It was an oddly warm November evening when hordes of Dallas art-lovers, artists and music fans flocked to a warehouse just beyond Trinity Groves for Art Con 9. The annual art-slash-music fundraiser aims to make art affordable for everyone while benefiting a local nonprofit.
One hundred and fifty artists, selected through a lottery process, created original pieces on Art Con’s signature 18-by-18 plywood boards. The works were sold to the highest bidders in a frenzied auction as attendees cooled down (it was hot in there!) with beers from Deep Ellum Brewing Company and noshed on food truck fare from Nammi, Easy Sliders and the The Butcher's Son.
In addition to ogling the artwork, savvy scenesters — including Allison and Kelly Teeples, Marissa Woolf, Yasmina Johnston,Hallie and Chris Garcia, Dani Walker, Corey Godfrey, Casey Parrot, Dana Jeffrees, Daniela Bulla, Andrea Kushan, Natalia Fredericks, and Robin Bartolini — listened to sounds by Zhora, New Fumes, DJ Emptycylinder and special guest DJ Sarah Jaffe.
Proceeds from Art Con 9 support the Create program at My Possibilities, a Plano-based nonprofit for adults with disabilities. The organization is the first full-day, full-year continuing education program in DFW for Texans with disabilities that have “aged out” of secondary education, and it is considered a leader in North Texas for meeting the needs of adults with special needs.
Art Conspiracy was born in 2005, originally a one-off fundraiser to help children displaced by Hurricane Katrina. As befitting its “conspiracy” name — which also refers to the way artists and musicians conspire to benefit the local arts scene — that first event was held in the Texas Theater in Oak Cliff where Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested after President John F. Kennedy was shot.
Now, nine events later, Art Con continues in its mission to inspire the Dallas art and music scenes to join forces for the benefit of local nonprofit arts and music organizations.
Jasmine Madson, Navid, Christina Deorchis
