About

• Adopt-A-Monument History
• Dallas Pegasus History
• Dallas Public Art Program
  & Office of Cultural Affairs
• Rising: The Hall of Negro Life

Inspire Art Dallas is a public/private entity that supports the conservation and maintenance of our cherished public art in Dallas. Inspire Art Dallas, formerly known and applauded as Dallas’ Adopt-A-Monument, works closely with the Office of Arts and Culture of the City of Dallas (“OAC”). Inspire Art Dallas suppors the OAC’s efforts to maintain Dallas’ public art collection, which boasts artwork throughout the City in every council district. The artwork is accessible to the public, enhances the environment, serves as place markers and gathering sites, and celebrates the artists of Texas and beyond. Inspire Art Dallas also collaborates with the OAC to support emerging and established artists, and create vibrant and inviting spaces to expand the public appreciation of public art and to enliven the cultural landscape of the City of Dallas.

Dallas takes pride in instituting one of the earliest “Percent for Public Art” programs, which through capital bond programming provides 1.5% and .75% for certain projects. But capital bond programs do not provide for the maintenance of public art, and operational funds for public art maintenance and conservation have fluctuated significantly through the years. Inspire Art Dallas is as an advocacy group that was created to ensure that we are excellent custodians for and proponents of Dallas’ public art for generations to come.

Inspire Art Dallas is the successor to Dallas’ Adopt-A-Monument program, which was a highly successful public/private partnership formed in 1988 with the OAC to preserve deteriorating monuments and sculptures owned by the City of Dallas. Adopt-A-Monument raised over $250,000 and used its funds to restore 16 of Dallas’ monuments and sculptures for the benefit of future generations. Inspire Art Dallas will continue Adopt-A-Monument’s legacy of helping to preserve Dallas’ public art, but will also expand its impact to support artists and to create imaginative ways to make Dallas public art approachable and a vibrant part of our community.

Inspire Art Dallas has collaborated with the OAC for the derrick stabilization plan for the landmark Pegasus sign (also known by many as the Flying Red Horse) atop the Magnolia Building in Dallas and the restoration of the rotation of the Pegasus. It also provided funding with the Creative Arts Center of a map (in Spanish and English) directing pedestrians and drivers to Octavio Medellin artwork throughout Dallas, which accompanied the unveiling of the rescued and restored Octavio Medellin stained glass windows now permanently installed in the Moody Performance Hall.

Inspire Art Dallas also worked with the OAC to produce and promote “Rising: The Hall of Negro Life”, a documentary film that chronicles the creation of the Hall of Negro Life at the 1936 Texas Centennial at Fair Park in Dallas and how it lit the fire that became the civil rights movement in America.  The film was funded by the OAC, Inspire Art Dallas, Fair Park First and the National Park Service.  On March 24, 2022 the OAC and Inspire Art Dallas hosted a gala private screening of Rising, on March 25, 2022 Rising was publicly screened on KERA TV, and thereafter Rising has been screened at a series of educational screenings/panel discussions throughout the Metroplex as well as a subsequent screening on KERA TV.  See www.risingdocumentary.com for more detailed information about Rising.