Published by the City of Fort Worth
Two of the signature V-pier Panther Island bridges are now open to vehicular traffic, with the third scheduled to open within the next month. If are you wondering “What’s left?” for the three TxDOT bridges, check out the list of final projects remaining for each bridge:
White Settlement Road Bridge (open to traffic)
North Main Street Bridge (open to traffic)
Henderson Street Bridge
The three bridges are part of a $1.17 billion project to create Panther Island by cutting a bypass between the two forks of the Trinity River as a way to control river flooding.
Published by The City of Fort Worth on July 09, 2021
Population in North Central Texas topped 7.8 million in 2020, for a Jan. 1, 2021, total population of 7,874,950.
Despite the pandemic, the region grew by nearly 160,000 residents, and 12 cities experienced estimated population growth of more than 10%. Fort Worth had the highest absolute growth, adding more than 17,000 people, while Frisco added close to 16,000, followed by McKinney with over 6,000 and Dallas with 5,560.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s latest population estimates show Fort Worth jumping from the 13th to 12th largest city in the United States with a population of 927,720. Fort Worth’s increase was the third largest nationwide, behind Phoenix, which added 25,194 residents, and San Antonio, which added 19,862.
Collin, Denton, Dallas and Tarrant counties each added more than 25,000 residents last year, accounting for 80% of the regional growth. The population of the region has increased by more than 1.3 million since 2010.
Find the 2021 population estimates summary and data on the North Central Texas Council of Governments website.
The new Current Science Studio, along with the entire Museum, is now open to the public.
Fort Worth, TX (June 25, 2021) – The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History reopened to the public on Friday, June 25 since being closed since late 2020. As a part of the reopening, the Museum unveiled the new Current Science Studio, which included interactive media, holographic displays and a large sphere hanging from the ceiling that can display space and Earth-based content from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The new 2,500-square-foot exhibit was enabled by a generous grant of $255,000 from Facebook. Current Science Studio is a virtual gallery that shows completely digital content on all displays. This allows the gallery to transform quickly from one topic to another in a matter of seconds.
At 10 AM, newly elected Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, along with local children, cut the ribbon to officially open the Museum to the public. “The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History has been a fixture of Fort Worth, and today’s reopening is a huge step in getting back to normal and to experience new exhibits, like the Current Science Studio. My family joins all Fort Worth families in our excitement to reenter and enjoy the Museum together,” said Mayor Mattie Parker.
Today’s guests were the first public visitors to see the Science On a Sphere®(SOS), a giant global display system suspended from the ceiling developed by NOAA. The large, interactive sphere is one of the first high-resolution versions of the system anywhere in the world. At the opening, guests were treated to exhibits on Space and Weather.
“It was so much fun to watch youngsters as well as older guests interact with the new exhibits, all the cutting-edge technology such as holograms and immersive projection,” said Dr. Doug Roberts, the Museum’s Chief Public Engagement Officer. “We can’t wait to welcome back more of the community through the summer.”
“It’s a thrill to see the Current Science Studio come alive with visitors of all ages, and to have them experience this marquis exhibit,” said Holli Davies, Community Development Regional Manager at Facebook. “Facebook is proud to continue our strong partnership with the museum and support STEM education for Tarrant County. We have been part of the Fort Worth community since we broke ground on our data center in 2015, and we’re committed to playing a positive role here and supporting students.”
In addition to the Current Science Studio, the Museum has reopened its other iconic exhibits, including the Children’s Museum, Noble Planetarium, DinoLabs, DinoDig®, and the rotating history galleries. Located on the second floor, the Cattle Raisers Museum also reopened and currently features the brand-new exhibit Rural Women by artist Gary Ernest Smith.
Today’s opening kicks off a summer schedule where the Museum will be open Friday and Saturday from 10 AM – 5 PM and Sunday from Noon – 5 PM.
Images and videos for press use of the reopening event and first guests are available here.
To view on your web browser, visit our press page.
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Texas Legislature Designates State Mushroom
FORT WORTH, Texas (June 21, 2021) — The rare and rather unique, star-shaped fungus with the Latin name Chorioactis geaster received official designation Friday when Gov. Greg Abbott signed a resolution making it the State Mushroom of Texas. Only two other states (Minnesota and Oregon) have officially declared a state mushroom.
The mushroom is highly selective about where it grows, mostly attaching to decaying cedar elm stumps in the central and northern parts of Texas (16 counties, and recently in Oklahoma). Japan is the only other country where it has been seen and documented. Appearing in late fall, it emerges as a dark brown, fuzzy capsule three to four inches in length inspiring another of its nicknames, the “Devil’s Cigar.”
“As this fungus matures, it splits open from its apex and forms a good-sized, brightly colored star and naturally, we have always thought it made sense for it to become the state fungus of the Lone Star State,” said Harold Keller, Ph.D., BRIT resident researcher. Keller and a fellow biologist K.C. Rudy found it growing abundantly in the early 1990s along the Trinity River at River Legacy Park in Arlington, Texas. Since then, Keller and others have spotted the fungus throughout North Texas.
BRIT Research Scientist Bob O’Kennon began noting Texas Star mushroom appearances years ago and, using the iNaturalist app, found and documented more than 60 different sites, becoming one of the region’s top iNaturalist’s observers. “I first spotted it at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, then started looking for it around decaying cedar elms and saw it at a few other places,” O’Kennon said. “What’s really interesting about this species is not only the cigar-like shape, but when it opens up, there is an audible hissing sound when it forcibly releases its spores.” He added that it’s likely only a few hundred people have seen this rare mushroom.
In HCR 61, Rep. Ben Leman described the starlike shape of Chorioactis geaster as “custom designed for the Lone Star landscape” and “a poignant reminder of the natural diversity that surrounds us, the Texas Star mushroom is as uncommon and striking as the state that serves as its home.”
Media Contact: Chris Smith
FWBG | BRIT Director of Marketing
csmith@brit.org | 817.332.6657
BY STEFAN STEVENSON, Fort Worth Star Telegram
JUNE 16, 2021 03:30 PM, UPDATED JUNE 17, 2021 09:12 AM
A giant rubber duck is coming to Fort Worth.
The Big #KindnessDuck Party, a free event scheduled for July 23-25 in Trinity Park, is featuring the world’s largest rubber duck, which stands about six stories tall and is about 74 feet long. A baby duck — at about 10 feet tall — is also expected to be on the scene. They’ll be set up north of the duck pond near River Drive and the Trinity River.
Big Kindness Duck Party is the brainchild of Kindness Duck Project, a Fort Worth nonprofit organization aiming to promote “kindness by responding to community needs and performing as many random acts of kindness as possible,” according to its website.
The organization set up a GoFundMe page to help raise $10,000 to bring the giant duck to Fort Worth. So far, four donors have raised a little more than $1,650.
The July 23-25 event on the Trinity River is set to include food trucks, vendors and tents highlighting local nonprofits. The 22-acre grounds will include a 250-foot sandy area called “Trinity Beach,” which the Kindness Duck Project is partnering on with the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and Museum School.
Big Kat Burgers, Cousins Maine Lobster, and Chimy’s are among the confirmed food vendors.
“We are doing all of this for the sake of kindness — to show kindness to the amazing people and businesses in our communities; to show kindness to friends, family, and strangers alike; to show kindness to Cowtown and everything that’s great in it,” Kindness Duck Project executive director Kyle Wagner told Fort Worth Magazine.
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Presents
Milton Avery
On View November 7, 2021 – January 30, 2022
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth presents Milton Avery, a major survey of the twentieth-century American master’s paintings. Organized by the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in collaboration with the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, this long overdue exhibition includes a careful selection of Avery’s most celebrated paintings charting his career trajectory. His last retrospective was held at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1982.
Milton Avery will be on view November 7, 2021, through January 30, 2022, in Fort Worth, followed by the presentation at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Connecticut, February 25 through June 5, 2022, and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, July 16 through October 16, 2022.
Exhibition curator Edith Devaney with the Royal Academy of Arts, London, said, “I have long been fascinated by Milton Avery’s remarkable work and the significant role he played in the development of American art in the 20th century. This is a timely moment to celebrate his considerable achievement and continued influence.”
Milton Avery (1885-1965) has long been recognized as one of the most important and influential American artists of his time. His compositions, with subjects taken from daily life, including portraits and landscapes, are imbued with a color sensibility, harmony, and balance that had a major impact on the next artistic generation. Avery played a vital role in the development of Abstract Expressionism through his close association with some of the younger exponents of the movement, such as Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, and Adolph Gottlieb. His work defies distinct categorization, falling between the time of the American Impressionists and that of the Abstract Expressionists, both of which were significant to his oeuvre. Avery was famously prolific, and this survey will feature approximately seventy of his artworks from the 1910s to the mid-1960s.
The exhibition opens with Avery’s works through to the early 1940s, revealing the influence of the American Impressionists and his longtime appreciation of the landscape. The second chapter features the mid- to late 1940s, when the artist’s focus began to shift to a greater concentration on form. Avery’s mid-career subjects include scenes of the quotidian, taking from the European Modernist painters the tendency to depict the ordinariness of the subject and in doing so highlighting composition.
Avery’s late work, from the 1950s through to the early 1960s, demonstrates the continuing impact of European Modernists on the artist’s approach to artmaking, particularly Henri Matisse, from whom he takes permission to increasingly employ non-associative colors. The selection also shows the extent to which Avery perfected his unique ability to balance color and shape in progressively more abstracted compositions. Having exerted such a profound influence on the emerging young color field Abstract Expressionist painters, he also took much from them, with his scale increasing and his works becoming less dependent on the figurative content.
Marla Price, Director of the Modern and contributor to the exhibition’s catalogue, notes, “Milton Avery was the subject of my doctoral dissertation many years ago and I have been an admirer of his work ever since. I am delighted to present this great exhibition in Fort Worth.”
Publication
The exhibition catalogue, Milton Avery, features exhibition curator Edith Devaney introducing Avery and his work, while Erin Monroe looks at Avery’s early years in Hartford and Marla Price examines Matisse’s influence upon his art. A conversation with the artist’s daughter March Avery Cavanaugh and an illustrated chronology by Isabella Boorman complete the book.
Hardback. 144 pages, 120 illustrations. ISBN 978-1-912520-43-5.
For high-resolution images, please email kendal@themodern.org.
LOCATION
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
3200 Darnell Street
Fort Worth, Texas 76107
Telephone 817.738.9215
Toll-Free 1.866.824.5566
www.themodern.org
Museum Gallery Hours
Tue-Sun 10 am-5 pm
Fri 10 am-8 pm
General Admission Prices (includes special exhibition)
$16: General (age 18 and above)
$12: Seniors (age 60+), Active/Retired Military Personnel and First Responders with ID
$10: Students with ID
Free: Under 18 years old
The Museum offers half-price tickets on Sundays and free admission on Fridays.
The Museum is closed Mondays and holidays, including New Year's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas.
# # #
Fort Worth, TX, (Thursday, June 10, 2021) - The Arts Council of Fort Worth and AURORA are partnering to present New Stories: New Futures in conjunction with Fort Worth Public Art’s major installation on Pioneer Tower, curated by DooEun Choi, featuring international artists Refik Anadol and Quayola. Dr. Lauren Cross, curator of the exhibition at the base of Pioneer Tower, selected an impressive roster of ten North Texas artists working with a wide range of new media approaches for their art installations that will be presented between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. on August 20 and 21.
New Stories: New Futures is a uniquely Fort Worth art event featuring historic and modern perspectives, stories, and memories from the region. Each of the artists’ pieces highlights distinct narratives around the collective experiences of North Texans that complement the video artworks that will be projected onto Pioneer Tower by Refik Anadol and Quayola, which explore memories of Fort Worth and the region’s natural beauty.
Curator Dr. Lauren Cross said, “New Stories, New Futures is the culmination of a culturally-interrelated approach and is especially celebratory of the artists I have come to know both in Fort Worth and within the North Texas region. The featured artists share stories in their work of people, themselves, and experiences that are often hidden or overlooked.”
Meet the ten regional artists of New Stories: New Futures:
· Nick Bontrager, Fort Worth, TX, is an interdisciplinary artist whose work and research explores the physical and conceptual nature of the moving image, game-based interactions and exchanges. www.nickbontrager.com
· Ciara Bryant, Dallas, TX, is a multidisciplinary artist using photography, video, and installation to explore Black culture in the new millennium. www.ciaraellebryant.com
· Angela Faz, Dallas, TX, is a multidisciplinary artist focusing on racial justice, art disruptions, and the reclamation of public space. www.angelafaz.com
· Jessica Fuentes, Fort Worth, TX, is an artist, educator, and community advocate working with built structures and projections of home and culture.
www.jessicafuentes.com
· Jeff Gibbons, Dallas, TX, is an international curator and interdisciplinary artist with extensive regional and international presence who works with video, sculpture, and three-dimensional space. www.jeffgibbons.net
· Jin-Ya Huang, Dallas, TX, is an interdisciplinary artist exploring social impact at the intersection of equity, design and social justice, especially for immigrant communities. www.breakbreadbreakborders.com
· Letitia and Sedrick Huckaby, Fort Worth, TX, known collectively as Huckaby Studios, is an artist team that represents images of Black families, communities, and culture. www.huckabystudios.com
· Raul Rodriguez, Fort Worth, TX, is an artist evaluating and representing Latinx communities and culture surrounding skateboarding, boxing, and Lucha Libre. www.raulrodriguezphoto.com
· Bernardo Vallarino, Fort Worth, TX, is an interdisciplinary artist that uses sculpture, installation, and light to highlight diverse human experiences. www.bernardovallarinoart.com
Arts Council CEO & President Karen Wiley said, "In creating a platform that celebrates our diverse landscape, we are thrilled to present this group of artists from Fort Worth and North Texas alongside two leading international artists in the field of new media. This is a great opportunity for our community to experience new art forms, discover through the eyes of artists the stories that are part of our history-making, and celebrate the Fort Worth Public Art Program’s 20th anniversary year!"
While the art projected on all four sides of Pioneer Tower is visible across the Cultural District and beyond, visitors will want to spend time within the Pioneer Tower plaza to experience the installation up-close alongside this outdoor, regional exhibition. The exhibition is free to the public, but visitors must reserve a time in advance. Because the Arts Council of Fort Worth is covering all event expenses, tickets are available through www.NewStoriesNewFutures.org where the price of admission is automatically discounted to $0.00 at checkout. The exhibition is open to all ages and visitors can subscribe to the Arts Council’s email newsletter on their website www.artsfortworth.org or follow on Facebook @ArtsFortWorth to learn more about the event and the family-friendly activities across the entire Cultural District that will take place before sundown on August 20 and 21.
About The Arts Council of Fort Worth:
The Arts Council of Fort Worth was formed in 1963 to provide funding and leadership to stimulate and assure the advancement of the arts throughout Fort Worth. Today’s Arts Council continues to promote, nurture, and support the arts in Fort Worth by providing fiscal and business resources to local artists and arts groups while also serving the community through management of the Fort Worth Public Art Program and Fort Worth Community Arts Center. The Arts Council of Fort Worth is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization supported in part by the City of Fort Worth and the Texas Commission on the Arts. For more information, please visit www.artsfortworth.org
About AURORA:
AURORA is a public arts organization at the intersection of art, technology and community that presents works by some of the most visionary artists of our time. A cornerstone of arts and culture in North Texas, AURORA aims to expand the future of art through a dialogue that engages the creative possibilities within ourselves and each other. Since its founding in 2010 by artists Shane Pennington and Joshua King—along with veteran arts supporter Veletta Forsythe Lill—AURORA’s exhibitions, programming and Biennial have attracted over 300,000 visitors and commissioned and presented more than 320 local, regional, and international artists. For more information, visit dallasAURORA.com.
About Fort Worth Public Art:
Fort Worth Public Art is a City of Fort Worth program created to enhance the visual environment, commemorate the city’s rich cultural and ethnic diversity, integrate artwork into the development of the City’s capital infrastructure improvements, and to promote tourism and economic vitality. Managed by the Arts Council of Fort Worth with oversight by the Fort Worth Art Commission, FWPA strives for artistic excellence and meaningful community engagement. For more information, please visit www.fwpublicart.org.
Presenting Partners:
Fort Worth Public Art
Arts Council of Fort Worth
AURORA
City of Fort Worth
Project Sponsors:
Texas Commission on the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
Fort Worth Promotion and Development Fund
JO Agency
Wolfgang Puck Catering and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth are excited to share that the new Café Modern will open for lunch, brunch, and bar service beginning May 18, 2021. Closed since March 2020, the café is under new management by Wolfgang Puck Catering, with returning General Manager Roxanne Mclarry and the addition of Chef Jett Mora, a seasoned Wolfgang Puck Catering veteran, who leads the culinary team.
Café Modern promises guests warm hospitality, creative cuisine, and seasonal menus rooted in Texas ingredients. The menus feature comfort food with global influences and a beverage program showcasing local spirits. Seating is available indoors and on the expansive outdoor patio. Reservations will be taken online through OpenTable or by calling 817.840.2157, beginning Monday, May 17.
Lunch Menu Highlights
Sicilian Melt featuring Eggplant and Portobello Agrodolce, Fontina Cheese Blend on Sourdough
Natural Chicken Paillard with Warm Local Rainbow Chard Salad, Golden Raisins, Almonds, Parmesan, and Aleppo Honey Vinaigrette
Pan-Roasted Mahi Mahi with Bengali Curry, Sugar Snap Peas, Zucchini, Avocado Butter, and Chili Oil
Charred Kalbi Beef Bowl with Marinated Flank Cut Beef, Chili Garlic Rice, House Kimchi Pickled Vegetables, Ssamjang Sauce, and Fried Timberview Farms Egg
Brunch Menu Highlights
Birria Beef Migas with Toasted Corn Tortilla Omelet, Guajillo Chile-Braised Beef, Cilantro, Onion, Avocado Crema, Queso Fresco on Pinto Beans
Southern Fried Chicken Biscuit Sandwich featuring Kelley Honey Farms Butter, Spicy Aioli, Housemade Angel Biscuit, and Breakfast Potato
Café Modern Operating Hours
Lunch
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 11 am-2:30 pm
Brunch
Saturday, Sunday 10 am-3 pm
Beverages and Light Bites
Tuesday-Sunday 10 am-5 pm, Friday 10 am-10 pm
Dinner service will begin soon and will be offered on Fridays, from 5 pm-8:30 pm.
About Executive Chef Jett Mora
A graduate of the Academy of Culinary Education in California, the Los Angeles-born and bred chef Jett Mora began his cooking career with the highly acclaimed Wolfgang Puck Catering (WPC) in 2011. Working in WPC’s flagship Hollywood & Highland kitchen, Mora spent years working alongside Wolfgang and his team of chefs to create menus for weddings, special events, corporate galas, and some of the country’s premier events, including the Oscars® Governors Ball.
Throughout his ten years with Wolfgang Puck Catering, Mora’s creativity, leadership, and support enabled him to advance quickly through the ranks, leading corporate dining at a top technology and entertainment client before joining Puck’s West Hollywood restaurant Red Seven as Executive Chef.
Mora then received the coveted opportunity to cook inside Wolfgang’s Test Kitchen, the master chef’s culinary incubator where Mora created his own multi-course tasting menus. This “experimental” restaurant allowed Mora to explore new dishes, ingredients, and cuisines and to design menus without limitations.
In 2021, Mora relocated to Fort Worth, Texas, to lead the culinary team at the Modern, overseeing food and beverage operations, menu creation, and catering and events, including running the museum’s signature restaurant, Café Modern.
Admission tickets are not necessary to visit Café Modern or the Modern Shop.
FORT WORTH MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND HISTORY IS SET TO REOPEN TO THE PUBLIC IN JUNE
Fort Worth, TX (May 11, 2021) — The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is excited to announce its reopening to the public on Friday, June 25. The Museum closed its doors for several months in 2020 and 2021 in response to guidance from local, state, and federal health officials, and has remained closed through the Spring due to extensive water damage from the winter storms in February.
Museum staff is excited to unveil several new and reimagined experiences that they have been working on throughout the closure.
This June, the Museum will launch the Current Science Studio, a brand-new 2,500 square-foot exhibit sponsored by a $255,000 grant from Facebook. Anchoring the new exhibit space will be Science On a Sphere® (SOS), a giant global display system suspended from the ceiling developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
In addition to the Current Science Studio, the Museum will reopen the Children’s Museum, Noble Planetarium, Cattle Raisers Museum, DinoLabs, DinoDig®, and the Heritage Gallery. The Omni Theater, however, will remain closed indefinitely.
Reopening Schedule
Following the public reopening, the Museum will be open Friday and Saturday from 10 AM – 5 PM and Sunday from Noon – 5 PM, reserving the weekdays for the Museum’s Little Scholars Program.
The Museum continues to take safety seriously. To protect the health of visitors and staff, the Museum will reopen in accordance with current public health and safety guidelines. Visit the Museum’s website to learn about the Museum’s updated health and safety protocols for reopening.
To stay informed about the Museum’s upcoming programs and reopening schedule, visit the Museum’s website at www.fwmuseum.org.
A media kit with details about the reopening is available here.
To view on your web browser, please visit our press page.
On May 7, KERA’s Art&Seek and the Kimbell Art Museum will present “What We’ve Gained in a Year of Loss — and What’s Next,” a live online State of the Arts discussion.
Fort Worth’s creative community will reflect on challenges and changes across genres and how residents engage with art in this time of social distancing. The conversation will celebrate innovation and resilience while exploring what the future holds.
State of the Arts Fort Worth, produced by KERA’s Art&Seek and the Kimbell Art Museum, identifies important trends and issues affecting North Texas arts organizations. It brings artists, experts and arts leaders together for a thought-provoking, one-hour conversation.
DJ Perera, artist and art educator; Jeffrey Smith, founder of Downtown Cowtown at the Isis; and Dana Schultes, executive producer for Stage West, will join moderator Miguel Perez, arts reporter and producer for Art&Seek, in the discussion.
The free one-hour event begins at noon May 7 on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/NqNweRSjQMY
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