharmacy Jar, 1440–80. Tin-glazed earthenware with cobalt and luster. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of K. T. Keller, 63.358.

Members See It First!

The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World brings together 230 works from the Middle East, Egypt, Central and South Asia, and beyond to explore connections between art and cuisine from ancient times to the present day. Paintings of elaborate feasts, sumptuous vessels for food and drink, and historical cookbooks show how culinary cultures have thrived in the Islamic world for centuries. Highlighting the relationship of these works to preparing, serving, and enjoying food, the exhibition engages multiple senses and invites us to appreciate the pleasures of sharing a meal.

Image: India. Bowl with Handles, ca. 1640–50, Dark green nephrite jade. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase, M.76.2.2

© Museum Associates / LACMA

Composer/singer Sunitha Anathaswamy studied music in Bangalore and specializes in the vocal art of traditional Kannada Bhavageete and Ghazals, songs based on romantic poetry. Multi-instrumentalist Xiao Dong Wei became a ‘Master of the Erhu’ (a two-string violin) at the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and also plays the pipa (a four-string lute) and guzheng (a 21-string zither). Both artists settled in metro Detroit and became influential performers, educators, and now collaborators. This joyous performance will fuse music from both their cultures and include guest appearances by their friends and family.

Concert of Colors is metro Detroit’s free annual global music festival, an upbeat event celebrating diverse World music traditions-including the indigenous music of the Motor City. The festival also hosts the Forum on Community, Culture and Race, a series of conversations with artists, cultural and community leaders examining the role of the arts in overcoming social barriers.

For a complete schedule of Concert of Colors programs at the Detroit Institute of Arts and neighboring institutions visit the festival website.

Concert of Colors is produced through the partnership of Culture Source, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, ACCESS,  University of Michigan – Detroit Center, Michigan Science Center, Detroit Historical Museum, College For Creative Studies, Hellenic Museum of Michigan, Third Man Records, Lowriders of Detroit, Science Gallery Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Midtown Inc., University of Michigan Dearborn, Arab American National Museum, WDET, The Scarab Club, International Institute of Metro Detroit and Marx Layne & Company.

This year, the Don Was Allstar Revue takes on the theme of Peace, Love, and Understanding. The revue, a collection of anti-war songs that were chosen as a musical elixir of relief during troubled times, will be produced by Don Was and performed by legendary Motor City artists. Special guests include Marshall Crenshaw, Steffanie Chris’ tian, Milton Bennet, Herschel Boone, Carolyn Striho, Corktown Popes, Gretchen Gonzalez Davidson, Julie Benjamin, Kara Meister, MIK E.

Concert of Colors is Metro Detroit’s free annual global music festival, an upbeat event celebrating diverse World music traditions-including the indigenous music of the Motor City. The festival also hosts the Forum on Community, Culture and Race, a series of conversations with artists, cultural and community leaders examining the role of the arts in overcoming social barriers.

For a complete schedule of Concert of Colors programs at the Detroit Institute of Arts and neighboring institutions visit the festival website.

Concert of Colors is produced through the partnership of Culture Source, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, ACCESS,  University of Michigan – Detroit Center, Michigan Science Center, Detroit Historical Museum, College For Creative Studies, Hellenic Museum of Michigan, Third Man Records, Lowriders of Detroit, Science Gallery Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Midtown Inc., University of Michigan Dearborn, Arab American National Museum, WDET, The Scarab Club, International Institute of Metro Detroit and Marx Layne & Company.

The DIA's Friends of Asian Arts and Cultures invites you to an evening immersed in Korean tea culture. The evening will begin with translated readings of Korean Buddhist Monk Ch'oŭi's writings about green tea by poet Dr. Ian Haight, followed by a traditional dance performance and a presentation of the Korean Tea Ceremony by Donghee Kim.

With opportunities for audience participation and tea and snack sampling, this event, presented by Korean Connection, promises to enhance your appreciation of Korean Culture and please your taste buds! (90 min.)

Capacity is limited. Seating begins 30 minutes prior to performance.