Dallas Museum of Art’s Center for Creative Connections Reopens

Dallas, TX—July 28, 2026—This September, the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) reopens its Center for Creative Connections (C3)—an over 10,000-square-foot learning environment designed to spark curiosity and creativity in visitors of all ages—debuting new and upgraded spaces along with new art installations that highlight the Museum’s collection and the work of Dallas-based artists. Following a period of renovation incited by major flood damage in 2022, the revitalized C3 features a new workshop for technology-based art making, an enhanced theater, and a reimagined play space for toddlers and infants. Anchoring C3 are two new presentations of artwork: Rhythms on Repeat, an exhibition exploring sound and pattern through works from the DMA’s collection, and an interactive installation by local artist Jessica Bell.

C3 reopens to the public with a free weekend-long celebration on Saturday, September 19, and Sunday, September 20, featuring music performances, artist talks, art making and more. C3 is presented by PNC Bank; design of the renovated space was led by Corgan and supported by the City of Dallas and the DMA’s The Bonnie Pitman Education Endowment to Do Something New fund supported by Beverly and Donald S. Freeman.

“As the city’s museum, the DMA places education and access at the core of our work, and the Center for Creative Connections is the perfect embodiment of this ethos. Its reopening marks a renewed commitment to our belief that art is for everyone—whether you’re 8 or 80, a first-time visitor or a lifelong member,” said Brian Ferriso, The Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art. “C3 is where curiosity begins, where questions are encouraged, and where every DMA journey starts. Having previously visited C3 when it first opened during its inaugural years, I am excited to welcome our community back to discover what’s waiting for them here now.”

“A great museum belongs to the whole community, and few spaces prove that like the Center for Creative Connections,” said Brendan McGuire, PNC regional president for North Texas. “PNC supports early learning because what a child experiences in their first years helps shape the rest of their life, and few things inspire curiosity and imagination like engaging with art on an intimate level. Reopening these doors gives a new generation of North Texas kids and families that chance again, in a space built to be their own.”

Through the vision of former DMA Director Bonnie Pitman, the Center for Creative Connections opened in 2008 as a dedicated environment for visitors of all ages to examine and respond to original works of art, connect with local artists and community members, and foster their own curiosity and creativity. The dynamic space includes rotating exhibitions showcasing the DMA’s permanent collection and projects by C3 Featured Artists; art studios and workshops; a theater; and Arturo’s Nest, a play space for the Museum’s youngest visitors. Since its inception, C3 has served as a model for museums throughout the country and remains one of the only art museum education spaces to exhibit real works of art—not replicas—in its interactive galleries.

Bolstering its innovative qualities, C3 has been upgraded with new technologies in its transformed 82-seat theater—now with better soundproofing and higher quality equipment for presenting time-based media—and its new Art Lab, which allows visitors to get hands-on with 3D printing, laser cutting, and other emerging art-making techniques. Other significant updates include a redesigned Arturo’s Nest with a fresh look and feel, improved studio spaces, and new exhibitions and installations in the C3 galleries.

“The Center for Creative Connections is one of the most alive spaces in the Museum—at any given moment, visitors are looking, listening, making, talking and thinking. In this vibrant space, everyone is welcome and encouraged to tap into their creative potential and develop their own connections to the art on view,” said Stacey Lizotte, the DMA’s Allen and Kelli Questrom Center for Creative Connections Chief Learning Officer. “Reopening with a new look, a new exhibition celebrating our extraordinary collection and new collaborations with Dallas artists, C3 is refreshed and ready to ignite curiosity and creativity once again.”

The central exhibition, Rhythms on Repeat, brings together over 50 works from the DMA’s collection that illustrate the many ways that rhythms—both audible and visual—can manifest in art. The works on view represent a wide range of time periods, geographies and media, from paintings by Pablo Picasso and Romare Bearden, to ceramic vessels by Viktor Schreckengost and Roberto Lugo, and even instruments like a Mangbetu horn.

Rhythms on Repeat is also the inspiration for a new installation by C3 Featured Artist Jessica Bell, a Dallas-based sculptor and teacher at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Bell’s installation, Pattern Play, celebrates rhythm as both a connective and transformative force through an interactive artwork that responds to sound and allows visitors to create patterns using vibrantly colored three-dimensional forms. Inspired by the interplay of repetition and variation in both natural cycles and human expression, the piece will explore how rhythm shapes environments and emotions. During the presentations of Pattern Play and Rhythms on Repeat, on view into 2027 and 2029, respectively, C3 will offer educational activities with tie-ins to patterns, music and art making.

“The reopening of the Center for Creative Connections is a wonderful milestone for Dallas and a good example of what can be accomplished through strong public-private partnerships,” said Dallas City Council Member Paul Ridley. “I’m excited to welcome families back to this extraordinary space and grateful to the leadership of the Dallas Museum of Art, our City staff and everyone who worked together to bring it back better than ever. The Center for Creative Connections is more than a gallery—it’s a place where curiosity is sparked, creativity is nurtured and lifelong connections to art begin.”

Grand Reopening: Saturday, September 19, and Sunday, September 20
Visitors are invited to celebrate the reopening of C3 with a two-day slate of free public programming themed around the new exhibition Rhythms on Repeat. The event includes talks and art-making activities led by artists featured in the exhibition, performances by local musicians and DJs, and scavenger hunts and self-guided tours that explore patterns and musical connections in the DMA’s collection. More information is available at dma.org.

Support

The Center for Creative Connections is presented by PNC Bank. The Dallas Museum of Art is supported, in part, by generous DMA Members and donors, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the citizens of Dallas through the City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture.

Presented by: PNC Bank
Major Support: Do Something New Fund
Local Support: City of Dallas Arts & Culture
Community Partners: Dallas Museum of Art League; The Arts Community Alliance