October 4, 2017 (Detroit)—The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) sparkles with holiday cheer in December, with something for everyone. Families will especially enjoy the puppet shows, Tea Time Theatre and animated movies, as well as fun art-making activities. Please note the special holiday hours below.

Programs are free with museum admission and free for residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties unless otherwise noted. For more information, call (313) 833-7900 or visit www.dia.org.

The DIA thanks its sponsors for the following programs: Friday Night Live! is supported by the DTE Energy Foundation; the Detroit Film Theatre is generously supported by Buddy's Pizza.

Special Holiday Hours:

Sunday–Monday, Dec. 24–25: CLOSED

Tuesday–Saturday, Dec. 26–30: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 31: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 1: CLOSED

 

Exhibitions:

“Church: A Painter’s Pilgrimage” on view through Jan. 15, 2018.

“D-Cyphered: Portraits by Jenny Risher” on view through Feb. 18, 2018.

“Monet: Framing Life” on view through March 4, 2018.

 

Ongoing

General Guided Tours: Tuesdays–Thursdays, 1 p.m.; Fridays, 1 & 6 p.m.

Enjoy a guided tour of select galleries for an overview of the collection.

 

General and Family Guided Tours: Saturdays & Sundays, 1 & 3 p.m.

Enjoy a guided tour of select galleries or a family and kid-friendly tour.

 

Thursdays at the Museum, 1 p.m.

Special programs, including tours, talks and art-making, are offered to adults 55+ along with light refreshments.

 

Detroit City Chess Club: Fridays, 4–8 p.m.

The club’s mission is to teach area students the game and life lessons. Members have won state, regional and national competitions. People wanting to learn to play chess should show up between 4 and 6 p.m. There will be no teaching between 6 and 8 p.m., but visitors can play chess.

 

Drawing in the Galleries (for all ages): Fridays, 6–9 p.m.; Saturdays & Sundays, Noon–4 p.m.

Note: Saturday, Dec. 30, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 31, 11 a.m.– 4 p.m.

 

Drop-In Art-making (for all ages) Fridays, 6–9 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, Noon–4 p.m.

Dec. 1–3, Luminaries: Decorate a glass jar you can later illuminate with a small candle.

Dec. 2, 5–9 p.m.: Noel Night Winter Village II: Take part in a community-based art-making project, where participants help create a large rendition of a Winter Village.

Dec. 8–10, Printmaking - Notecards

Dec. 15–17, Paper Snowflakes

Dec. 22–23, Star Books

 

Special Holiday Week Drop-in Art-making: Puppets

Thursday, Dec. 28, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 29, Noon–9 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 30, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 31, 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

 

Tuesday, Dec. 5

Talk: Reification and Reconciliation in an Age of Conversion and Translation: The Message of Toledo’s Choir Screen 6 p.m.

Discover the story behind an unusual stone screen added to the choir of the Cathedral of Toledo, Spain around the 1380s.

 

Friday, Dec. 8

Friday Night Live! Piano Duo X88: Outer Limits 7 and 8:30 p.m.

Outer Limits is a program by four diverse composers: Tristan Perich (USA), Nik Bärtsch (Switzerland), Pete Harden (UK/The Netherlands) and Vanessa Lann (USA/The Netherlands). Perich’s work features two dueling pianos juxtaposed against a web of 1-bit electronics. Bärtsch’s three-movement work conjures deep rhythmic grooves and virtuosic unison licks with mesmerizing suspension. Harden’s work is an improvised map of sounds, based on butterfly migration patterns, and Lann creates a theatrical work with poetry and movement.

 

Saturday–Sunday, Dec. 9–10

Artist Demonstration: Linocut Workshop with Carl Wilson Noon–4 p.m.

Prominent local artist Carl Wilson displays his art and guides visitors in carving their own foam linocut. Participants can then visit the Studio to make a print from their linocut.

 

Friday, Dec. 15

Friday Night Live! Miz Corona 7 and 8:30 p.m.

Miz Korona is a critically acclaimed underground artist from Detroit who constructs lyrics that speak honestly to the realities of life. She blends her genuine love for hip hop with a taste of the classic soul of The Motor City to create her own style upon which to express these messages.

 

Detroit Film Theatre: “The Other Side of Hope” 7 p.m.

Two refugees who meet in a Helsinki holding cell are unaware that, at the same time, a middle-aged traveling shirt salesman is fleeing his marriage to try his hand at the restaurant business. At his dive of an eatery—The Golden Pint—these three lives come together in a series of comic, moving surprises. In Finnish, English, Arabic and Swedish with English subtitles. Tickets: $9.50 general admission, $7.50 seniors, students, DIA Members.

 

Saturday, Dec. 16

Stories and Dances of the Ho-Chunk Nation 2 p.m.

Reg Pettibone, a Native American champion dancer from the Ho-Chunk Nation, and members of his family, present true Native American culture through dance, song, narration and a display of artifacts with a strong environmental emphasis. For all ages.

 

Detroit Film Theatre: “Night School” 4 p.m.

This documentary is about three African-American adults who are determined to better their lives by resuming their pursuit of high school diplomas. They are concerned that a GED may not be enough; they want the opportunities they believe will come with a regular diploma. While each of their journeys is distinct, the systemic, poverty-induced obstacles are widespread. Tickets: $9.50 general admission, $7.50 seniors, students, DIA Members.

 

Detroit Film Theatre: “The Other Side of Hope” 7 and 9:30 p.m.

(see Dec. 15 for description)

 

Sunday, Dec. 17

Stories and Dances of the Ho-Chunk Nation 2 p.m.

(See Dec. 16 for description)

 

Detroit Film Theatre: “The Other Side of Hope” 2 p.m.

(see Dec. 15 for description)

 

Detroit Film Theatre: “Night School” 4:30 p.m.

(see Dec. 16 for description)

 

Friday, Dec. 22

Detroit Film Theatre: “Lawrence of Arabia” (restored) 7 p.m. (227 minutes, with intermission)

“Lawrence of Arabia,” winner of seven Academy Awards, is a 1962 epic historical drama based on the life of T.E. Lawrence, the Englishman (Peter O’Toole) who sought to unite Arab tribes against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. In addition to Lawrence’s attacks on Aqaba and Damascus and involvement in the Arab National Council, the film delves into his struggles with the personal violence of war, his identity and his divided allegiance between his native Britain and his new-found comrades within the Arabian desert tribes. In 2012, the Cannes Film Festival premiered this frame-by-frame 4K digital restoration. With Omar Sharif and Alec Guinness. Tickets: $9.50 general admission, $7.50 seniors, students, DIA Members.

 

Friday Night Live! Karen Marie Richardson: Ella Fitzgerald Centenary Celebration 7 and 8:30 p.m.

Vocalist, songwriter and actress Karen Marie Richardson celebrates the centenary of the birth of the First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald. Richardson currently stars in the off-Broadway sensation Sleep No More as jazz chanteuse Stella Sinclair and will appear in the upcoming movie adaptation of the musical Hello Again.

 

Tuesday, Dec. 26

Puppet Performance: The Winter Wonderland Puppet Concert 2 p.m.

Kevin Kammeraad and the Cooperfly Puppet Troupe present a cast of puppet characters in an interactive concert of holiday favorites and a few easy-to-learn originals.

 

Detroit Film Theatre: British Arrows Awards 3, 5 and 7 p.m.

The British advertising industry presents “British Arrows” awards to recognize the creativity of television ads in the UK. The inventiveness of these British commercials, many of which ingeniously withhold their purpose until the very end, provides a playful, uniquely satisfying kick. Tickets: $9.50 general admission, $7.50 seniors, students, DIA Members.

 

Wednesday, Dec. 27

Puppet Performance: The Winter Wonderland Puppet Concert 2 p.m.

(see Dec. 26 for description)

 

Detroit Film Theatre: British Arrows Awards 3, 5 and 7 p.m.

(see Dec. 26 for description)

 

Friday, Dec. 29

Detroit Film Theatre: Tea Time Theatre: “Napping Princess” 2 p.m.

Three days before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Kokone should be studying for her exams but often dozes off, stuck between reality and a dream world full of fantastic motorized contraptions. When her father finds himself in trouble, Kokone realizes that her dreams hold the answers to his dilemma, and she embarks on a journey that traverses dreams and reality, city and country, past and present. This original anime adventure weaves together the rapidly evolving technology of today’s world with the fantastic imagination of a new generation, showing how following your dreams can be the best way to face the future. Come early, all-ages tea party starts at 1 p.m. Free admission.

 

Detroit Film Theatre: British Arrows Awards 5 and 7 p.m.

(see Dec. 26 for description)

 

Saturday, Dec. 30

Detroit Film Theatre: Tea Time Theatre: “April and the Extraordinary World” 2 p.m.

In this sci-fi adventure set in an alternate steampunk universe, a family of scientists is on the brink of a great discovery when a mysterious force abducts them, leaving their young daughter April behind. Ten years later, April and her cat, Darwin, find themselves at the center of a shadowy conspiracy and are soon on the run from secret agents, bicycle-powered dirigibles and cyborg-rat spies. Come early; all-ages tea party starts at 1 p.m. Free admission.

 

Detroit Film Theatre: British Arrows Awards 5 and 7 p.m.

(see Dec. 26 for description)

 

Sunday, Dec. 31

Detroit Film Theatre: Tea Time Theatre: “Whisper of the Heart” 2 p.m.

Perusing books she has checked out from the library, Shizuku’s curiosity is piqued when she notices a boy’s name that appears above hers on the checkout card of each one. Through a series of magical incidents. she connects with the boy, who has dreams of becoming a famous violinmaker, while she aspires to be a writer. This masterwork is the only full-length feature by Yoshifumi Kondo, protégé of Hayao Miyazaki (“My Neighbor Totoro”) and is regarded as one of the classics of Japanese anime. In English. Come early, all-ages tea party starts at 1 p.m. Free admission.

 

Detroit Film Theatre: British Arrows Awards 5 p.m.

(see Dec. 26 for description)

 

Museum Hours and Admission

9 a.m.–4 p.m. Tuesdays–Thursdays, 9 a.m.–10 p.m. Fridays, and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. General admission (excludes ticketed exhibitions) is free for Wayne, Oakland and Macomb county residents and DIA members. For all others, $14 for adults, $9 for seniors ages 62+, $8 for students, $6 for ages 6–17. For membership information, call 313-833-7971.