Working at a museum means getting to meet a lot of different people. Visitors, journalists, tour guide authors - and that's just in the past week! Recently we all got to spend some time with a group of over 150 preschoolers from lower income families. They were brought to the Museum to hear the Orchestra of New Spain perform traditional Spanish Christmas carols. I know, right now you're probably thinking that there is no way that a group of preschoolers would appreciate an orchestra performance. In some cases, you'd be right, but we were all surprised at how much these kids enjoyed the show!

The orchestra members were great, coming into the audience to perform and talk to the students:



As the students left, several told staff members that this was as close to Christmas as they'd get this year, as their parents couldn't afford gifts. Soon after, donations had been offered, hundreds of toys purchased and an impromptu Women's Museum Holiday Party had been planned at the preschool. Our facilities manager dressed up as Santa and admin staff worked as elves, bringing a bit of the holidays to these kids:



It was so wonderful to see the Museum come together that quickly in the spirit of the holidays! In the comments, please let us know how you're celebrating this holiday season.

Happy holidays from all of us at The Women's Museum!

We all wish we could see what politicians and celebrities are like beyond photo ops and talking points. What are they like when they're comfortable and candid? Our new exhibit, Diana Walker: Photojournalist answers this question and explores the photos from this renowned journalist who was trusted to photograph some of the most personal moments of our leaders and idols.

Walker began her career in the 1970s, breaking into the historically male-dominated field of photojournalism as a member of Time magazine's staff. She then went on to capture presidential moments for over two decades, from President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, waving from the windows at Bethesda Naval Hospital to Tipper and Al Gore’s kiss at the 2000 Democratic National Convention.

This exhibit was brought to us by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) and was produced by the Smithsonian 's National Museum of American History. It will be on view on our second floor from December 20th until March 15th. Upcoming programs will be announced here on the blog and on Twitter!

Photo Credit: President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton with President-elect George W. Bush at the White House, January 2001. Photograph by Diana Walker, courtesy of the Center for American History, The University of Texas, Austin.

Our CEO just brought home a stray dog! The SPCA was going to have her put down - her family abandoned her outside of a hospital with no tags. She's beautiful, kind and very affectionate! If you want a new best friend, contact us at info [at] thewomensmuseum [dot] org!

On November 18th, The Women's Museum welcomed Ms. Yuri Tazawa, President of Y's Staff Co., Ltd. in Japan. She visited the Museum through the Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program. Among the goals of the program are to develop networks among U.S. and Japanese women in business, a topic that is very significant to The Women's Museum and our flagship program, Leadership America.

During her visit, Ms. Tazawa toured the Museum and met with CEO Wanda Brice:



For more information (and if you can read Japanese!), check out Ms. Tazawa's blog. You can also visit the homepage of the North Texas Council for International Visitors.

Thursday night marked the first of the three events that encompass our Wine, Women & Shoes fundraiser. It was a time when all departments, from marketing to exhibits, got together and, for one night, were hosts for one of the best parties in Dallas!

As previously mentioned, this is one of our biggest fundraisers of the year. The money we raised at this event will go towards funding our programs and exhibits (stay tuned, we're going to be announcing some brand new happenings in the next few weeks!) So, in addition to having a fantastic time, we were building towards The Women's Museum's future!

Thursday night began with a reception with wine tasting, food and a welcome address from Wanda Brice, CEO of The Women's Museum and Karla Barber, Wine, Women & Shoes committee co-chair:


Our wonderful female vintners split up into separate groups for a variety of wine seminars, from a champagne tasting to a course on creating the perfect blend. Some vintners even brought along shoes to compare to their wines:


We learned lots of great wine facts that we want to add to - so tell us, what's your favorite piece of wine trivia? We may use it at the event next year!

On November 20th and 21st, we here at The Women's Museum hosted one of our biggest fundraisers of the year, the fourth annual Wine, Women & Shoes! This event brings women vintners to The Women's Museum to talk about their wines, their careers and their accomplishments.

As we learned from comments from event attendees and Museum staff, it was an absolutely fantastic time! I'm just going to talk about our preparations and setup in this post - over the next few days I'll discuss the seminars on Thursday night, the fashion show on Friday and upcoming exhibits and programs at the Museum that will be supported by the proceeds from the event!

Setting up for an event like this is a massive undertaking. The smallest details, from nametags to chair setup are the ones that end up taking the most time! However, once it was all said and done, the Museum was transformed into an amazing space with areas for wine tasting, shopping and seminars:




Staff and volunteers transformed our Museum store into a shoe boutique, which sold donated shoes from Nine West, Liz Claiborne and Kate Spade as well as gently used designer shoes given to the Museum by our generous supporters. Spaces for wine seminars were set up on our ground floor and throughout our exhibits, giving attendees the chance to learn about women's history and women's contributions to wine side-by-side!

Committee members, volunteers and staff all dedicated months of hard work to putting this event together. One of the best parts of working in a non-profit like The Women's Museum is when you see an event like this being pulled together by so many people dedicated to a common cause - raising money to support The Women's Museum's programs and exhibits.

We've posted photos from the first night of the event on our Flickr page!