Scenes from the 2023 Great Create, Dallas’ Kid-Friendly Art Festival Fundraiser

For an art-inclined kid, there may be nothing more magical than The Great Create, the annual museum fundraiser that transforms the Nasher Sculpture Center’s lush Dallas lawn into an interactive festival of sensory fun. Everywhere you look, children are drawing, crafting, dancing, or even DJ-ing, and it somehow never feels chaotic — perhaps that’s the real magic.

The 2023 Great Create, hosted on Sunday, October 22, was another flawlessly executed example. Families fanned out over 13 stations (with corresponding, kid-friendly projects), all helmed by local artists. Hatziel Flores turned soap into sculpture, the Dondolo team let kids be fashion designers, ceramicist Marcello Andres lent his clay expertise, and fiber artist Niki Dionne’s “Be Kind” felt pendants are still inspiring us at home daily. Some things were grander in scale, like William Atkinson‘s massive community mural or Claire Kennedy’s “Imagination Game Board.” Erika Jaeggli constructed a cave (right next to the Nasher’s Richard Serra similarly cavernous sculpture) for hundreds of kids to leave their mark.

The beloved Dallas spectacle, first held in 2013, creates more than photo opps, though. Ticket proceeds are used to support the Nasher Sculpture Center’s vast portfolio of educational programs, including workshops, school partnerships, and tours that impact thousands of students and families. The 2023 Great Create event was co-chaired by Jessica Bass Bolander and Tyler Bolander; Abby and Drew Evans; and Ellis and Stephen Thomas.

For more information on The Great Create and the Dallas museum’s other programs, visit nashersculpturecenter.org.