Nada Shabout is fighting to preserve the life and culture of Iraq. A leading authority on modern Arab art, she directs UNT’s Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Institute. it’s currently showing an exhibition of photos by ordinary Iraqi women about their post-invasion lives, while Shabout herself is documenting the thousands of artworks stolen from a Baghdad museum.

This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll recall an often overlooked musician who helped lay the foundation for Western swing.

The Mourners is a series of some 40 pint-sized statues that typically surround the base of the tomb of John the Fearless,  the 15th-century duke of Burgundy. Because the tomb — housed in Dijon’s Musee des Beaux Arts in France — is currently being renovated, The Mourners are able to tour for the first and [...]

This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll celebrate a famous ballad singer who also blended honky-tonk with early rockabilly.

Got a note from Michelle Houran at the Heard Museum in McKinney today. She’s looking for help creating some classy-looking butterflies for an upcoming exhibition. And she suggests a trade for your services.  She’s been on the job two weeks. Help a gal out. Email  mhouran@heardmuseum.org Here’s more from Michelle: The Heard Museum in McKinney [...]

Is everyone racing to get things announced before May 1? Theatre 3, AT&T PAC, the DTC, the DCT: Is there some deadline I don’t know about? Anyhoo, it’s the Children’s Theater’s 27th season, and it’s got two world premieres, two regional premieres and a festival  And there are puppets!! Interestingly enough, one of the world [...]

When he was director of the Kimbell Art Museum, the late Edmund Pillsbury had long sought a high-quality painting by Guercino, the 17th-century Italian master. Now the Kimbell has one — which it acquired in memory of Pillsbury, who died last month.

This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll learn how one of the state’s most famous songs is based on an incident that may never have actually happened.

Captain Ahab is certainly operatic in his inner turmoil and catastrophic ambitions. But what else about ‘Moby-Dick’ would strike a librettist, ‘Hey, that scene cries out for a great aria for soprano?’ We talk to Gene Scheer, the librettist of ‘Moby-Dick,’ about how novels may be better for adapting into operas than plays are and humanizing a madman. The Dallas Opera opens its world premiere of ‘Moby-Dick’ next week.

I had the opportunity to enjoy a Conversation With local jazz legend, 92-year-old Louise Tobin at the Women’s Museum at Fair Park. It was a part of the museum’s Conversations series, and was a lovely afternoon filled with stories about Tobin’s career, personal life and a memorabilia exhibit that included the very dress that she [...]