Dallas Museum Embraces Old School Gala Ways — and Millennials (and Everyone Else) Can’t Get Enough: Sticking to Traditions Gives SMU’s Meadows a Major Win

Why do so many charity benefits feel the need to revamp and reinvent their look? Perhaps it’s an unwarranted desire to attract a younger, millennial audience?

Well, plenty of the twenty and thirtysomethings I know actually prefer things that are old school. It’s a chance for women to pull-out a long evening gown (if the occasion calls for frou-frou, go with it) and for men to look dashingly handsome in a proper, no-frills tuxedo.

A museum gala should focus on the art and throw in an abbreviated classical music performance accompanied by a beautifully set meal. That’s the formula for an elegant, and truly fun evening. Following the tried and truly triumphant formula to celebrate the Meadows Museum’s inaugural Masterpiece Gala, chair Pilar Henry and honorary chairs Peggy and Carl Sewell welcomed 300 attendees at “The Color of Dreams,” a Salvador Dalí-inspired evening.

It was one of those early fall Dallas evenings you relish this time of year. When the State Fair is still in full swing and the trees are beginning to turn vibrant autumnal colors. Partygoers looking resplendent ascended the grand stairs and entered the Museum which was transformed by decor inspired by the museum’s current exhibition on the Spanish master of Surrealism, Dalí: Poetics of the Small, 1929–1936.

The infamously mustached maestro of the canvas would have been pleased with the background for his art. Guests caught up about plans for the fall social season ahead while dancers from SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts performed around them. The lithe and supremely skilled troupe wore handcrafted masks that displayed key elements from their chosen Dalí painting. Each dancer created their own series of physical and dramatic interpretations of the chosen paintings and then performed these movements in group improvisations throughout the party.

During his remarks, SMU president Gerald Turner proclaimed that proceeds from the Masterpiece Gala would help endow the museum’s director of education position, a vital role at the museum. As of this night, $700,000 had been raised, the majority of which would be used to establish the endowment, surpassing the committee’s lofty original goal.

Texas’ Own Prado

Museum director Mark Roglán shared that after 50 years of steady growth, the Meadows Museum had expanded substantially in both size and depth. In that time, the museum’s collections doubled, the building now occupies a footprint six times larger than the original, and the institution has exceeded Algur Meadows’ vision of “a small Prado for Texas” to become today’s center for the study and presentation of Spanish art in America.

After much anticipation, Roglán introduced SMU Meadows School of the Arts faculty members and internationally acclaimed musicians, professors Joaquín Achúcarro, pianist, and Andrés Díaz, cellist, who performed together for the first time. Díaz opened by playing Johann Sebastian Bach’s (1685–1750) Prelude, Suite No. 2 in D minor followed by Fancy on a Bach Air by John Paul Corigliano (b. 1938) on cello. Achúcarro then joined Díaz for The Swan by Camille Saint-Saens (1825–1921).

Achúcarro followed, solo, playing La Puerta del Vino by Claude Debussy (1862–1918) and Frederic Chopin’s (1810–1849) Polonaise No. 6 in A-flat Major, Op. 53 (“Heroic”).

Post the standing ovation for an unforgettable performance, patrons progressed to dinner in the Jake and Nancy Hamon Galleries. Little table embellishment is needed when guests are seated amongst grand old master paintings in gilded frames. Everyone enjoyed a three-course dinner featuring a first course of seasonally inspired roasted pumpkin ravioli with lobster butter sauce, followed by a second course of pan roasted Black Angus beef tenderloin served with a Serrano ham and purple potato cake, braised greens and a bordelaise sauce. For dessert, smiles and lively conversations continued over a Caramélia chocolate crémeux with lavender ice cream, burnt sugar, and almond cookies.

My evening ended with a sighting of one of my favorite Bomb.com girls — the radiant Nancy Dedman. I grabbed dear Nancy, whom I affectionally refer to as Dallas’ Honorary Sheriff as all stand at attention when she enters any room, and got a quick pic as we exited a glorious evening.

PC Seen: Linda and Bill Custard, Nancy Dedman, Brad Cheves, Beth and Sam Holland, Janet and Terry Kafka, Caren Prothro, Margot and Ross Perot, Bess and Ted Enloe, Ann and Lee Hobson, Cyrena Nolan, Gayle and Paul Stoffel, Abigail and Andrew Sinwell, Mason and Allen Custard, Nancy Shutt and Phillip Henderson, Trinka Taylor, Katherine and Key Coker, Melinda and Mark Knowles, Emily and Steve Summers, Deborah and John Scott, Michelle and Bill Lockhart, Laura Wilson, Joshua Rossignol.