Nevada’s PreK-12 educators are invited to a special in-person back-to-school night. Enjoy access to the Museum’s exhibitions, a DJ, small bites and a bar. Participate in hands-on activities and a raffle.

Education providers will be present to share teaching resources, including Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows, Challenge Island, The Discovery, Discovery Education, DRI (Desert Research Institute), Fleischmann Planetarium, Holland Project, The Lilley Museum of Art, Nevada Arts Council, Nevada Math, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno Philharmonic, University of Nevada Reno Art Department, and Washoe County Library. 

FREE for PreK-12 educators. Advanced registration required.

Join us for a screening of the films Petyarre and Atnangkere, two related short films both depicting the search by the artist Gloria Petyarre and her family for a cave that has great significance in the culture of her people. The filmmaker Viviana Petyarre, an Alyawarre filmmaker, shares personal and cultural stories connected to her family and their land. These short documentaries give a heartfelt look into the strength of family, culture, and connection to the land in Aboriginal Australia. 

Embark on a journey through Australia’s cultural landscape with two poignant documentaries that illuminate Indigenous perspectives on art, history, and identity. Mr. Patterns chronicles the transformative impact of Geoff Bardon, an art teacher who, in the early 1970s, introduced Western desert Aboriginal communities to the medium of dot painting. Working alongside the Papunya artists, Bardon facilitated the resurgence of traditional designs, intertwining cultural expression with economic independence. In Too Many Captain Cooks, Rembarrnga elder Paddy Fordham Wainburranga offers a critical retelling of Captain James Cook’s arrival from an Aboriginal perspective.

Mr. Patterns generously provided by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

Too Many Captain Cooks generously provided by Ronin Films

Join Museum volunteer docents for a discussion of Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross making connections a selection of artworks and artists featured at the Museum. Participants should have completed the book prior to meeting. Register online for guiding questions that will be discussed at the book club. Arrive early to place a lunch order with the Café! Space is limited, advanced reservations are recommended.

Join us for a compelling conversation featuring William L. Fox, Peter E. Pool Director of the Institute for Art + Environment and Aspara DiQuinzio, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art and the curator of Eternal Signs: Indigenous Australian Art from the Kaplan and Levi Collection. This program explores the deep connections between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artwork, ancestral knowledge, and the environment. Together, our speakers will discuss how these works communicated timeless cultural narratives, cosmologies, and relationships to land – offering powerful insights into art’s role in sustaining identity, memory, and ecological understanding. Audiences will gain a richer appreciation for how Indigenous artists express ancestral wisdom through symbol, gesture, and tradition in ways that resonate across generations and continents. 

Image: 

Ginger Riley Munduwalawala, Limen Bight River During the Wet, 1995-96. Acrylic on canvas, 53 1/8 x 95 3/8 in. (135 x 242 cm). Collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, gift of Robert Kaplan and Margaret Levi. © Estate of Ginger Riley. Courtesy of Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne. Photo: Zocalo Studios