Social-distancing during the COVID-19 crisis has given the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History a chance to get creative in how we reach our students during Black History Month. The DMFAH partnered with History United, DCC and Averett to bring students to the museum this month on the Red Trolley Civil Rights tours. That's why we are excited to announce our new Omitted History Introduction video to the multiple narratives that have built the history of the Dan River Region. Online educational videos present what we teach to students in our school-based programs.
Standing from left to right: Connie Wann, Rebecca Parrish, Dr. Jackie Gill-Powell, Jennifer Lewis, Unknown, Sheena Johnson, Kevin Gatewood
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This new app will be a view into the River District’s Business directory and promotions, walking tours, interactive activities, events… and more. Download on the 6th of March and explore the new River District digital visitor guide, which includes the DMFAH 536 Crahead Gallery.
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New Visitor service Video |
The New Visitor Services video is up: Omitted History of the Dan River Region! Maybe you've read our education unit “Think Like an Historian” to take a deeper dive, or checked out our Civil Rights Tour on the topic, but this video will help the struggle for civil rights in Danville come to life for you and your families.
We are so grateful to the Virginia Humanities for funding Omitted Histories; the Virginia Association of Museums, who will be featuring the video at the VAM Conference this month and the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) for recognizing our 1883 Danville Race Riot education unit compiled during our research for the video. We also want to thank our DMFAH membership and donors like you for your support in creating these videos.
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5X Music Walkthrough Series |
The 500Block Craghead Gallery turns into a small-performance venue of young, up and coming local student musicians. This past week on Friday February 26, John Sheridan kicked off the 5X Music Series with a keyboard performance from 5-8pm. This series, through our Residency Program will provide the opportunity for five young musicians to perform in the intimate setting of the Craghead Street Gallery, inspired by the provocative landscapes of artist David A Douglas. This past Friday we saw a consistent flow of visitors in spite of a rainy evening. Thank you to all who came through the gallery to enjoy this rare opportunity to experience live music and view the exhibition Shadows of Place.
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DMFAH Film Pick of the Month |
Bright Leaves is a 2003 United States/United Kingdom documentary film by independent filmmaker Ross McElwee about the association his family had with the tobacco industry. Bright Leaves had its world premiere at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. Bright Leaf is the name of a strain of tobacco. It was also the name of a 1949 novel and 1950 feature film about a struggle between two tobacco barons.
The struggle depicted in the feature film, according to McElwee family tradition, parallels one between McElwee's great-grandfather and the patriarch of the Duke family, for whom Duke University is named. The documentary follows McElwee's usual style, where he gives voiceovers to apparently spontaneous footage, making the story more personal. According to Roger Ebert:
Bright Leaves is not a documentary about anything in particular. That is its charm. It's a meandering visit by a curious man with a quiet sense of humor, who pokes here and there in his family history and the history of tobacco.
Marian Keane, in her essay "Reflections on Bright Leaves", collected in "Three Documentary Filmmakers", asserts that Bright Leaves displays McElwee's extraordinary ability to present "people in their uniqueness", contrasting this with other documentaries where people often "seem to exist in the world of film as if suspended from their relation to their actual lives."
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Have You Registered for WANDERLOVE yet? |
WANDERLOVE offers another “How To” video.
Josh Lucia (Lucia Videos) has been very busy at the HOUSE 126-Interactive Hub, producing DMFAH videos on how to knit and how to crochet for our new community fiber project called WANDERLOVE: A Stitch in Time. If you would like to sign up to participate in this large Dan River Region program please go to our WANDERLOVE website page. We thank Aidan Thomas and Felice McWilliams for their contributions, and for showing us how easy it is to participate in this community art installation.
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CALL FOR APPLICATIONS !!! |
The Exhibitions Department at the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History aims to be an educational, creative resource established with the aim to engage a diverse public in the exploration of the art of today, while provoking memorable, immersive learning experiences. The DMFAH is pleased to present our Residency Program, offering the collections of the museum as a creative incentive for community engagement through workshops that provide an entry into literature, performance, art and videography as well as curatorial research.
This open call facilitates submissions from interested artists, musicians, performers, writers and videographers. There is no deadline for entries and applicants will be notified within 3 months of the submission date.
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DMFAH NEEDS YOUR HELP !!! |
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The Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History consistently applies for grants and have to describing our program efforts and outcomes thus far this fiscal year. During the pandemic the museum has offered the community many free programs including online access to museum exhibition tours. We care about our community and we want to hear from you. Please let us know if you’ve attended a Saturday community yoga class, the downtown Craghead Gallery, a Wednesday Summerstack reading on the lawn, attended a Swanson Open Studio or if you have come to the museum on the Red Trolley tour or the Old West End walking Tours.
But our work is not done!
A letter of support from you, our program beneficiaries, describing how our programming has and continues to benefit you and your family (improved mental, social, emotional and physical health/well-being, sense of community, etc.), could mean the difference of our program gaining another year of support or not! If you can spare any time at all to send us your letter of support for any of our programs, we would greatly appreciate it!
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