A Home for the Arts in Irving
Ben and Betty Carpenter provided the catalyst for construction of a community arts center in 1980 with the donation of six acres of land to the City of Irving. Their dream was to build a home for the arts organizations of Irving.
Variety is the Spice of Life
The versatile facility was a decade in the making. In 1980, the Irving City Council established the City of Irving Arts Board, which was charged with the responsibility of encouraging and supporting local arts activities and with the development and oversight of Irving Arts Center. The work of the 11-person Board is funded through a portion of the local hotel room occupancy tax. Careful planning ensured that the two theaters could support any range of skill from local beginners to internationally-known professionals. In April of 1986, the first phase of Irving Arts Center opened and included administrative offices, meeting rooms and the 3808 sq. ft. Main Gallery. The facility was completed in 1990 when Carpenter Hall and Dupree Theater opened. The City acquired the gas station at the corner of the property on MacArthur and Coker Street in 1995. Once demolished, a Sculpture Garden and additional parking were added to completed the project.
A Place of Community Pride
Since opening its doors, the Arts Center has been a lively hub of community celebration. Irving Arts Center alone hosts approximately 1,400 events annually, including 200+ performances and 25+ exhibitions, welcoming more than 100,000 visitors.
Highlights:
- The Arts Center has more than 91,500 square feet of performing and visual arts space, including the 711-seat Carpenter Performance Hall and the 257-seat Dupree Theater.
- In 2007 the Irving Arts Center was named an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.
- Arts Center gallery spaces have housed notable exhibitions from local, regional and national artists, including:
- Caldecott Book Illustration Medal Winners 1929 to 1993
- Premier of 200 Years of African American Art: The Arthur Primas Collection
- Within the Emperor’s Garden: The Ten Thousand Springs Pavilion – A Smithsonian exhibition
- Dance Theatre of Harlem: 40 Years of Firsts – A retrospective of the first 40 years of the company
- Garth Williams: Illustrator of the Century
Peruvian Gold: Ancient Treasures Unearthed presented in partnership with the National Geographic Museum in Washington D.C., guest curated by National Geographic’s Archaeology Fellow Dr. Fredrik Hiebert
- In 2011, the Arts Center welcomed the international tour of Genghis Khan: The Exhibition. The multi-media exhibition brought with it the largest number of artifacts from 13th century Mongolia ever gathered in a single showing. During the four month exhibition, over 50,000 people attended, including 12,682 students. Visitors came from 49 states and the District of Columbia and represented over 2,303 zip codes, pushing annual IAC attendance up to 162,831.
- The Main Gallery includes 3,800-square-feet with 200 linear feet of wall space.
- The Sculpture Garden highlights rotating sculptures by Texas and national artists, including a sculpture by American artist Reuben Nakian, on loan from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.
- Irving Arts Center’s year-round youth and family programs feature monthly story and craft time, live performances, Saturday School, more than 12 weeks of summer camp annually, monthly Second Sunday Fundays and a free holiday festival.
The Sculpture Garden features commissioned sculptures by James Surls, Jesús Moroles and Michael Manjarris; and the monumental mosaic Irving Centennial Mural created by artist Francisco Mendoza with Irving students.
