We might have just published our look back on 2023's most-read arts stories, as well as the biggest memories of Dallas-Fort Worth theater — but the New Year isn't wasting any time. Theater rebrands, staff changes, and a call for visual artists are all helping 2024 start off big in the arts and culture world.

Teatro Dallas new staff
Gustavo Ott joined Teatro Dallas just around this time last year, becoming the company's new artistic executive director. Now he's gone, having joined the Gala Theater in Washington, D.C. on January 1, 2024.

The board of directors will conduct a regional search for a new artistic executive director for fall 2024. In the interim, an artistic advisory committee comprised of Teatro Dallas co-founder Cora Cardona, resident producer Mac Welch, and NYC based-actress Elena Hurst will craft upcoming summer and fall projects.

This is a newly created role for Welch, who addition to helping plan the next season, stage 2024's Days of the Dead celebration, and assume all marketing responsibilities, will oversee Teatro Dallas' 21st International Festival and its first ever musical, a collaboration with Chicago-based Aguijon Theater in May.

Erica Herrera, Teatro Dallas' long time managing director, will expand her role to coordinate the theater's educational programs.

In 2025, Teatro Dallas will complete forty seasons of professional theater in Dallas, making it one of the longest-running theaters in the city and one of the oldest Latinx theaters in the country.

Ohlook rebrands
Ohlook Performing Arts, a cornerstone of Grapevine's arts scene for nearly two decades, announced on December 31, 2023, the departure of founder Jill Lord.

Jessica Taylor Stubblefield will now lead the mostly youth-based theater, which is also rebranding as Starling Performing Arts. Its board of directors is changing, too, with Steffi Keusch as the newly appointed president.

All classes, camps, and performances are expected to continue as usual, while Starling becomes the resident theater for the Vine Arts Center.

ART214 call for entries
The City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture (OAC) is calling for entries for the fifth-year ART214 juried exhibition, a multi-venue collaborative project which will be presented during Dallas Arts Month in 2024.

Entry deadline is January 27, 2024.

Art in all media created by artists who currently live in the DFW and Greater North Texas region will be reviewed. All the ART214 entries will be reviewed by a panel of five art professionals from the DFW area. The jurors will select the artwork that will be featured in the five participating venues: Latino Cultural Center, the Bath House Cultural Center, the Oak Cliff Cultural Center, Moody Performance Hall, and the South Dallas Cultural Center.

ART214 provides opportunities for artists to exhibit their work for the first time in one of the four cultural centers found across Dallas. The juried exhibition also gives artists who have previously exhibited at one of the cultural centers an opportunity to display their work at a different location.

Theatre Frisco new leadership
Since 2016, Neale Whitmore has served as artistic director of Theatre Frisco, and now that he's retiring the multi-talented Andi Allen is stepping into the role.

The longtime DFW actor, designer, and director officially takes over with the theater's 2024 season, which runs on the calendar year. The first production is Rodgers & Hammerstein's A Grand Night for Singing, running February 16-March 3 at the Black Box Theater inside the Frisco Discovery Center.

Oak Cliff Film Festival call for entries
Do you want to have your film seen on the big screen? The 2024 edition of the Oak Cliff Film Festival, taking place from June 20-23, 2024, is welcoming submissions. Stronger consideration is given to films that have not had significant prior exposure in DFW, particularly in the case of feature-length projects. The final deadline to submit is in April, at filmfreeway.com.

The Oak Cliff Film Society is a nonprofit dedicated to discovering independent and archival films and sharing them with new audiences via screenings and educational programs. They're committed to cultivating the film community in and promoting the Dallas neighborhood of Oak Cliff and strive to utilize historic theaters and venues for their annual Oak Cliff Film Festival.

Kimbell acquires significant sculpture
On December 13, 2023, the Kimbell Art Museum announced the acquisition of one of the most renowned sculptures from ancient Mesoamerica, an unqualified icon of Olmec civilization. Standing Figure Holding a Were-Jaguar Baby (c. 900–300 B.C.), a statuette carved in jadeite, has been at the center of Olmec studies and the subject of scholarly interpretation since the mid-twentieth century.

It becomes the most significant work of ancient American art in the Kimbell’s collection. The superb figure was acquired in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Kimbell’s Renzo Piano Pavilion, where it will be the centerpiece of the museum’s ancient American collection from December 15, 2023, onward.

SheDFW debuts
The Table Co/Lab formed in 2022 as a theater company led by female-identifying and non-binary people that sought to uplift underrepresented voices. Now it's becoming the nonprofit SheDFW, a part of the SheNYCArts company, and will present its inaugural SheDFW Summer Theater Festival in 2024.

The festival will be led by producers Rebecca Lowrey (head of MusicalWriters.com) and Sarah Powell (co-founder and executive director of The Table Co/Lab). It will feature three new original works — two plays and one musical —by women, trans, and non-binary writers in DFW.