Putuparri and the Rainmakers

Join us for a screening of the film Putuparri and the Rainmakers, a universal story about the sacred relationship between people and place. It takes audiences on a rare and emotional journey to meet the traditional rainmakers of Australia’s Great Sandy Desert who have fought a twenty-year battle to win back their traditional homeland.

The film spans ten transformative years in the life of Tom ‘Putuparri’ Lawford as he navigates the deep chasm between his Western upbringing and his growing determination to fight for his family’s homeland. A trip back to his grandparents’ country in the desert begins the process of cultural awakening. Putuparri is shocked to learn that the dreamtime myths are not just stories, that there is a country called Kurtal and a snake spirit that is the subject of an elaborate rainmaking ritual.

Putuparri is a man caught between two worlds: the deeply spiritual universe of his people’s traditional culture and his life in modern society where he struggles with alcoholism and domestic violence. As he reconnects with his ancestral lands and learns about his traditional culture he begins to accept his future as a leader of his people and shoulders his responsibility to pass this knowledge on to the next generation.

Set against the backdrop of their long fight to reclaim their traditional lands, Putuparri and the Rainmakers is an emotional, visually breathtaking story of love, hope and the survival of Aboriginal law and culture against all odds.

2024 Sundance Film Festival Shorts Tour

The 2024 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour is a 110-minute theatrical program of seven short films curated from the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, including three Festival Award–winning titles. Considered the premier showcase for short films and the launchpad for many now-prominent independent filmmakers, the Festival includes fiction, documentary, and animation projects from around the world. Throughout its 40 editions, the Festival has supported short films by providing a platform for both established and emerging filmmakers to connect with audiences. Driven by innovation and experimentation, the Short Film Program seeks out filmmaking’s most original voices. The 2024 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour program is a sampling of Festival offerings and a testament to the unique storytelling potential that the format holds. Audiences who missed the 2024 Sundance Film Festival — which took place online and in person in Park City, Utah, January 18–28 — can enjoy a mix of fiction, documentary, and animated shorts that are funny, sad, inspiring, and full of strong characters.

The Festival’s Short Film Program has long been established as a place to discover talented directors, such as alumni Andrea Arnold, Lake Bell, Damien Chazelle, Destin Daniel Cretton, Jay and Mark Duplass, Debra Granik, Rashaad Ernesto Green, Reinaldo Marcus Green, Todd Haynes, Sterlin Harjo, Don Hertzfeldt, Sky Hopinka, Shaka King, Lynne Ramsay, Dee Rees, Joey Soloway, Taika Waititi, and many others.

Art Afternoon: Workshop and Social for Seniors

Seniors are invited to spend the afternoon at the Museum. Enjoy a guided tour and a studio art class. Monthly tours and projects are designed for participants of all levels of experience and offer an engaging and interactive experience.

Senior Art Afternoon will be hosted in-person in the E.L. Cord Museum School. Advanced registration is required and space is limited. Monthly sessions are offered on the second Thursday and the second Friday of the month. Tour and project will be the same for the Thursday and Friday offerings, but change monthly.

Sponsored by the Leonette Foundation Seniors and Art Endowment.
Additional support provided by City of Reno

Art Afternoon: Workshop and Social for Seniors

Sponsored by the Leonette Foundation Seniors and Art Endowment.
Additional support provided by City of Reno

Hands ON! Second Saturday

Estelle J. Kelsey Foundation Hands ON! Second Saturdays offers monthly free admission, hands-on art activities, storytelling, a docent-guided tour, live performances, and community collaborations. “Art Investigators” provides children the opportunity to engage with Museum staff and take a closer look at current work on view. New exhibitions, community collaborations, guest performances and monthly themes rotate in this engaging series of monthly programs.

SCHEDULE

Title sponsorship for Hands ON! Second Saturdays is provided by the Estelle J. Kelsey Foundation.

Hands ON! Second Saturday

SCHEDULE

Title sponsorship for Hands ON! Second Saturdays is provided by the Estelle J. Kelsey Foundation.

Turning Pages Book Club: The Yield by Tara June Winch

Join Museum volunteer docents for a discussion of the book The Yield by Tara June Winch, making connections to the current exhibition, We Were Lost in Our Country, 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.

Visit the Museum Shop to purchase The Yield. Members receive a 10% discount on all Shop purchases.

Art After Dark: Retro Rewind

Step into a time machine at Art After Dark: Retro Rewind. Join us in the Skyroom for an immersive journey through vibrant eras of the past. Dress up in your favorite vintage attire and experience an evening of art, music, libations and nostalgia at this hands-on event for adults. Take a group picture in our department store inspired photo booth, create a collage, carve your own stamp in our printmaking station and more!

21+

Virtual Reality and Seven Magic Mountains

Join us to explore Seven Magic Mountains in virtual reality with Luka Starmer. The University Nevada Reno Libraries and the Nevada Museum of Art have teamed up to create an immersive virtual reality experience of Ugo Rondinone’s Seven Magic Mountains. This project allows viewers to virtually explore the vibrant sculptures in their actual form and scale, while experiencing the landscape and the people who visit it, all without ever leaving Northern Nevada. Beyond bringing the piece into the virtual reality, this project serves as a valuable archival tool, digitally preserving this captivating work of art in perpetuity, ensuring wider access, and fostering a deeper understanding of the iconic piece. The VR experience will be available in the E.L. Cord Museum School during regular hours.

Labor, Race, and Maynard Dixon’s Boulder Dam Suite (Hybrid Virtual/In-Person Program)

Maynard Dixon’s trips through Northern and Southern Nevada between 1901 and 1939 resulted in hundreds of sketches, paintings, and poems.

Join award-winning art historian Dr. John Ott of James Madison University, for a discussion on Dixon’s representation of laborers during the construction of the Boulder Dam in the early 1930s.

John Ott, Ph.D., is Professor of Art History at James Madison University and researches artwork by and portrayals of African Americans, particularly during the second quarter of the twentieth century, as well as art markets and collecting in the United States. He is author of Manufacturing the Modern Patron in Victorian California: Cultural Philanthropy, Industrial Capital, and Social Authority (Ashgate, 2014) and, with Tim Cresswell, Muybridge and Mobility (University of California Press, 2022).

Please join us in the Wayne L. Prim Theater for a live viewing of the virtual presentation followed by an opportunity to visit the exhibitions.

If you wish to join virtually, please register and you will receive the zoom invitation via email.