The 5 Most Important North Texas Art Organizations for Artists

By Peter Simek

In keeping with our series of posts reflecting on the Dallas art scene in light of the new publication from Phaidon Art Cities of the Future, I came up with a list of the art organizations and institutions that I believe do the most to create the kind of environment that can sustain and promote artistic production in Dallas-Fort Worth. I’m thinking here about things that help make this place more livable for artists, help feed the intellectual environment, and may promote or further an artist’s career. Why artists? Because despite our heavy investment in art institutional prestige, it is the work of individual artists that actually does more to map urban areas as cultural centers....

Universities (Various) – As I said in last week’s post, there is no single university that does the kind of heavy lifting that a large institution like the University of Texas would do if it magically relocated to Dallas. But taken as a whole, each of the area’s individual institutions play vital role in the local scene. There’s Southern Methodist University’s Meadow Prize, its engaged professors, ongoing lectures and visitors, its budget, and, more recently, its role in the raising of the volume on Social Engaged Art practices in North Texas....