One of the activities I have been enjoying most as DIA director has been working with our tri-county partners. The DIA team meets three times a year with the Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb County Art Authorities, which work closely with the museum to ensure that we provide the best service possible to their residents. Last Thursday, January 25, after meeting with the Oakland Art Authority, the Oakland County Board of Commissioners invited me to speak to them. I had the opportunity to discuss some of our recent accomplishments from instituting our exciting Strategic Plan to the unveiling of the new Lumin technology that brings 3-D mapping and augmented reality tours to our galleries.

One of the commissioners, Marcia Gershenson, praised the work we are all doing in making the museum a place for everybody, a welcoming "town square" where all are included and represented. I was pleased to specifically underscore how in the last year we established meaningful connections with the Asian communities in Oakland, especially with Indian and Japanese groups, and that we are working to reach out to the Chinese and Korean ones too.

We want diverse audiences to come to the DIA and, to support this idea, we have launched an initiative called Reflecting Our Community. We would like the demographics of our visitors to mirror that of the tri-county area. With that in mind, we are approaching our Latino and Arab- American neighbors, among others, to assess how we can better engage with them. Moreover, we are focusing on our region's African American residents, speaking with and listening to them to better understand how the museum can be more attractive to their interests. In fact, we are collaborating with the  Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History on exhibitions in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Detroit '67 rebellion. On July 23,  Art of Rebellion: Black Art of the Civil Rights Movement opens at the DIA and opens at the Wright Museum. Further, February is Black History Month and we are partnering with the Detroit Pistons and very generous donors Arn and Nancy Tellem to celebrate the inspiring histories and vibrant futures of African Americans through a number of events at the DIA.

As Commissioner Gershenson said, we are opening the museum to everyone. The DIA welcomes the diverse cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives of all our communities from all corners of the world and incorporate them into the framework of our extraordinary art collection. We identify with the vast multicultural wealth of our society, and the museum brings us all together. This February bring your family and friends and celebrate the Chinese New Year, Black History Month, and Valentine's Day with us.

Coffee, tea, and chocolate became the new hot drinks when they were introduced in Europe in the 1600s, causing a near revolution in drinking habits and social customs. Not only did these beverages set off an insatiable demand for specialized vessels, such as coffeepots, tea canisters, and chocolate pots, but they also generated new phrases and word meaning.

Take " Not my cup of tea." It started out in England in the late 1800s as just "my cup of tea," to mean something viewed positively, a reference to the ubiquitous presence of the drink in British life. In the 1920s, the word not was added to the phrase to describe something that was not liked.

The phrase " not for all the tea in China" derives from the huge amounts of tea that the Chinese export. It means there is no price high enough to induce someone to act. The saying originated in Australia in the 1890s and soon spread to the rest of the tea-drinking English-speaking world.

Ever wonder why the fancy dishes you set the table with are called china? Beginning in the fifteenth century, considerable quantities of Chinese porcelain entered Europe and were often referred to as "China wares" or just "china." The secret of making porcelain eluded European artisans for more than a century and, despite numerous attempts, they could not match the hardness, translucency, colors and beauty of the Chinese product. Today, china is used to describe any porcelain dishes, whether the adhere to the original Chinese recipe or not.

Didn't get enough of the hot chocolate samples at the end of exhibition? You can now purchase a full-sized cup of either the Aztec or French versions in Kresge Court. Have a shot of espresso added to create a mocha.

Click here for information on a lecture about coffee, tea, and chocolate in early America.

There are only four weeks left to see this exhibition. Tickets for adults are $14 and $10 for Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb county residents. Children ages 6-17 are $7 and $5 for Wayne, Oakland and Macomb county youngsters. Exhibitions are always free for DIA members, although complimentary timed tickets are necessary.