This year’s FAAAA Annual Meeting will feature "A Performance Celebrating Sango, the Yoruba God of Thunder." This special presentation on Sango, the powerful and enigmatic God of Thunder of the Yoruba people, will highlight select art in the DIA’s African gallery. These Sango-related art pieces include key ritual emblems and the recreated shrine, a one-of-a-kind installation inspired by a well-known historic shrine that is now defunct.

Abiodun Omolara Williams, a woman of Yoruba descent who is also a Michigander and former radio broadcaster for "Voice of Nigeria," will perform songs, chants, and dances exploring Sango’s rich history and enduring legacy in Yoruba culture across the globe.

The event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.

Part of Detroit Dance City Festival ’s Master Class series, Dance for the Camera I is a new addition to the festival. The workshops, taught by Shirel Jones and Kelsey Paschich, are the perfect opportunity for dancers and filmmakers to learn skills within choreography, performance, camera work, and editing. For dancers 13 years or older with all levels of experience.

Workshops are $50 for two and $30 for one. Tickets can be purchased at 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.

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.

Join us for an exclusive member lecture with renowned artist Tiff Massey as she shares the inspirations and stories behind her acclaimed exhibition 7 Mile + Livernois.

Gain unique insights from Massey as she explores the cultural and personal significance of her work, reflecting on Detroit's vibrant history and community.

Join the European Paintings Council (EPC) for a complimentary brunch, a review of 2023–24, a look at next year’s engaging  programs, and a special enrichment portion by Dr. Yuriko Jackall, Head of European Art and Elizabeth and Alan Shelden Curator of European Paintings, where she will discuss 18th-century French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard, and his most famous painting The Swing, within the DIA’s own collection.

Stephanie Stebich, the Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), gives us an update on the museum's multiyear project to rethink and reinstall the entire museum, and its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, by our nation's semiquincentennial on July 4, 2026.

This lecture is free and open to the public. No reservation is required.

Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898 – 1971 explores the rich history of Black participation in American cinema, from its beginnings to just past the civil rights movement and the dawn of the so-called Blaxploitation era.

Join the exhibition’s co-curators Doris Berger and Rhea L. Combs as they discuss behind-the-scenes insights into their five-year journey of archival research and conversations with artists and filmmakers to create this groundbreaking exhibition, which seeks to revive lost or forgotten films, filmmakers, and performers for a contemporary audience.

The DIA auxiliary Friends of Art & Flowers (FAF) presents its 24th annual Elizabeth Sites Kuhlman Lecture and Luncheon Monday, April 29, at 10:30 a.m.

This year’s speaker is French Master Florist Frédéric Dupré. One of the world’s premiere floral designers and teachers, Dupré was named  Best Craftsman in France in 2011 and was a competitor for the World Cup title in 2015. He will focus on architecture and texture, designing only with organic materials to enlighten and entertain lecture attendees.