Community

Elliott Abbey, the Fancy War Dancer from the Alabama-Coushatta tribe, performs during the Mapa Wiya Community Day on September 14, 2019. Photo: Allyson Huntsman The Menil Collection organizes a variety of public lectures, conversations, and performances to deepen visitor appreciation of the art on view. All programs are free and open to everyone.

Artist Talks Initiated in 2018, the Menil’s Artist Talks series offers the public the opportunity to hear directly from artists whose works are included in the permanent collection.

Curator Talks Curator Talks take place the second Sunday of every month in the museum’s galleries. Menil curators lead in-depth discussions of a single work of art or group of works currently on display.

Major Funding for the public programs at the Menil Collection was provided by The Anchorage Foundation of Texas. Major Funding for the Artist Talks series was provided by Franci Neely.

Artist Talk: Glenn Ligon, January 31, 2020. Photo: Ben Doyle

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1 Fred Baldwin Talk and Book Signing: Dear Mr. Picasso: An Illustrated Love Affair with Freedom on August 29, 2019 2 Artist Talk: Robyn O’Neil, September 4, 2019 3 New Zealand-based choreographer and dancer Amrita Hepi performs during the Mapa

Wiya Community Day on September 13, 2019. Photo: Allyson Huntsman 4 An Atlas of Indigenous Australia: Professors Howard and Frances Morphy with

Curator of Collections Paul R. Davis on November 7, 2019 5 Artist Talk: Jorinde Voigt, September 28, 2019 6 Director of Publishing Joseph N. Newland discusses the making of Cy Twombly,

Treatise on the Veil, 1970, at the book launch October 1, 2019. 7 Barry Bergdoll Lecture: Jean-Jacques Lequeu: The Architectural Imagination in the

Age of Reason on November 14, 2019 8 Concert: Maki Namekawa Performs Philip Glass’s First Piano Sonata on November 21, 2019. 9 Artist Talk: Brice Marden, February 21, 2020 All photos taken by Ben Doyle unless indicated otherwise.

Writing at the Menil is a nationally acclaimed program organized by Writers in the Schools (WITS) that brings Gulf Coast-area school groups to the museum. Educators and professional writers discuss the art on view and prompt their students to create stories, poems, and prose. In addition to being a proud financial supporter of the program, the Menil opens its art buildings early so that WITS may visit the galleries outside of regular business hours. During the 2020 fiscal year, approximately 5,000 students from 25 different schools made 17 in-person field trips and 23 virtual field trips to the museum.

Writing at the Menil is funded by the J. W. Couch Foundation.

Screenshot from a Zoom meeting of WITS educators planning ways to take their students on virtual visits to the Menil Collection. Photo courtesy of WITS

Da Camera

Stop, Look, and Listen! is a series of free chamber music and jazz performances presented by Da Camera of Houston at the Menil Collection. These museum concerts feature unconventional, interactive concert formats and fun, adventurous musical selections, often developed in response to specific exhibitions. During the 2020 fiscal year, Da Camera Young Artists performed pieces in response to the exhibitions Mapa Wiya (Your Map’s Not Needed): Australian Aboriginal Art from the Foundation Opale and Think of Them as Spaces: Brice Marden’s Drawings.

Held on Fridays, Noontime Talks are a popular way for Menil members to learn more about the artwork on view and the projects in progress across our 30-acre neighborhood of art. Each tour is led by a member of the Menil staff from a variety of different departments, including archives, conservation, curatorial, facilities, and publishing. The Menil presented 25 Noontime Talks in Fiscal Year 2020. The Menil Collection offers internship opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the art history departments at Rice University and the University of Houston. Students support research and exhibition planning under the guidance of Menil staff. For those interested in museum careers, these internships offer valuable curatorial experience.

Bookstore Attendance

Housed in a gray bungalow that faces the entrance to the main museum building, the Menil Bookstore offers an assortment of hard-to-find art books, gift items, and Menil merchandise. The children’s section stocks French, Italian, and Spanish titles, along with a thoughtfully selected assortment of toys and games that appeal to the museum’s youngest visitors. The bookstore also features a selection of artwork and jewelry by Texas-based artists. Menil Bookstore 1520 Sul Ross Street Wednesday–Sunday 11 a.m.–7 p.m. In Fiscal Year 2020, the Menil Collection welcomed approximately 186,439 guests to the buildings on campus. This number represents shoppers at the bookstore and visits to all exhibition spaces, including the main museum building, Cy Twombly Gallery, the Menil Drawing Institute, and the Dan Flavin Installation at Richmond Hall.

In Fiscal Year 2020, the Menil Collection’s visitor guides were updated and are now available in English, French, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Photo: Allyson Huntsman